Vegetable Gardening Page 9
‘Zavory Habañero': This open-pollinated, first-ever mild habañero pepper registers only 100 on the Scoville scale. Red fruits are produced abundantly within 90 days. You can really eat them out of your hand!
Pretty peppers: The ornamentals
Most peppers are produced on plants that are small enough to grow in containers (see Chapter 18 for more on container gardening) or in the flower garden. Not only does their size make them a good fit for container growing, but they make an attractive addition as well. Some varieties have been specifically bred for their attractive fruits, stems, and leaf colors as well as their fruit shapes. The ornamentals in the following list are also edible. Here are some of my favorites:
‘Black Pearl': This All-American Selections hybrid pepper with purple leaves and stems bears 3/4-inch-round fruits that start out purple and mature to red in 60 days. The purple color holds up well in the heat, making this a good variety for the South and West.
‘Bolivian Rainbow': These 2- to 3-foot-tall plants have purple leaves and stems and beautiful 1-inch-long fruits. The fruit color starts out purple, but changes to yellow and orange, finally maturing to red. You'll see all color stages of fruit on the plants at the same time, making this variety a rainbow-colored showstopper. Fruits mature within 80 days.
‘Pretty in Purple': The leaves, stems, and fruits of these 2 1/2-foot-tall open-pollinated plants are dark purple. Upon maturity (which takes 75 days), the 1-inch-long, fiery hot peppers turn red, creating a gorgeous ornamental effect.
‘Riot': These 2- to 3-inch-long open-pollinated hot peppers sit atop short, compact plants and blaze from yellow to bright red when mature (70 days). The effect looks like a riot of color.
‘Sweet Pickle': Surprise — these aren't hot ornamental peppers, but sweet ones! Two-inch-long, oval, thick-walled fruits on open-pollinated plants mature from yellow to orange, purple, and red, often having all three colors present on one plant. They take 65 days to mature.
Distinguishing Eggplants by Shape
Lest you think peppers are the only international travelers with variety and a zest for life, eggplants also come in a range of shapes, colors, and sizes. I arrange the varieties in this section by shape so you can choose the variety that's right for your taste and use. The days to maturity in the variety descriptions represent the time from transplant to harvest.
Large and oval
Large, oval eggplants are the varieties that most people are familiar with. They're the dark purple, teardrop-shaped fruits that you see in grocery stores. The plants grow 3- to 4-feet tall, each producing an average of eight to ten fruits. These eggplants are great in casseroles. Here are some of my favorite varieties to grow:
‘Black Beauty': These large heirloom purple-skinned eggplants grow best in areas with long, hot growing seasons. They mature in 75 days.
‘Black Opal': This hybrid, dark purple, teardrop-shaped variety is a bit smaller than the ‘Black Beauty,' but it has a similar creamy texture and flavor. Very productive plants have fruits produced in 65 days.
‘Cloud Nine': This hybrid has pure-white skin and a delicate flavor with no bitterness. The fruits are best harvested when they're 7 inches long. They mature in 75 days.
‘Florida High Bush': This is an heirloom variety from Florida that loves the heat. Large, upright plants produce 10-inch-long, black-purple-skinned fruits in 85 days.
‘Purple Rain': These beautiful, white-striped, lavender-skinned hybrid eggplants mature early at 66 days and are productive.
‘Rosa Bianca': This Italian heirloom features white fruits with lavender streaks. These fruits, which are best adapted to warm regions, mature in 75 days.
Cylindrical
Traditionally called Oriental eggplants, these cylindrical fruits are long and thin (2 inches wide and up to 10 inches long). The plants are smaller than the oval-shaped varieties, reaching only 2 to 3 feet tall, and produce about 15 fruits. They're great grilled or used in hors d'oeuvres. These are a few of my favorite varieties:
‘Fairy Tale': This early-maturing (50 days), AAS-winning hybrid variety features purple-and-white-striped fruits that form in clusters. They're best when harvested at 3 to 4 inches long. The fruits are free of bitterness, have few seeds, and are highly productive.
