Potatoes, despite being frost sensitive produce well in cool climates. Other members of the Solanaceae family,  tomatoes, eggplant and peppers need warmth and good light levels for reliable production. They are popular crops for greenhouse production but can also be started indoors and transplanted when conditions warrant.

Potatoes require quite a bit of space, but are easy to grow.. The amateur grower has a far wider choice of cultivars than is ever seen in a grocery store. Potatoes store well for winter consumption. Potatoes are planted as tubers. Always use certified ‘seed’ tubers. Spring is when most potatoes are planted, however they can be planted in autumn with protection to provide a winter crop.

Tomatoes left on the plant to ripen, surpass anything store-bought in flavor. There is great diversity available, including many organic and heirloom varieties. Tomatoes come in many sizes, colors, textures, and flavors. Tomatoes also can be grown in pots, baskets, and growing bags.. However, many more vigorous cultivars are best sown directly in the ground.
 

Peppers, also a member of the Solanaceae family can range from sweet to hot to blistering, the later know as hot or chili peppers. Sweet peppers can be picked green or left to ripen to yellow, orange, red or purple. Hot peppers usually produce smaller more pointed fruit.
 

Eggplant fruits, the last member of the Solanaceae are now typically purple but were originally eggshell white. Modern cultivars now bear only 4 or 5 fruit per plant making cropping more reliable. Outside of potatoes, the other members of the Solanceae are good container crops.
 

 

All members of the Solanaceae do best in a fertile soil rich in organic matter where rich compost has been applied. They follow a winter rye green manure well.

Using resistant cultivars is a good way to protect tomatoes and potatoes against a range of problems. Potato blight a fungal disease also effects tomatoes, can be a major problem in a wet season.. Little can be done to prevent it. Biological controls can be used to manage whitefly, red spider mite, and aphids undercover, the main pests of the Solanaceae family.