Eggplant & Peppers started

[OmahaJB]

About a week later than I planned on starting my eggplant and pepper seeds, but finished the 2nd half of the group today. Planted the 1st half on Saturday or Sunday.

Eggplant:

Diamond
Ichiban F3
Italian White
Rossa Bianca

Peppers:

Blockbuster
Chinese Giant
Chervena Kamba Velina
Elephant's Ear
Georgia Flame (Hot P.)
Jamaican Hot Chocolate (Hot P.)
King of the North
Kurtovska Kaptja (hot? will check on)
Quadrato D'Asti Rosso
Socrates X3R
Soroksari (have to check spelling on this)
Tenderness
Troyka

Also started one tomato variety from the dwarf project as it's a slow germinator - Big Green Dwarf.

Many of the pepper seeds are at least a couple years old so may or may not germinate. So I overplanted both in seeds per variety, and in number of varieties. I'll be lucky if a third of these varieties germinate within an acceptable amount of time. Will need the seed starting trays for starting tomatoes in.

Thanks to PattyB for sending several pepper varieties on the list, and Alex for Kurtovska Kaptja. Alex has been a great trading partner in the past, although I think we both realized this year we already have way too many seeds! Our first year not trading after doing so for 3 or 4 years in a row. Even have the garlic he sent a couple years ago still going strong. And Patty sent some really good varieties of seeds this year, and gave me quite a few seedlings last year when I lost mine.

I've had quite a few good trading partners over the years, including Val and her husband. All trades from everyone have been greatly appreciated! Only wish I had the room to start all the seeds in and the land to grow them in. But I am thankful for what I've got.

Soon the tomato seeds will be started.

[barkeater]

My peppers and eggplant get sown 3 weeks from today on March 24th when the moon (2nd qtr.) and stars (Cancer) are most favorable for all above ground crops whose seeds are in the inside.
My tomatoes get sown a few days later on March 28, the day before the full moon. It's a little sooner than I want too, but I'm not sowing them on the dark side of the moon.

Anyway, I'll be starting:

Eggplants

Rosa Bianca
Beatrice

Hot Peppers

"Goliath" Jalapeno
"Hot Paper Lantern" Habanero
"Inferno" Hot Banana
"Kung Pao" Cayenne
"Garden Salsa" Chile

[roper2008]

I just started Thai Green eggplant, Florida High Bush (2007) and
Black Beauty(2006). I hope the two older one's germinate. Hate
to waste them.

[patty_b]

Jeff, Soroksari is right. ....
Italian seed - Pepper Soroksari
Here's a wonderful Balkan heirloom pepper Bavicchi has recently added. This is a robust, medium-sized pepper, with large, prism-shaped fruit, clear yellow in color. Will turn red/orange when fully ripe and can be dried for a delightful paprika. Flesh is sweet and quite thick and is great used fresh or stuffed. Early and productive as the harvest will continue until autumn.

They are a repeat for this year, Patty

[huntoften]

If you've never grown Green Goddess eggplant, you owe it to yourself to try it. Put it on your short list for next year.

[montanamato]

I store my seeds at room temp in a dry environment and routinely get peppers and eggplants to germinate from 5-8 yr old seed...
I just had 7 peppers out of seven seeds germinate from 6 yr old seed...They were up in 6 days and many of my new seeds are not up yet...I used bottom heat and room heat in a small area we keep about 80...

Jeanne

[OmahaJB]

Patty, thanks for posting the info. Saved me a google search!

huntoften, thanks for the tip. Will keep Green Goddess in mind for next year.

Jeanne, I don't know what my problem is with pepper seeds, but I have an awful time getting them to germinate. The seeds are kept in a dry place that never gets too warm. I'll keep trying! The seeds Patty sent this year germinated quickly, but my older seeds haven't yet.

[OmahaJB]

Also started my garlic seeds. Did so today. These were seeds I saved 2 years ago, and some I believe last year. I had read back then that it's better to plant garlic seeds at least 1 year after they are produced. They have some type of coating that wears off (or something like that), over time. Supposedly much easier to germinate after that one year period.

Started about 15 seeds. From what I understand it takes at least 2 years to get bulbs of decent size. Just doing this as a fun experiment to see how they turn out.

[OmahaJB]

My luck with the peppers germinating is only so-so at this point. The following have germinated:

Chervena Kamba Velina
Socrates X3R (only 2 seeds germinated)
Soroksari
Tenderness
Troyka

Both Diamond & Rossa Bianca eggplant varieties germinated. Waiting on the others.

Started a couple more tomato dwarf project varieties, Wilpena F4 & Boronia F5 today. Big Green Dwarf already germinated and the seedlings are doing well. In fact I had to finally separate them into individual containers yesterday.

Also started 5 seeds of Mammoth Russian sunflower. That should be a spectacle. Four of the seeds I planted were pretty large in comparison to the others. I'm going to compare those seedlings to the one was smaller. Guessing seed size will not determine seedling vigor. In addition I plan on buying Moonwalker sunflower seeds if they are still available at the local HD. They only had 2 packs left last weekend when I stopped in there. And they were the only seeds I noticed that looked nearly sold out.

Still have to start the rest of my tomato seeds. No room in the Jiffy greenhouses so will have to improvise. Top of fridge possibly.

[Marko]

Originally Posted by OmahaJB

Kurtovska Kaptja (hot? will check on)

Correct name is Kurtovska kapija (pronounced kapiya) and it's sweet, one of the best roasting peppers.

[OmahaJB]

Originally Posted by Marko

Correct name is Kurtovska kapija (pronounced kapiya) and it's sweet, one of the best roasting peppers.

Marko, thank you for the correction. Unfortunately it did not germinate quickly and I needed the space in my greenhouse to start tomatoes in. The good news is many of my other peppers did germinate, including Blockbuster which I failed to mention previously.

Off the top of my head, these are at least some of the tomato varieties I started:

3 dwarf varieties - Big Green Dwarf, Boronia & Wilpena

Black Cherry

Brandywine Sudduth

Cowlick's Pink Brandywine

Emma Pink

'Not' Emma Pink F2 - (Outstanding variety I believe was a cross between Emma Pink and an unknown variety)
Toedebusche Pink

Not alot of varieties but I am limited in space, so I'm happy to have that many. And I may be forgetting a couple of the ones I planted.