‘Hansel': This AAS-winning hybrid variety features deep-purple, finger-shaped fruits that can be harvested when they're 3 to 4 inches long, which usually takes 55 days. This variety is very productive. A sister to ‘Hansel' is ‘Gretel', which has the same characteristics except that the fruit has white skin.
‘Ping Tung Long': These long, lavender-skinned fruits grow in areas with good heat and humidity. The open-pollinated plants are disease resistant, and the fruits take 65 days to mature.
‘Raveena': This hybrid variety features vigorous plants that yield light green, cylindrical fruit in clusters in 70 days. They're best when harvested before they reach 9 inches long.
‘Vittoria': This hybrid has purple-black skin and is best when harvested at 10 inches long. The fruit matures in 61 days.
Small and round
The plants in this category grow only 1 to 2 feet tall, making them great for container culture. Each plant produces 20 to 25, 1- to 3-inch-round fruits. Even though the following eggplants are novelties, they're also great for skewering and pickling:
‘Calliope': This hybrid features a heavy crop of round, 2-inch-diameter, purple-and-white-striped fruits in 64 days on a spineless plant.
‘Easter Egg': These open-pollinated plants produce white-skinned, egg-shaped fruits that kids marvel at. They received their name because they resemble chicken eggs. They turn yellow at maturity, which takes 65 days, but they're best when eaten white; they taste bitter if you allow them to mature to yellow.
‘Kermit': These Thai specialty hybrid fruits have green skin with white stripes — very unusual. They take 60 days to mature.
‘Turkish Orange' (Solanum gilo): These bushy, 2- to 3-foot-tall open-pollinated plants have good insect resistance and produce fruits that mature from green to orange. The fruits are best when eaten green, before their skin turns orange and bitter. They take 80 days to mature.
Growing Peppers and Eggplants
Many of the cultural instructions (instructions on how to grow a plant) for producing tomatoes (see Chapter 4) hold true for peppers and eggplants as well. But, of course, peppers and eggplants have some of their own special requirements as well, as you find out in this section.
A few guidelines for starting and planting
Peppers and eggplants are warm-season crops, so you don't need to rush to plant them until the ground has warmed up sufficiently. Here are some guidelines you can follow:
In most areas, you need to start peppers and eggplants from seed indoors, usually 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost date for your area (see the appendix for first and last frost dates). You also can purchase them from a local nursery or through the mail as transplants. (See Chapter 13 for seed-starting basics.)
If you live in zone 9 or 10, you can sow the seeds directly into your garden. If you keep the plants healthy and have no frost in your area, peppers and eggplants can actually be perennials (plants that grow year-round) and will bear fruit all season.
However, even in cold climates, I've dug up pepper plants and eggplants in fall, placed them in pots in my greenhouse all winter, and then transplanted them back out in spring. Even after three years these plants remain attractive and healthy.
Peppers and eggplants are more finicky than tomatoes are about temperatures, fertilization, and general growing conditions, so they're less forgiving of mistakes. So, you need to be extra cautious about starting pepper and eggplant seedlings early indoors. Give them ample light, fertilizer, and water; harden them off well; and wait to plant until the soil temperature is at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit. You should purchase or have grown a 4- to 6-inch-tall, dark-green-leafed, stocky transplant that isn't root-bound (roots growing around the container).
One handy produ
ct you may want to purchase is a soil thermometer. Usually costing less than $20, a soil thermometer can help you gauge when to plant warm-season crops such as peppers and eggplants. Place it in a shady spot and take readings in the morning for accuracy.
If your peppers have flowered or set fruits before you've transplanted them or when the seedlings still have only four to six leaves each, remove any blossoms or fruits. The plants will then send more energy to grow more leaves and roots to support a larger harvest later rather than maturing only a few peppers early.
Peppers and eggplants grow best in raised beds (see Chapter 3) because the soil warms faster and drains quicker. The following guidelines can help you get the soil temperature right depending on your climate:
Cold areas: Cover the top of the beds with black or dark green plastic mulch to preheat the soil a few weeks before planting. (See Chapter 15 for details on how to use mulch in your garden.)
