[shokkyy]

This year I had my sweet peppers and aubergines in a polytunnel instead of outside, but still I haven't had a worthwhile crop from them. The plants were slow starting this year and for the longest time didn't do very much at all because the weather was foul. They are now good healthy plants and there are a few fruit, but all are quite small and it's really not enough of a crop to justify the space.

The aubergines I did were Black Beauty and Moneymaker. Of the two, Moneymaker were the tougher and stood up better to the weather, but neither have given me much of a crop. The peppers I did were Big Red (bell) and Rubens (pointy grilling pepper). Of the two, Rubens are a much tougher plant. Big Red have given between zero and 2 peppers per plant, all small, and Rubens between zero and 5 per plant, bigger but still not very big.

Does anybody know of any aubergine or sweet pepper varieties that actually give a worthwhile crop of decent sized fruit in our climate? I hate to give up on them but they really are a waste of space on my past results.

[mumofstig]

pm me your details and I'll send you some seeds of Sweet Spanish Mammoth aka Doux d'Espagne as recommended by the girls at Mas de Diable.
http://masdudiable.com/2010/01/12/pepper-doux-despagne/

mine didn't grow as big as they said, the biggest was 6 ins long, but they are fairly good croppers, more so if you pick them green, you get less if you leave them to ripen on the plant.

[Auntiemogs]

Not sure what you mean by 'a decent size' but we have grown Baby Ann aubergines this year.  Smaller aubergines but more of them and more compact than the Black Beauty we have grown....

[shokkyy]

pm me your details and I'll send you some seeds of Sweet Spanish Mammoth aka Doux d'Espagne as recommended by the girls at Mas de Diable.
http://masdudiable.com/2010/01/12/pepper-doux-despagne/

mine didn't grow as big as they said, the biggest was 6 ins long, but they are fairly good croppers, more so if you pick them green, you get less if you leave them to ripen on the plant.

PM sent. I'd be over the moon with 6 in peppers, that's about double the size of my - ahem - Big Red peppers.

Do you grow them inside or out? At 5 feet tall they'd be a bit big for a tunnel unless I stopped them, but it'd be a lot warmer and more sheltered for them in there.

Auntiemogs - decent size = more than 3 inches long

[mumofstig]

Mine are between 3 and 4ft this year, the smaller ones in pots, the others in the border all in the greenhouses 

[devonbarmygardener]

I've never been succesful with aubergines but this year I grew an outdoor type 'Pinstripe F1' indoors and I have actual aubergines. They are very pretty - white with purple, almost a bleeding pattern rather than stripes.
They are fairly small compared with shop bought ones at the moment - about 4 inches long - but I'm leavng them on the plant tosee if they get a bit bigger!

[shokkyy]

I did have one Black Beauty that got to about 4 inches long, but sadly it was close to the ground and the mice have had a chew on it. I've caught them now, but too late for that aubergine. That plant is taking up quite a bit of space and had just the one aubergine on it.

[stompy]

I've never had a single fruit from an aubergene plant either inside or out so stopped growing them years ago.

Bell peppers on the otherhand i have done very well with apart from last year (got them in way too late).

I tried all sorts of different varieties but found 2 to be the best for me for crop and ripening, they were/are Bell Boy and California Wonder.
I've only had the plant grow to around 18" at the most in a GH and got between 4 to 8 fruits per plant and generally they ripened fully with the odd smaller later season ones being a little green, the fruits grew to the size of the usual supermarket types.
I used to crop the ripe ones all in one go and either roast or char and skin them and store them in either the freezer or oil.

[lazza]

I've never had a single fruit from an aubergene plant either inside or out so stopped growing them years ago.

Bell peppers on the otherhand i have done very well with apart from last year (got them in way too late).

Ditto!

Not had any success with aubergines. Had some pretty flowers but nothing else.

But peppers (and chillis) are a rare success story for me! I increase the number of plants each year and expand the variety. The purple peppers I've grown this year are the best yet - 5 or 6 6" fruit so far with several more to come, and I've loved the hot banana peppers I've grown this year - they are delicious on a BBQ!