The two peppers that I always grow here are 'Gypsy', a hybrid sweet pepper, and 'Corno di Toro', an open pollinated sweet pepper. This year, they are the
only two peppers that I am growing.
'Gypsy' is not at all bothered by our cooler nights, and the plants are very productive. The peppers start out yellow and then turn orange, and finally red when fully mature. The peppers taste good sliced fresh into salads, but they really shine when roasted. Harvest can begin here as early as late July and extends into September in my partially shaded garden. (At our last house the vegetable garden was in full sun; we routinely picked the last of the Gypsy peppers to put into our stuffing at Thanksgiving.)
'Corno di Toro' comes in red and yellow maturing strains. The plants are taller than those of 'Gypsy' and bear much later, but they bear profusely, with longer peppers. As with 'Gypsy', the peppers also taste good sliced fresh into salads, but these peppers are better known as roasting or frying peppers.
Some years I also grow 'Lipstick', an open pollinated sweet pepper. This variety produces an abundance of small peppers which mature red, and which are just the right size to slice into omelets or on top of open baked cheese sandwiches.
As for tomatoes, the only one on the list in the article that I routinely grow here is 'Stupice'. (I used to grow 'Early Girl' years ago, but no longer.) 'Stupice' is a good plant for our cooler evenings, and a good plant for my partially shaded vegetable garden. It is an early tomato but will keep producing so long as there are enough hours of sunlight (which seems to be the limiting factor in my garden). It produces an abundance of small tomatoes which we use fresh.
All of these are great varieties for the SF Bay Area, or similar climates, and I heartily recommend them. (Sorry, I have no experience with them in other parts of the country.)