Warm areas: Mulch with straw, white plastic, or aluminum foil in summer to help keep the soil cool. Aluminum foil also reflects light back into the sky, confusing insects trying to find plants.
To plant eggplant and pepper transplants, use scissors to cut holes in the plastic mulch every 1 to 1 1/2 feet (wider for taller varieties) for peppers and every 2 to 3 feet for eggplants. If you're using mulch that isn't plastic, plant at the same distances as you would in plastic mulch. Plant eggplant and pepper transplants at the same soil level as they are in their containers. Cover the plantings with a floating row cover (a lightweight, cheesecloth-like material that lets air, water, and sunlight through to keep the air warm and bugs out; see Chapter 21).
Even though pepper and eggplant plants are usually strong enough to stand on their own without supports, I like to either stake or cage tall, heavy-yielding varieties such as ‘Carmen' and ‘Black Beauty'. Staking or caging the plants keeps fruits off the ground, making them less likely to rot during wet weather. I find that I get heavier yields this way as well. Use small stakes or tomato cages to keep your plants vertical (see Chapter 15 for more supporting your vegetables).
Fertilizing and watering tips
Peppers and eggplants are sensitive to excessive fertilizer, in particular nitrogen. Plants fertilized with too much nitrogen will grow large but have few fruits. However, don't neglect fertilizing your plants; simply avoid using high rates of nitrogen fertilizers. Instead, apply a 2- to 3-inch layer of compost over the bed and a small handful of 5-5-5 organic fertilizer around each transplant. (Chapter 15 has more on fertilizing.)
Water your plants well, following the suggestions in Chapter 15. Watering is particularly important during 90-degree weather when water stress and high temperatures can cause flowers to drop. Side-dress (add fertilizer around the plants during the growing season) around the drip line (where water naturally drips off the ends of leaves) of the plant with a tablespoon of organic fertilizer, such as 5-5-5.
To give your peppers a boost, mix 1 tablespoon of Epsom salts in 1 gallon of water and spray the pepper plants when they're flowering.
Pest patrol
If you see holes in a pepper fruit and find a small, white worm inside the fruit, consider it your introduction to the pepper maggot. The adult fly lays eggs on the fruit in midsummer. After the eggs hatch, the larvae tunnel into the fruit. To control these pests, do the following:
Rotate crops
Cover young plants with row covers
Grow varieties such as ‘Serrano' and ‘Jalapeño' that are less attractive to the maggots
Hang yellow sticky traps before the adult flies lay eggs. Remove rotten fruits that may harbor the flies before you hang the traps.
Peppers and eggplants generally have fewer pest problems than their tomato cousins, but they share such pests and diseases as blossom drop, sunscald, blossom-end rot, fruitworms (also called corn earworms), and Verticillium wilt (see Chapter 4). Flea beetles (see Chapter 17) and Colorado potato beetles (see Chapter 6) love eggplants. Chapter 17 describes other insect and disease problems that affect all vegetables.
Harvesting tips
Peppers and eggplants are great to grow because you don't have to wait until the fruits are fully mature before you pick them. Consider your options for both fruits:
Peppers: You can pick and enjoy sweet peppers green or wait until they ripen to orange, yellow, or red for a sweeter taste. Hot peppers vary in their hotness depending on stress. Stressed peppers tend to be hotter, so if you withhold water and fertilizer when the hot peppers are ripening, you can increase the heat in the peppers' flavor. Cool, cloudy weather tends to make hot peppers less hot.
Eggplants: You can pick eggplants at almost any stage. The key is to not let them become overmature; otherwise the texture will become soft and mushy. To check eggplant maturity, watch the fruit's skin. A dull-colored skin means it's overmature. Double-check by cutting into the fruit and looking at the seeds. Brown-colored seeds are another sign of overmaturity.
