Because Gypsies are straight, they can be stuffed, though they don't hold nearly as much stuffing as bell peppers. At Charleston's Capitol Market, Bostic Farms has Gypsy peppers and Gritt's Farm usually has them, too. Stadler Greenhouses has usually carried them. Last year, I set out a single La Parie Italian sweet, which grew into an enormous specimen, yielding more than 40 large red peppers, the harvest prematurely cut off by an extra-early fall freeze. Peter Freed of Roane Grown will offer a variety of specialty peppers, specialty tomatoes and specialty eggplants by about May 1.
Eggplants are a finicky plant, hard to get started, and best attempted by the meticulous grower.
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