Preserving

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Eggplant & Peppers planted at the plots...almost

Yesterday I went to the plots early in the morning to put the peppers and eggplants in. They were looking really good and needed to go in the ground. I decided not to put all of the eggplant in one bed since I have no idea what I might encounter. I decided to put the sweet peppers and half of the eggplant in Bed #5. Since I try to do as much companion planting as I can, I put some peppers then some eggplant then some peppers and so on.

As I was planting this bed I realized that I had left the Orange Bells, Marconi Bells and the Corno DiToro Red Italian frying peppers at home! No wonder I had more extra plants then I thought! As you can see there is Kohlrabi and onions on the right side of the bed and as you can't see there are Little Marvel peas on the left side. The peas are coming up much better at the other end of the bed. Once the Kohlrabi and peas are finished there will be plenty of room for the Eggplants & Peppers to grow nice and big. The white powder on everything is Diatomaceous Earth, I have been sprinkling a lot of it up there especially when I plant and before a rain.

I planted the hot and spice peppers in Bed #4 along with 5 more Eggplants. There are some Sugar Magnolia Purple Snap Vine Peas planted along the left side of this bed. They were planted much later then the Little Marvels and it looks like 100% germination with those.

Since it is raining today the forgotten sweet peppers will be planted at the plots tomorrow.

While I was there I noticed that most of my Pak Choi was starting to flower there too! I guess it's just this crazy weather we have been having. The Pak Choi was pulled and will be our first tiny harvest from the plots.

Pepper Varieties

Jalapeno
Serrano
Cayenne
Habanero - Seed from Mimi
Pepperocini - Seed from Thomas
Paprika - Hungarian
Pimento

Yellow Bell - Corona
Red Bell - Quadrato Rosso D'Asti - Seed from Granny
To be planted:
Orange Bell
Red - Corno Di Toro - Italian Heirloom Frying -Pointed
Red - Marconi - Italian Heirloom Frying


Eggplant Varieties

Black Beauty
Early Black Egg
Rosa Bianca
Lunga Violetta Di Firenze

15 comments:

  1. Peppers and eggplants in the ground!? I'm not risking that until Memorial Day with the cold spring we've been having. Plus, my eggplants are tiny! And what do you DO with all that eggplant!?

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  2. I am a bit behind in the veggie garden, but then my seedlings need more time too. Yours look great.

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  3. Lots of planting going on in your garden. That will be a major harvest of eggplant and peppers if they all grow to maturity!

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  4. Kaytee, They will be fine. If we have a chance of frost I will go over there and cover them. My husband is Italian so we will freeze some, eat some and make Caponata to be canned.

    Lorie, Thanks, they were big and needed to go in the ground.

    Laura, Last year I planted at least 8 eggplant and this year 14. My in-laws will also be harvesting and freezing from the veggies at the plots.

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  5. Robin everything is looking great, the plants look so nice and healthy. You'll have lots to harvest and can:o)

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  6. You are really getting that garden space filled up.

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  7. I hope the weather cooperates with us this week, planting fever is upon us! We are only growing a few of the same peppers so I will be looking forward to seeing some of yours grow this year so I will know what I want to try next year!

    @Kaytee - if you have excess eggplant (we always do LOL), try baking them and then pureeing them into your tomato sauces, it doesn't change the flavor much but adds a lovely creaminess to them that is delicious in baked pasta recipes and pizza!

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  8. Ginny, I think it's going to be a busy canning and freezing season for me this year!

    Jane, I think that I have it pretty much planned out. Some of the old time gardeners over there have already put their tomatoes in. I'm going to wait awhile for those.

    Erin, This weather is a real pain in the you know what! I'm excited about the red bells that Granny gave me...can't wait to see how they do.

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  9. Aren't you glad you didn't get rid of all those pots? I wish I had some, but I'm not going to cut the bottoms out of my good $ store planters!

    You are so brave to plant out the peppers and eggplant. Even in a good year, I wouldn't dare put them out until around the 10th, and this year it will possibly be the 15th or later. My peppers will be full grown before they find a home outside :-(

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  10. Granny, The weather forecast has changed a bit. It is now suppposed to get down to 39 with high winds! I'm going over there shortly and cover everyone up! They have been out in temps that cold but not with high winds. I'm not going to risk it. I actually brought all of my small tomatoes in the house. We now have a dining room full of tomatoes!

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  11. I've been putting mine under lights every day this week, and they've mostly greened up fine. Only the Brandywines, which were the worst ones to yellow, still look a bit sickly. We're supposed to stay in the 70s or high 60s now, so I planted out six tomato plants. Fingers are crossed.

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  12. You do it differently than I do. I put my tomatoes in and then later I put in the eggplants. I guess everyone has their own system.

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  13. Granny, I just got back and everyone is secure for the night. My tomatoes are already starting to look greener.

    Daphne, I usually put the eggplant, peppers and tomatoes in about the same time. Things are a little different this year though. My regular tomatoes won't be going in until the middle of May due to the weather and the state that they were in.

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  14. Robin, your plot garden is coming along so beautifully! I'm also surprised that you plant peppers before tomatoes. I thought peppers typically required the warmest temps? But with the issues that you had with tomatoes this spring, I can see why you're waiting to put those out - especially with all these wet and cold spring days we've been having!

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  15. Minji, I have always put the peppers & eggplant in the same time I put the tomatoes in. I can't put the tomatoes in due to the state they are in. I just looked in the "Gardening Bible" and it does say not to put them in too early. I never really gave it much thought until now since a few of you have mentioned it to me. Maybe next year I'll put them in a bit later.

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