First of all, instead of buying seeds, try trading flower seeds for some on exchange pages. Many tomato and pepper growers get hooked on heirlooms and usually save lots of them for the following years' plantings. Always more seed than they can use in a lifetime. You'll find way more information and recommendations on other forums like the Tomato, Heirloom, and Hot Pepper forums.

Here are my votes:

As for the best tomato to eat off the vine and for salsa's: ANY - you can't beat fresh from the garden tomatoes - they are all wonderful when sun-warmed a few steps away.

Best tomatoes for paste and sauces: Principe Borghese, San Marzano

Best tomatoes for beauty and taste: Persimmon (orange), Big Rainbow (striped), Cherokee Purple (greenish red purple), Aunt Ruby's German Green (bright green), Coyote (light orange, cherry size, different flavor than most tomatoes).

Best all around tomatoes that aren't heirloom: Celebrity, Sungold cherry, Big Beef beefsteak, Homestead (best for our hot humid summers), Rutgers.

Best tomato for pretty leaves: Silvery Fir Tree - not one of the best tasting but pretty in the landscape or 5 gallon pot on the deck as a conversation piece.

As for peppers - you only need ONE plant for tons of peppers, I guarantee it, I have a freezer full of what I got on just 3 plants of each last year!!! So it might be better for you to buy one plant at the farmer's market.
Habanero - very hot, orange, Jalapeño - sorta hot,green but better when ripe red, Serrano - hotter than J but not as hot as H.

Remember that hot and sweet peppers will cross pollinate during the growing season - I once ended up with not so great tasting hot sweet peppers and bittersweet J's, so don't plant anywhere near each other, like maybe 1/4 mile away. Those bees are very indiscriminate.

Nancy the nancedar

Shannon - you'll have to do a test run on your first garden at the new house just to see what does best. My garden looks like it would grow anything but some things just fail there. There is only a few hours of strong sunlight each day, even in the summer. Bell Peppers do amazingly well, Tomatoes do ok, Squash does fine some years, Melons fail, Taters fail, Green beans do ok, Snap Peas do fine since they are an early spring crop before the trees have leaved out.

Nancy is right - you can get a kitchen full of produce from a few plants, no need to go overboard. Sometimes a small garden is easier to keep weeded and under control than a large garden.

Heirlooms are great but some gardens have soil full of disease - I can only get a good crop from disease resistant hybrids (mostly tomato, peppers seem fine in my yard).

There are few garden plant seedlings that show up at the swaps and whenever the seed swap happens I'm sure there will be some veggie seeds up for trade.

Shannon,.... I've been told that the thing to know about hot peppers is they don't like to be pampered. Weird but stress seems to help them make a hotter and more flavorfull pepper.

Dana brought me a pepper plant last spring that was good. I can't remember the name of it but we really liked it. I wanted to save it this fall, but didn't get the greenhouse going in time and had already given away the last few to my son before saving any seed... bummer, but Dana said she grows them all the time so I hope to get another this spring! :)

A couple of my fav toms are the Cherokee Purple (as Nancy mentioned) and I also like the little Mexico Midget for snacking in the garden and salads. I actually grow that one in one of my flower beds and it sprawls everywhere and I never have to plant another as every year I get volunteers. I got mine originally from someone in Texas about 8 years ago and it's an heirloom too. I think it's the easiest and most prolific I've ever grown. I gave John and some others plants I think at our first and/or second swap and it took off from there. So someone will have some extras this spring. There's also an heirloom Amish paste tomato that is very good for sauces and salsas. Paste toms are also good for drying, if you like them that way.

One other thing to consider when growing toms is they are determinate or indeterminate. People that can/freeze usually grow a lot of determinate (they come in all at once in a short time span) and indeterminate (they keep setting new fruit till frost) for those that just eat on them through the growing season. So know what type you're growing according to your needs.

If you haven't grown veggies before take it slow. With new ground/soil you might try just a couple new things each year instead of 10 all at once and build up as your soil improves and you learn more about veggies. There are some good forums for garden veggies and seperate forums for tomatoes and for peppers. There's also a heirloom forum with an exchange board! Have fun!

Nancy -usually I swap seeds but with our move this year I don't feel comfortable setting up swaps in the mail. I can't promise at this point I will get things in the mail in a timely fashion. I am planning on making the seed swap in Raleigh. I am hoping to pick up a couple of different veggie plants at the spring swap but I want to hedge my bets.

I didn't realize that the peppers would cross so easily. I can live without bell peppers but I need my hot peppers.

I am trying to take it slow with my "garden planning" and show some restraint but well ha ha. At least I knew better than to make that a New Year's resolution!!

I think the next couple of years will be a source of great amusement as I see which things thrive and what doesn't survive. I might have a bog problem because my yard borders a creek and the yard holds water even with the drought.

I appreciate the suggestions. I'll either order the seeds or try to make it down to the farmers market if I'm not able to swap for the ones I need. I've seen several suggestions for the Cherokee Purple so that one is one my list.
Shannon/Dirtrx

Besides being discovered and named and promoted by our local Mr. Tomatoman (Hi Craig!), Cherokee Purple always seems to win the big tomato taste off known as Tomatopalooza.

Craig usually has seedlings for sale at the Raleigh State Farmers Market in late April.

San Marzano is prolific, great for sauce and canning. I got a packet of seeds for 10 cents at one of the crazy Wal-Mart or Walgreens sales and had tomatoes all the way to frost!
Also tasted Cherokee Purple at the Farmer's Market over the summer and loved it - will definitely be growing that one this year.
With pumpkins and squash, I've had limited success. Some years the bugs are worse than others, and the drought last year nearly did me in. But I will try some butternut this year, since I heard it's a bit more resistant.
With potatoes I've had mixed results as well. Seems the year I didn't try to do anything with them, they flourished and the year I pampered them they did not do as well. Go figure!
Peppers have not done well out at the garden, but have done better in my smaller beds at home.
Green beans were wonderful last year! Cut-shorts produced enough for canning.
This year I'll try eggplant (Enorma) and some new Chiogga beets, as well as the tomatoes, peppers and beans.
Good luck with whatever you decide to sow!

Restraint is good, but I also plant extra seeds (you can keep them in pots) for insurance against critters, weather, etc.

Can anyone recommend English Peas that do well here? Wando, Green Arrow, Freezonian, Tall Telephone are listed as good for NC. I have been using Knight and it seems to not like the heat.

seahorse

Check out the Tomatopalooza[tm] website below for pictures
from our annual festival held here in Raleigh each July.

You'll see examples of lot's of varieties that people grow
in this area.

I would suggest Cuostralee for the absolute best tasting, most
productive variety around here. Tomato Growers Supply sells
the seeds for it, or I may have a few extra seedlings this
spring available.

Another excellent variety that might be easier to find is
Big Beef. Great tasting and prolific with enhanced disease
tolerance. It does wonderful in our NC climate.

Lee

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatopalooza[tm] Website

Debra - was that pepper Garden Salsa? I grow that one every year - well I tried last year, but the deer ate them. But anyway, it's a very good pepper - hot but not too fiery. It's a hybrid though, so saving seed might not give good results.
Dana