by Owen Smith, Garden Leader
As many of you know, I am a big fan of trialing new varieties, so I have a couple to share. Last summer I started a couple of “Mad Hatter” peppers and “Long Purple” eggplant for the fall season. Those plants are still alive today, over 1 year later even through the rare cold we had! Both had significant die back when temps dropped below freezing but bounced right back in the spring and started producing even better in their second season. I have not been the best gardener this year and both varieties have done well with minimal maintenance and survived heavy pest pressure and heat this summer.
Mad Hatter is a small pepper that is slightly sweet with a small amount of heat, about 500-1,000 Scoville Heat Units which is significantly less than a jalapeño. While it is not the greatest producer, it is a great way to add a little spice into dishes for those of us that can’t handle too much heat. It even won an All-American Selections award!
Long Purple is a Chinese style eggplant and is very prolific and extremely versatile in the kitchen, while they seemingly behave like an avocado, going ripe in a day and then overripe the next day, and do not keep as long due to their thin skin, they are much easier to cook and less bitter than typical globe style eggplants. I find myself harvesting several of these a week from just two plants.
I also wanted to shout out the great work everyone has done in upgrading and elevating our space lately! The new beds look amazing, and we have some plumbing updates on the way. The shed seems to have a lot more space with the new shelving unit, and we are happy to have a lot less clutter!
I think this is a great reminder to be mindful of our space and remember that many people use the garden. It helps a lot to keep our space organized and tidy not only for ourselves but also for the others around us. Remember to always put things back where they belong, and please clean any tools before doing so. It feels like almost everything has a new home, so please do not hesitate to ask where things belong!