Tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and potatoes are all part of the same family, the Solanaceae. It strikes me as odd in some ways that we ever got round to eating any of these vegetables, given that Deadly Nightshade is also a member of the family and that some bits of the otherwise edible plants are dangerous to eat. Indeed, when tomatoes were first brought over to England people did not want to eat them and it was hundreds of years later that they became popular. But now, of course, it would seem like a sad, depleted kitchen to be without any of the members of this family.
All of these plants come originally from South America and that is, of course, their preferred climate. For this reasons, some varietys of tomatoes, peppers and aubergine are only suitable for growing in a greenhouse and don't cope well with the British climate. However, over the years, gardeners have bred varieties of all of these that can be grown outside. This is good news if you don't have a greenhouse to grow things in - just make sure you look out for this when you are choosing your seeds.
They can all be grown from seed, although many of the seed catalogue firms also sell them as starter plants. It is cheaper to grow them from seed and there is a wider range of varieties available if grown from seed but if you are a little behind then buying plants can help you catch up.
With such a vast range of varieties to choose from, how do you choose which to grow? Well, that is a personal choice depending on your circumstances and your eating preferences. As I have said, the first thing to check is whether they are an indoor or outdoor variety. Then you might like to look at the colour. People generally think of tomatoes and peppers as red and aubergines as deep purple but tomatoes can also be yellow, stripy, purple and black, and peppers can be yellow or brown, and aubergines can be pink, green or stripy. So you may want to grow something that you can't buy in the shops or you may want to stick with something more conventional.
The next thing to consider is how you will be growing your plants. All of these plants can be grown very successfully in containers and/or growbags but ideally look out for varieties that mention suitability for containers. Tomatoes come in two main types based on their growing habits - cordon and trailing. Cordon tomatoes need to have their sideshoots removed at least weekly during the height of growing season so that they grow as single stem, tall plants, tied to a cane for support. Trailing varieties can just romp about all over the place without attention. Cordons will give you the heighest yields and trailing are particularly suitable for containers and hanging baskets. These rules don't apply to peppers and aubergines.
The final consideration is how you like to eat your tomatoes. If you like sweet cherry tomatoes in a salad then buy a small fruit variety. If you like to make homemade tomatoey sauces or chutney then a flavoursome plum tomatoes are your fruit of choice. If you like a chunky slice of tomato in your burger then beefsteak tomatoes are the ones for you. Similarly, if you like sweet bell peppers then go for capisum varieties, and if you like heat, go from chilli peppers.
Because of their South American origins, it can be a little tricky to get these plants off to a good start during a typical British springtime. As such, you must have a warm place that you can put your seeds whilst they germinate. This might be a heated greenhouse but is can also be a warm window sill. Now is absolutely the best time to start tomatoes off so don't delay. It is actually a little late for peppers and aubergines because they are slower to grow and need time to flower and develop fruit before the cold of the autumn. However, it is probably still worth giving it a go, just don't wait! Of the three, aubergines are the slowest and hardest to grow and I have yet to successfully grow any of any note (hence no photographs).
Seeds can be sown into small containers - yoghurt pots, egg boxes, small seed trays, module trays. They then need to be kept moist and warm until they germinate, which usually takes 10-14 days. Once they have germinated they will quickly become leggy if they are not given enough light so put them somewhere as bright as possible. Once they have developed their first true leaves, they can be carefully pricked out and planted into bigger pots. It may be necessary to do this several times as they grow. You can't plant them out in the garden until the beginning of June, when all risk of frost has past so keep potting them on until then.
In June, you can plant them out to their final position and it is a good idea to insert a cane next to them straight away. As they grow, you can tie the main stem to the cane and remove any sideshoots. Eventually they will flower and then go onto form fruit, which in time will ripen and can be picked. Try to keep them watered evenly - if they dry out and then get watered then the fruit may split and then mould will get in.
Because tomatoes and potatoes are the same family, they can suffer from the same diseases so tomatoes are also vulnerable to blight. If they get blight then the leaves and stem will go dark brown/black and the fruit will go hard, blistery and brown. There isn't much you can do at this point, other than very quickly make green tomato chutney out of any unaffected unripe fruit. Other than that, remove the plants and dispose of them (not in your compost bin).
Tomatoes, peppers and aubergine are all damaged by cold weather so when the first frosts arrive in late September/early October, the plants will die. Around that time of year, keep an eye on the weather forecast and make sure you have picked any remaining fruit before the frosts damage it. Tomatoes and peppers can be picked green and ripened on the vine at home so all is not lost.
Tomatoes are wonderful versitile vegetables and can be used in salads, chutneys, sauces and cooking so they are well worth growing. They can even be frozen for later use in cooking, although I find it best to remove their skins and sieve them to turn them into passata to freeze as this takes up less space. Chilli peppers will just naturally dry out once harvested so if left long enough you will have a supply of dried chilli to see you through the winter. What's not to love!
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