I ’ve never see your garden , but I can predict with a clean level of certainty that you ’re grow at least one member of the Solanaceae family justly now . Some of the most tried - and - rightful garden standbys — tomatoes , tater , peppers and eggplants — are Solanaceae members .
This various grouping of plant is also cognise commonly as the nightshade family . So who else is part of the clan ? In addition to tomato plant , tater , capsicum and eggplants , otherless commonly seen Solanaceae membersinclude ground cherry tree , tomatillo and garden huckleberries . But the family also comprise of flowers ( let in the petunia ) , tree and shrubs , and even tobacco plant . The family also includes some vicious individuals , admit venomous nightshade ( aka belladonna ) and Datura stramonium .
There are between 2,000 and 3,000 species in the Solanaceae family , but here ’s something that might storm you : Despite being named similarly to literal nightshade , dulcet potatoes and fatal pepper do not belong to the Solanaceae family at all . Black pepper is entirely unrelated to the peppers from the genusCapscicum , while sweet tater are from the Convolvulaceae , or good morning halo , kin .
Solanaceae vegetables are heat - do it , sun - assay individuals that are happy in lovesome climates , but you may successfully grow nightshades in cooler climes , too ; it just take a bit of planning and an agreement of the specific needs of each plant .
Your No-Fail Nightshades
Let ’s take a closer look at the eatable Solanaceae family members .
Potatoes
These are nutrient - packed , well-situated - to - farm and scrumptious in any manner of forms from baked to mashed to fried . Unlike other nightshade , potatoes are grown underground from tuber , and their climate predilection are different . However , they grow one of the highest output per acre of any crop .
Tomatoes
These are one of the most popular veggie grown by American gardeners each year . Maybe it ’s because we love the impeccable flavor of sweet - from - the - vine , sun - ripen tomato plant or because of the hundreds and hundreds of tomato plant varieties in every color of the rainbow .
Tomatoes are establish in determinate and indeterminate variety show . in the main speaking , determinate tomatoes reach a specific size and check growing , setting all their yield at once , while indeterminate varieties continue to acquire and spread and produce all throughout the growing season .
Peppers
Both hot and sweet-flavored capsicum pepper plant belong to the genusCapsicum , but the varying range of heat is due to the mien of the chemical capsaicin . Sweet bell peppers do not contain this chemical substance , ensue in their angelic flavor . While the large bell peppers are most traditionally associated with odorous pepper , it ’s also potential to find mellisonant Madagascar pepper in other shapes and sizes , such as the elongate Jimmy Nardello ’s Sweet Italian Frying pepper .
Eggplants
This heat - be intimate nightshade add together gorgeous color and interest to the garden and your culinary pursuits . Although you might mechanically think of the majestic oblong aubergine diversity , you’re able to also find other eggplant shapes and colors , including red , yellow , green and clean .
Growing Advice
When implant vegetable from the nightshade family , remember three key things :
It ’s easy to guess , “ OK , I planted potatoes here last year , so I ’ll move them to this bed and put the tomato in that position , ” but crop rotation means that you ’ll want to splay by family , not by individual vegetable . So rotate your tomatoes and potatoes really is n’t helpful ; you ’ll want to splay your nightshades with Apiaceae vegetables , such as Apium graveolens dulce , carrot and Petroselinum crispum , or Cucurbitaceae flora , which include cucumbers , watermelons and crush , to ensure the best soil wellness and to keep off nutrient depletion .
Although peppers are perennials in the right location , they execute best in North American when they ’re started indoors and transplanted outdoors once temperature are sufficiently warm . To ensure that your seedling have an copious head word start , begin your indoor seed eight to 10 weeks before you plan to graft them outside . When transplantation , aim for a light , loamy soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.8 , and space the transplant 12 to 18 inches aside in rows space 2 foot apart .
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For love apple , the process is similar : Start seeds indoors and transplantation into the garden when soil temps have sufficiently warmed . Tomatoes prefer a similar soil pH to pepper : between 6.0 to 6.8 . To achieve a strong theme system of rules , consider implant your tomato seedlings using the trenching method acting , which involves planting the seedling with a pregnant dower of its stem underground . Sometimes this means plant the seedling “ sideways , ” then curving the stem upwardly so that the top of the works is above the ground . New ascendant will develop all along the buried stem turn , giving the plant a potent start and a goodish institution .
Like their fellow nightshade veggies , aubergine love heat : They ’re quite sensitive to cold and must have warm weather for boom . As with peppers and tomato , commence your eggplant seeds indoors , then transpose alfresco into hills . Eggplants opt a soil pH in the5.5 to 7.0 range .
Potatoes are the exception ; they care cooler clime . They ’re also the exclusion when it comes to ontogeny and planting , as white potato vine are embed from seed potato and turn underground . Potatoes do best in a slimly acidic territory with a pH of 5.0 to 7.0 . Plant the seed potatoes in trenches 6 to 8 inches mystifying in rows 12 to 36 inch apart . Space the seed potatoes 9 to 12 column inch asunder in the trench ( with the white potato vine ’s “ center to the sky ” ) , then hide with a couple of inches of soil . As the season progresses and the potato plants continue to grow taller , sporadically hill extra stain around the plants to keep the potatoes themselves well - cover with territory and keep Christ Within from reach them .
Top-Grade Shades
I ’m always glad to deal lengthy lists of my favorite veg variety show , but I find it unmanageable to constrict down a leaning of nightshades into a manageable number . There are just too many wonderful options ! If pressed , I might choose these :
Black Beauty Eggplant
For many people , this variety epitomizes the Bible “ eggplant . ” Black Beauty is brilliantly beautiful , a stunning glossy total darkness and carry prolifically . It ’s unmanageable to go wrongly with a classic like this .
Purple Beauty Pepper
If you ’d like to color - coordinate your garden so that your common pepper agree your regal eggplant bush , here ’s the variety for you ! The brilliant , rich empurpled color is the hallmark of this heirloom sweet capsicum pepper plant , and it strikes an appealingly ornamental note in the otherwise practical aura of the veg garden .
Purple Viking Potato
If you ’d like some purple Irish potato to go along with your purplish eggplants and over-embellished peppers , Purple Viking potatoes are simply a beautiful selection . They ’re almost too beautiful to eat , but the flavor is so good that you ’ll just have to dig in .
German Pink Tomato
They ’re big , they ’re bluff , they ’re beautiful and , by golly , they ’re pink ! This is a in truth excellent form that consistently produces large ( 1 pound and up ) tomatoes in the most dainty shade of deep pink .
Sun Gold Tomato
May I plunk another tomato?Sun Goldis a hybrid cherry tree tomato that produce and produces and produces , and just when you think it ’s finished , it produces some more . The flavor of Sun Gold tomatoes is odorous and delicious , and the Orange River gloss is eye - catching .
This article originally appear in the July / August 2016 consequence ofHobby Farms .
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