Grow: Different Tomato and Eggplant Varieties

Looking for interesting tomato and eggplant varieties to grow? Well, as you can see from the above photo, we’re harvesting many different tomatoes, eggplants and peppers around here.

This blog post shares photos and information about unusual tomatoes and eggplants to try in your garden. Come take a look… Photo copyright Teresa O’Connor.

Tomatoes in different colors, shapes and sizes. Photo copyright Teresa O'Connor.

It’s been a terrific tomato harvest here. First off, we grew tomato varieties that ripened at different times (early, mid-season, late), so we didn’t get all our tomatoes at the same time. We also picked tomatoes with different appearances and tastes. For a complete list of what we grew this year, with plant descriptions and sources, read this post.

Tomatoes of all types. Photo copyright Teresa O'Connor.

Here are different tomato varieties to try in your garden. Please note: the ripening times are based on garden transplants, not for starting a plant from seed.

Tomatoes – Top Row (left to right):

‘Chocolate Cherry’ – 70 days; mahogany beefsteaks

‘Anna Russian’ – 65 days; heart-shaped, pink tomatoes

‘Lemon Boy’ – 72 days; large yellow fruit

Tomatoes – Middle Row:

‘Glacier’ – 55 days; small red fruit with pointed bottoms

‘Jaune Flamme’ – 70 days; small, prolific orange tomatoes

‘Super Bush’ – 70 days; perfectly round, red fruit on small plants

Tomatoes – Bottom Row:

‘Stupice’ – 50-55 days; small red fruit

‘Chocolate Cherry’ – 70 days; brownish-purple cherry tomatoes

‘Sun Gold’ – 57 days; orange-yellow cherry tomatoes

If you only think of eggplants as those big black fruits in your grocery store, you’re missing out.  As you can see above, there are many different types of eggplants to grow at home. Many eggplant varieties ripen quickly, and are pretty enough to be planted as an ornamental plant too.

Eggplants – Top Row (left to right):

‘Beatrice’ – 62 days, bright purple fruit

‘Rosa Bianca’ – 75 days, white and pink streaked eggplants

Eggplants – Second Row:

‘Dancer’ – 65 days, dark-pink/purple fruit

‘Fairy Tale’ – 50 days, purple and white striped eggplants on small plants

Eggplants – Bottom Rows:

‘Bambino’ – 45 days, round black eggplants

‘Japanese’ – 70-85 days, long black fruit

To learn more about these tomato and eggplant varieties, read this post.

Don’t forget: always rotate your tomatoes and eggplants to different parts of your garden each year for the healthiest plants. Learn more about crop rotation, including how Thomas Jefferson practiced crop rotation at Monticello.

What are your favorite tomato and eggplant varieties?