2023 Tomato, Pepper, & Eggplant Guide

Check out our list of tomato, pepper, and eggplant varieties for the 2023 season! We’re growing these here at the farm — in the field and some in the pick-your-own — but you can grow them, too. All of these varieties can be found at our Saturday Plant Sales, 9am-2pm at the Barn every Saturday through May 20. You can also pre-order these for pickup in town.

Regardless of whether you grow any of these in your own garden, you’ll get a chance to taste them all later this season at our market stand or in your veggie share. ❤️

Michelle’s Tomato Tour from 2022 - we’re growing many of the same varieties this year!

TOMATOES

SLICERS & BEEFSTEAK

  • Mountain Fresh Plus - red slicer with very yummy flavor; vigorous growth and high disease resistance — Bellair’s favorite “big red” tomato

  • BHN 871 - large, orange slicer, with high yields and improved disease resistance; good flavor, less acidic than red tomatoes

  • Defiant - mid-sized red slicer, high yielding and early fruits plus good disease resistance

  • Skyway - large, red beefsteak with high disease resistance and very yummy flavor

  • New Girl - early fruiting, more disease resistant than "Early Girl"; tennis ball sized, classic tomato

  • Other slicers: Valley Girl, Polbig, others

SPECIALTY/HEIRLOOM

  • Mountain Magic - golf ball sized fruits, bears fruit heavily on compact plants; excellent flavor, late blight resistance; a "salad tomato" of sorts. Super uniform and flexible for fresh eating or processing — a Bellair Favorite!

  • “Tidy Treats” Patio Tomato - dwarf plants, grow well in containers (like the name suggests!)

  • Damsel - Dark pink to red color, large fruit and rich flavor rivals heirloom quality, but much higher disease resistance

PASTE

  • Quadro - vigorous, mid-size paste variety, could also be used for salsa

  • Granadero - high yielding red plum tomato, great flavor and thick walls makes it ideal for pasta sauces and salsas, broad disease resistance

CHERRY

  • Sungold - specialty, small orange, sweet — Bellair’s favorite!

  • Black Cherry - sweet, robust, purple-brown tomatoes

  • 5 Star Grape - sweet flavor and firm, meaty texture

  • Matt’s Wild Cherry -- super tiny fruits and prolific growth habit! harvest little branches with scissors to prevent splitting.

  • Cherry Bomb — classic red cherry tomato

  • Sunpeach - like sungold but pink and not as perfectly textured.






PEPPERS

SWEET/MILD

  • Lunchbox - mini sweet

  • Carmen - bull's horn type, sweet

  • Ace - green to red bell; thin walls

  • Ninja - green to red bell; thick walls

  • Islander - specialty purple sweet pepepr

  • Cubanelle - frying pepper (sweet but peppery)

Mild to Medium SPICY

  • Aji Dulce - sweet, smokey, mild Caribbean pepper; short (2") wrinkly shape, similar to Habanero

  • Fresno - medium heat, similar to Jalapeño, used green or red

  • Havasu - Fresno-type chile, translucent yellow color to orange to red; great substitute for Jalapeño. Heat can vary substantially.

  • Jimmy Nardello - Italian heirloom chile; "sweet" mild/spicy flavor, great for frying. Long (about 10"), thin skinned, red bull's horn shape peppers

  • Anaheim - long and skinny, that has some smokey heat, but some of sweet fruit flavor to balance it out.

  • Jalapeño - classic hot chile, medium-sized pod shape; commonly eaten green; will turn red (slightly sweeter)

  • Serrano -- hotter than a jalapeno but similar otherwise.

  • Poblano - dark green and great for stuffing

  • Shishito - these thin-walled Japanese “roulette” peppers havea varying heat level and are great blistered and eaten with salt.

Super Spicy

  • Habanero - HOT, smoky, fruity flavor; small wrinkly orange shape

  • Hot Paper Lantern - a habanero type with longer pointier fruits and red-orange color

  • Cayenne - classic red chile; used to flavor dishes; also great for drying

  • Red Flame - standard Cayenne type, great for drying and crafts





EGGPLANTS

ITALIAN VARIETIES

  • Nadia - classic oblong, black/dark purple fruits; largest fruits of the Italian styles we carry

  • Nigral - classic oblong, black/dark purple

  • Traviata - small oblong, black/dark purple

  • Gaudi - black, teardrop-shaped fruit, hardy & stress tolerant

  • Beatrice - round Italian type, light purple

  • Annina - variegated purple

ASIAN VARIETES

  • Turkish Delite - a little shorter and fatter than Orient Express

  • Orient Express - Japanese type, black/dark purple elongated

  • Ping Tung Long - Japanese type, light purple/magenta elongated

Michelle McKenzie