Fri 2 Jan 2009
People who wrinkle their noses at the mention of eggplant are missing the gustatory delights of one of the best meat substitutes that can be grown in the garden. Prepared in cheese, egg, and tomato casseroles or sliced, batter dipped and fried, eggplant can win over most doubters. Eggplant fruits can be bitter when they pass the best harvest stage and seeds mature. Rarely, however, does a home garden produce bitter fruit, because gardeners tend to harvest eggplants before this point. Each plant should yield at least three to four fruits. Eggplants make excellent container specimens in tubs or boxes.
Eggplant is a heat loving, frost tender, summer vegetable. Because it sprouts and grows slowly from seeds, plants are customarily purchased. If eggplant is grown from seeds, a soil temperature of 75° is necessary for good sprouting.
How to plant
Eggplant seeds sprout slowly; set out transplants after the ground warms up and all danger of frost is past. Space the plants 3 feet apart. If nights turn cold, protect the plants with a covering
Care
Feed and water these as you do peppers. If you starve eggplant bushes or let them dry out, the fruit set
will be sparse. Restrict the number of fruits on a plant to six by pinching off tip shoots and removing extra blossoms.
Harvesting
Pick when glossy, dark purple, and about 6 inches long. Use a knife or kitchen shears to snip off the fruits. Wear gloves the stems are prickly. If some of the fruits reach full size and begin to lose their glossy sheen, don’t eat them; cut off and discard the old fruit to encourage formation of new fruit.
In containers
Striking foliage, fruit, and blossoms and a worthwhile yield from a single plant make eggplant ideal for containers. Choose a tub or box with a capacity of at least 2 cubic feet.