A simple test for maturity is to push the eggplant's skin with your fingernail. If the skin bounces back, the fruits are ready to harvest. If your nail indents the skin, the fruits are overmature. If your fruits are really mature and rotting on the vine, just pick them and throw them out; they won't taste very good.
The key to harvesting is to do it often. The more often you harvest, the more peppers and eggplants you get. To harvest, cut peppers and eggplants with a sharp knife just above the top of the green cap on the fruit. The fruits will continue to ripen after you harvest them, so store them in a cool place. If you want to dry your peppers, pick them when they mature and hang them to dry in a warm room with good air circulation. See Chapter 19 for more tips on preserving your harvest.
Harvesting hot peppers and eggplants can be tricky, so use gloves when harvesting them. Hot peppers need careful handling because they contain capsaicin, which can easily cause burning, especially in your eyes or in open cuts. (Believe it or not, I've known of gardeners having to go to the hospital to be treated for burns from hot peppers.) Some eggplant varieties have sharp spines on their stems, so be sure to work around them when harvesting the fruits. Or consider growing spineless varieties such as ‘Fairytale' and ‘Hansel'.
Chapter 6: Growing Underground Crops: Carrots, Onions, and Potatoes
In This Chapter
Choosing the best carrot, onion, and potato varieties for your garden
Growing, caring for, and harvesting your roots
Controlling root pests and diseases
Root-crop vegetables are an example of those good things in life that you can't actually see. Their tops are green, unassuming, and may even be mistaken for weeds — but oh, when you give them a yank! I can still remember the look on my daughter's face when she first helped me dig potatoes and discovered that they grow underground. Digging for potatoes was like a treasure hunt. I think that most gardeners feel that same sense of wonder and excitement when they dig or pull up their root crops. The result is always something marvelous.
You can grow many different root crops, but the big three are carrots, onions, and potatoes. They aren't botanically related like peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes are (see Chapters 4 and 5); what these crops do have in common, however, is that they're grown for their underground parts: roots, bulbs, or modified stems (underground stems that expand to produce large, edible areas; potatoes' stems are called tubers). I provide plenty of growing tips for carrots, onions, and potatoes in this chapter; I discuss other root crops in Chapter 11.
A Rabbit's (and Gardener's) Favorite Root: Carrots
Carrot (Daucus carota) varieties are categorized by their shape. You can grow long, thin carrots; short, stocky carrots; and even little, round, baby carrots. A few varieties are supercharged with vitamins, and many hybrids have added vigor and disease resistance. The latest trend in carrots is colorful roots. Roots no longer come in just orange — now you can grow varieties that are white, yellow, red, and purple, too!
If you're trying to decide which carrot variety to grow,
consider your type of soil as well as the use you plan for the carrots. Loose, sandy soil is good for growing any root crop. If you have heavy, clay soil, consider a variety that's shorter in length, such as ‘Short 'n Sweet'. It's easier for this short carrot variety to push into the heavy soil than a long, thin, tapered root variety. (Chapter 14 has more information about soil types.)
Classifying carrots by type
Carrots often are described as a certain type, such as baby carrots. If the carrot type is part of a variety name, you can determine what the carrot will look like when it matures. Table 6-1 shows the common types of carrots and their characteristics. All the types listed, except baby carrots and Imperators, range in size from 6 to 8 inches. Aside from eating the carrots fresh, you can best use certain varieties for juicing and storing; some even grow well in containers.
Most short varieties that you find in grocery stores are baby carrots, and the longer carrots may be any of the other types mentioned in Table 6-1. The bagged "baby-size" carrots in grocery stores are often just normal-sized
carrots peeled down to a small, rounded size. Look for carrots with the tops still showing for true baby carrots. Baby carrots may be varieties that are naturally short or larger varieties harvested at an immature stage.
Examining some carrot varieties
Knowing what type of carrot a certain variety is can help you when deciding which variety to grow. With some of the most widely known carrot varieties, you can easily identify the carrot type because it's part of the variety's name; some examples include ‘Scarlet Nantes' and ‘Danvers 126'. Otherwise, you simply read the description to find out.