A few things about Eggplant...

[Grub]

Hi Cosmic,
Which eggplant varieties are you growing this season? I tried a Russian mix from Diggers two seasons back and now, having read this thread, I'm all fired-up to try some other eggplants in pots.

The little striped orange ball-type eggplants,which looked a lot like a tigerella tomato, were great eaten raw like fruit.

Love the Japanese methods of cooking eggplant, especially grilled with miso and in underlying dashi broth. The small green bitter eggplant balls are a must for a real-deal Thai green curry. Like big ones sliced, layered with veal and heirloom tomato sauce, topped with small amount of mozzarella and baked.

Mostly, we barbecue eggplant on the chargriller or hot plate with the slightest spray of oil, along with zucchini and squash and sweet peppers or capsicums. Chop them up, add balsamic vinegar, S&P, handfuls of fresh herbs. Serve with grilled meats.

Take leftovers to work for lunch. Reheat other leftover veggies with homemade heirloom tomato sauce, hot pepper, handful of basil and toss through small amount of pasta. Mmmmm. Healthy and filling.

My tomato and hot pepper pot culture is going so well this season now all I need to do is add eggplant to the mix next year.

Good growing to one and all,
Grub

[Althea]

Thanks for the link Mischka. I didn't realize how many plants in the Solanaceae family I've been growing. Last year I had tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, borage, nicotiana, datura, brugmansia, and browallia. This year I plan to also grow salpiglossis, and a new one in the SSE catalog, non-edible Solanaceae mamosum, "Nipple Fruit". Altheo picked that one.

A neighbor who grew the Japanese variety last year said they did well in this area and tasted great.

My favorite eggplant recipe is moussaka.

[Cecilia_MD7a]

I don't know why people complain about the taste being bland - eggplants are like tofu; they seem to soak up the flavor of anything you cook them with/in.

Last year I tried Fairy Tale hybrid and was a little disappointed in it - it just wasn't that productive for me, and since the fruits were so small, I felt that I never had enough. I don't think I'll grow them again this year.

For some reason, the two varieties that have done the best for me are hybrids: Neon and Lavender Touch. I've also grown Black Beauty, Burpee Hybrid, Casper, and Applegreen.

[shelleybean]

I've grown a few varieties but last year I only had room for two Louisiana Long Green plants. From these two plants, I picked at least 40 eggplant! The longer, Asian types seem to produce more fruit than the globe shaped Italian varieties for me. Of course, the fruits are smaller.
The funny thing was that one of my LLG plants produced white blossoms and the other had purple ones! The fruit brom both plants was the same.

[giardiniere]

When growing eggplant from seed, is it OK to start them in flats, and transplant to individual pots after the first true set of leaves (much like tomatoes)..... or will they suffer from transplant shock using this method? In lieu, is it better to sow them in the individual pots from the get-go? I'm starting Listada de Gandia this weekend, and was curious.

[shelleybean]

I start them in three inch pots and leave them there the full ten weeks until planting them into the garden. They do fine that way. I see the SESE catalog recommends sowing the seeds in flats and them moving them to three inch pots later, so you can do it either way.

Listada de Gandia is a gorgeous variety!

[nctomatoman]

They are grown exactly like tomatoes - I start them planted thickly in my cell flats, then transplant to 4 inch pots, then to a final resting place. I find that peppers and eggplant are easier to transplant, with a slightly higher success rate, than tomatoes - a bit more rigidity to the stems, and don't get as leggy.

If you like the color of Listada di G but want more productivity in a slender shape, try Antigua (or Antiguan) - TGSC carries it. Fairy Tale is an even smaller version.

To me, perhaps the most beautiful of all is Purple Rain or Zebra hybrids (they grow out pretty much identically). And saved seed gave the same color (in a very limited test).

[giardiniere]

Thanks to Michele and Craig for the help. I had wanted to start them in flats, but then I began to second-guess myself, until I read Craig's original post, that said to treat them exactly like tomatoes. I think this might be the first time I've started eggplant from seed, unless it was years ago. I generally just get whatever our local greenhouse has....... which isn't much.

[EbbMc]

They are grown exactly like tomatoes

Craig: Maybe I`ve been doing it wrong but I do`nt bury the stem when I tranplant the seedling.Do they grow roots Like tomatos?I have not had much luck growing them and am going to try them in a kiddie pool this year instead of the garden.
Also do you have a photo showing that 6 foot eggplant that you could post?
Ebb

[Sorellina]

I grew a white eggplant called Bianca last year from Solana Seeds and it was so-so, both in terms of production and in flavour. That it was grown in dappled sunlight provided by a large cherry tree could have something to do with the former. I also grow Violetta Lunga and it's been very reliable, even in the same dappled sunlight. This year, I'm trying Casper and Antigua. I'm putting them in 15 gallon IKEA buckets that I grew indeterminate tomato plants in (yes, they got too big, lol) and I'm planning on staking them with 5' bamboo poles. I hope that's good enough for our summer thunderstorms.

If any of you would like some recipes, I have quite a few. Some of our favourite ways of preparing eggplant are marinated in balsamic vinegar, garlic, and basil, caponata, parmesana, and fritti. Fritti are egg/milk/seasoned bread crumb batter fried bites.

Let me know and I'll post them in the recipes section.

[Worth1]

I love eggplant; it is the first plant that I grew in the garden that was truly mine and mine alone.
I had to haul water in 3 pound coffee cans that I had put wire on for handles.
I had about 20 of the things and I was about 11 years old at the time.
Last year I grew Florida market and lavender touch they got about 4 feet tall.
They are a good trap plant for insects such as grasshoppers.
So even if you don’t like to eat the things they are a beautiful plant.
There must be a thousand ways to cook the things.
The only bad eggplant is one that has not been eaten.
DID I TELL YALL I LOVE EGGPLANT

[montanamato]

Sorellina,

I love all things eggplant and would love to see more recipes.
I have good recipes for eggplant bhurta and a gratin with balsamic vinegar which is really good.
I am just trying to decide which seeds to start today. I think I will only plant in containers this year as the garden eggplants have a tough time here.

Jeanne

[cdntomato]

Jeanne, have you tried Morden Early bred at the AgCanada's Morden, Manitoba experimental farm. Glenn has it listed, but I may have a few extra seeds. Full size traditional purple eggplant on dwarf plant. Early and hardy.

Also did you get Melfort tomato from eyolf yet?

Jennifer

[mdvpc]

I have had some success with using de (diatomaceous earth) using it by dusting the plant with it. It only works with dry leaves so you have to do it when its not raining etc-if it rains, I dust them again.

[montanamato]

Jennifer,
I haven't tried Modern Early, but I remember considering it...if that counts. It sounds nice. I like the idea of dwarf plants with large fruit. In the past when I grew Applegreen , I would get huge plants with dwarf fruit...

Jeanne