A Garden Update: Peppers, Tomatoes, and Tomatillos

The vegetable garden is finally taking off! Even though it feels like things have been moving slowly, we’re already seeing exciting progress — tomato plants are starting to flower, and our pepper plants are showing off their first baby peppers.

This year, I planted around 36–38 tomato plants of various types and a generous amount of both sweet and hot peppers. The garden is full of potential, and I’m hoping that we’ll be picking our first ripe tomatoes before the end of June. 🤞

Tomato Time! 🍅

Tomatoes are always a highlight in my garden, and I’ve grown a wide variety this season. My personal favorite is the Woodle Orange, an orange slicing tomato that’s both sweet and low-acid. I also planted:

• Several Brandywine (Pink and True Black)
• Cherokee Purple
• A mix of cherry tomatoes (Chadwick Cherry, Rosella, Black Cherry, and Sungold)
• Various other slicing types (Money Maker, Doctor Wyche Yellow, Beefstake, Brown Sugar)
• 6 San Marzano
• 6 Amish Paste

With so many paste tomato varieties, I’m hoping to do some home canning this year — maybe even make some homemade tomato soup or sauce to enjoy over the winter.

Pepper Plans 🌶️

This season’s pepper lineup includes several jalapeño varieties like the TAM Jalapeño and Brown Jalapeño, which are on the milder side — perfect for those of us who enjoy a little heat without setting our mouths on fire!

I’ve grown ghost peppers in the past, and let’s just say the spice level made one tortilla soup dinner unforgettable!

I plan to pickle some of the jalapeños and use the Brown Jalapeños for stuffed jalapeño poppers, which are always a hit at our house. When wrapped in bacon those poppers don’t last long!

A Peek at the Tomatillos 🌿

Our Rio Grande Verde tomatillos (YouTube video) are already beginning to form! These are part of the nightshade family (like tomatoes and peppers) and grow very easily as long as they have another tomatillo nearby for cross-pollination.

They’re perfect for making salsa verde or adding a twist to pico de gallo.

Companion Planting: Basil and Parsley 🌿🍃

To help naturally deter pests like hornworms, I’ve tucked in several basil plants throughout the garden as companion plants. They don’t eliminate pests entirely, but in my experience, hornworms tend to stay away when basil is nearby.

I also added some flat-leaf Italian parsley, although I didn’t get a picture of it this time.

From Seed to Soil: Garden Beginnings 🌱

All of these plants were started from seed between late January and February. Once the danger of frost had passed, I transplanted them into our raised beds, which are made from reclaimed construction materials from our house build.

While the raised bed materials didn’t cost much, removing all the old nails definitely took some time and effort. (You could link here to a DIY guide on “Building Raised Beds from Reclaimed Materials”)

DIY Soil Mix & Fertilization 🌾

This season I tried something a little experimental with the soil mix. Here’s the breakdown:

• About 2.5 cu. ft. of topsoil (originally scraped from the build site of our house before construction)
• 2.5 cu. ft. of peat
• 1 cu. ft. of Black Kow compost per wheelbarrow load (6 cu. ft.)

Since that wasn’t quite enough to fill the beds, I added a base layer of fall leaves and fresh grass clippings to the bottom — a great way to balance carbon and nitrogen for better long-term soil structure. This is a modified layered sheet composting method also known as Lasagna gardening.

For fertilization, I’ve applied an organic garden fertilizer with a 3-4-4 NPK ratio twice so far, and everything is looking healthy and vigorous.

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So Far, So Good! 👍

The garden’s off to a promising start! If things continue like this, we’re in for a bountiful summer. I’ll share more updates soon — especially once those first tomatoes start to ripen!