All About: Tomatoes and Friends

🍅 All About Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplants & Tomatillos

Your essential guide to growing the boldest flavors in the mountain garden.

🧬 Family Traits: What These Plants Share

The Solanaceae squad needs heat, patience, and nutrient-rich soil—but rewards you with bold summer flavor.

Shared characteristics:

• Warm-season, frost-sensitive crops

• Thrive in full sun with rich, well-drained soil

• Heavy feeders needing consistent water and compost

• Prone to shared pests and diseases—rotate crops!

• High drama, high payoff

🪴 How to Grow in Mountain Conditions

🌱 Seed Starting

• Start indoors 10–12 weeks before last frost (late Feb/early March in Eagle)

• Use heat mats to maintain 70–80ºF for germination

• Sow in blocks or pots, under strong light

🌦️ Sowing & Transplanting

• Harden off for 5–7 days before planting

• Transplant when nights stay above 45ºF

• Space plants 18–24” apart

🍽️ Feeding & Soil Support

• Amend holes with compost + organic fertilizer

• Water deeply and consistently

• Mulch to retain moisture and reduce soil splash

✂️ Harvesting

• Tomatoes: Pick at full color with slight give

• Peppers: Green or ripened for max flavor

• Eggplants: Glossy and firm before seeds harden

• Tomatillos: Harvest when husk splits

🥕 The Veggies in This Group

Eggplant

Challenging but rewarding in mountain gardens.

• Annina:

Hot Peppers

Need full sun and consistent warmth.

• Anaheim:

• Czech Black:

• Early Jalapeño:

• Purple Jalapeño:

• Hidalgo Serrano:

• Matchbox (Small Chili):

Sweet Bell Peppers

Tricky in short seasons but worth the effort.

• Revolution Bell:

• Takii’s New Ace:

• Mini Red/Yellow:

Semi-Sweet Peppers

Best known for shishitos—easy and flavorful.

• Resilient Shishito:

• Cubanelle:

• Jimmy Nardello’s:

Specialty Peppers

🌱 Varieties:

• Greek Pepperoncini:

• Klari Baby Cheese:

🍅 Tomatoes

Tomatoes are divided by growth habit and fruit size/class.

Growth Habit:

• Determinate:These grow, flower, and fruit in one flush. They’re compact and great for small spaces. No pruning needed—just remove late flowers toward season’s end to focus energy on ripening.

• Indeterminate:These grow and fruit continuously until frost. They require strong support and benefit from optional pruning for larger fruit. Top plants late in the season to encourage ripening.

Fruit Classes:

• Small Fruited:Cherry or grape-sized; ripen fast; perfect for short seasons.

• Early:2–3 bite-sized, often red, tolerant of cool nights. Set fruit without pollinators—great for unpredictable springs.

• Slicer:Sandwich-sized tomatoes including heirlooms and beefsteaks. Require the longest season to ripen.

• Paste:Meaty with low moisture—ideal for sauces and drying. Still delicious fresh.

🌾 Seed Saving

Scoop seeds from ripe fruit, ferment to remove gel, rinse, and dry thoroughly.

🌱 Varieties We’re Growing:

Small Fruited:

• Sun Gold: Indeterminate. Sweet/tangy apricot-orange cherry. Craveable and wildly productive.

• Honeydrop: Indeterminate. Yellow-orange, crack-resistant, sweet like Sunsugar.

• Lucia: Indeterminate. Tart-sweet red grape with crunchy skin.

• Peacevine: Indeterminate. Red clusters bred from Sweet 100, open-pollinated.

• Lizzano: Semi-determinate. Sweet, compact cherry. Great for containers. AAS Winner.

Early:

• Glacier: Determinate. Red, 1–2", potato-leaf foliage. Cold-hardy and flavorful.

• Beaverlodge: Determinate. Compact and creeping, ideal for containers. Super productive.

• Stupice: Indeterminate. Slightly oval, red fruit. Sweet, prolific, and cold-tolerant.

Slicer:

• Cherokee Purple: Indeterminate. Dusky purple heirloom. Rich, sweet, winey flavor.

• Black Prince: Indeterminate. Garnet-colored, smooth and uniform.

• Green Zebra: Indeterminate. Green with stripes. Tart-sweet and salad-perfect.

• Japanese Trifele: Indeterminate. Mahogany pears with complex, sweet flavor.

• Mountain Spirit: Indeterminate. Yellow-red bicolor bred in Carbondale, CO. Vigorous and fruity.

• Berkeley Pink Tie-Dye: Compact indeterminate. Bi-lobed, striped, tangy, and early. A stunner!

Paste:

• Orange Banana: Indeterminate. Sweet and fruity. Best for drying or sauces.

• Heinz 2653: Determinate. Firm and fast-ripening. Ideal for canning.

🌮 Tomatillos & Friends

Need at least two plants to fruit (self-incompatible) and benefit from support structures.

🌾 Seed Saving

Let fruits mature, remove husk, scoop and rinse seeds, and dry thoroughly.

🌱 Varieties We’re Growing:

• Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry (Physalis pruinosa):Polish heirloom. Tropical-flavored golden fruits. On the Slow Food Ark of Taste.

• Purple Blush (Physalis ixocarpa):Large fruits. Sun-blushed purple skin. Roast with pumpkin seeds for a rich salsa.

• Purple Tomatillo:Deep purple skin. Decorative and delicious in salsa verde.

• Queen of Malinalco:3" yellow fruits with sweet, tropical flavor. Great fresh or roasted. From Aztec town of Malinalco.

🍴 From Garden to Table: Why They Matter

These Solanaceae staples bring color, spice, and depth to your summer cooking. Think salsa verde, ratatouille, roasted sauces, or stuffed peppers—and they preserve beautifully too.

Preserving Tips:

• Roast and freeze for sauces

• Pickle, ferment, or dry peppers

• Puree roasted eggplant for sauces and dips

• Make salsa verde or jam from tomatillos

Want help choosing varieties or planning your Solanaceae strategy? Come chat with us at Wiggle Worm Gardens—we love helping you turn heat-loving drama queens into your summer garden heroes. 🌞🍅🌶️🍆

Key Takeaways

• Learn how to grow heat-loving crops like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers in cool-climate mountain gardens

• Explore seed starting, transplanting, and feeding methods for Solanaceae success

• Discover mountain-friendly tomato varieties from cherry to slicer to paste

• Get tips on seed saving, trellising, and frost protection for long-season flavor

• Preserve summer’s bounty through roasting, freezing, fermenting, and drying