Eggplant/Berenjena

Eggplant “Pot Black”

is a compact variety for container growing producing

many 2-3 oz. glossy oval black fruits over a long growing

season. Attractive plants & tasty fruit. Sun.

While the eggplant is considered a minor crop in the US, in the Orient it is more popular than either the tomato or potato according to Dr. Sam Cotner, author of “The Vegetable Book, A Texan’s guide to Gardening” (p. 141). We've found eggplants very easy to grow in our area. I have customers who have had their eggplants growing for several years at a time.

There are a lot of tasty ways you can prepare them. I like to slice the larger ones in ¼ to ½ inch slices and brush them with olive oil and grill them for an easy tasty treat. The long slender varieties are just the right bite-size when fried  using a batter recipe.

Basic Gardening Tips for any Planting

Eggplants, like other plants here, grow best in raised beds. Raised beds provide good drainage. They also grow well in large container pots. We planted each variety in a large pot (5 gallon size or larger) on our patio one year just to see how well each grew and tasted.

Scattering a couple inches of compost in your bed and incorporating into your soil beforehand not only improves plant growth but it will also improve moisture retention in the soil.

We like to use smaller tomato cages and fit them over the transplant when first planted to keep the plant upright when it’s loaded with fruit.

I pick any yellowed leaves from plants and throw these away along with any dead leaves that drop from plants.

Watering 

Water deep and frequently in dry or hot weather. But first check - If the first couple inches of soil are dry, than water.  In containers, water till the water runs out the hole in the bottom of the container, wait a few minutes and water deeply again. Add fertilizer several times during the growing season. Mulching around plants also helps retain moisture and adds nutrients to the soil as the compost breaks down.

I’ve found watering my garden early in the morning rather than late in the day has prevented a lot of foliage diseases and I have less bad bugs because of it.

Insects

“Pinholes in leaves from flea beetles are of no concern,” according to Dr. Bob Randall, author of Year Round Vegetables, Fruits and Flowers for Metro Houston. When watering early in the morning I’ll find pill bugs or roly polys eating on leaves and will flick them off with my finger. When watering,  I’ll spray water on the underside of leaves to discourage spider mites and aphids.

Harvesting

How do you when your eggplants are ready to pick? Some people think you have to wait till they grow really big but that’s not the case. You can pick them small or large as long as their skin is still shiny or glossy. When their skin becomes dull, their color starts to fade or they turn yellow, that’s a sign they are getting over ripe and bitter and should be harvested before then. If you leave overripe fruit on the plant it will slow production down. One plant will produce a huge number if you keep them picked.

When ready to harvest, use a knife or pruning shears to cut the stem right above the eggplant. Wear gloves when harvesting as some eggplants have a prickly stem end.

There are two varieties new to me I'm trying this year - Epic and Pot Black. All the rest are varieties we've had great success with:

“Black Beauty” – Classic big-fruited black eggplant. Large fruits are glossy, well shaped, and perfect for thick slices, just right for grilling, pan frying or eggplant parmesan. (This is the one you see in the store.)

“Clara” (F1) - Unique, large, white Italian-type eggplant. Green calyx. High-yielding & early bearing. Fruits 6-7" long x 4-5" wide. Full Sun.

“Dancer” (F1) Bright neon purple fruits w/green calyx. Plants are strong & high-yielding. Fruit is mid-sized, semi-cylindrical, mild tasting & non-bitter flavor.

Eggplant Epic F1 - Premium quality oval eggplant variety. Fruits are glossy purple-black and average 9" long x 3 1/2" wide. Strong, vigorous, upright plants to 3 feet tall. Sun.

“Fengyuan Purple” - Very long & slender Asian eggplant with fruit 12-18" long. Non-peel thin-skinned beautiful purple fruits. Creamy-white mild flesh w/no bitterness - great for grilling or stir fry.

"Pingtung Long" (Chinese type) - Slender violet-purple heirloom fruit 12-18" long w/excellent mild flavor & tender white flesh. Thrives in heat & humidity w/continuous large harvests. Sun & good soil best.

Eggplant “Pot Black”
Compact variety for container growing. Produces many 2-3 oz. glossy oval black fruits over a long growing season.  Attractive plants & tasty fruit. Sun.

Thai Green "Kermit" - Traditional Thai type eggplant. Small, ball-shaped fruit about 2" across - green marbled with white stripes. Productive. Used in Asian dishes, shish-kebab and grilling. Sun. Good Soil.

Eggplants are low cal, satisfying and are a great source of Vitamin C, potassium, calcium, fiber, manganese, B vitamins and many antioxidants. They certainly thrive in our weather conditions.

Feel free to share your experiences, photos and recipes.
Debbie Cox

Be Happy - Water Smart

Our Zinnias are in Bloom, Yeah!!

Thanks to my wonderful hubby, we have zinnias blooming

in all different brilliant colors in the garden.

Well, gardening in South Texas has its challenges

with the heat and lack of rain these days.

We all need to keep hydrated and so do our plants.

Following are some tips I've learned that you can do too

to keep you and your Zinnias happy.

Tips for Happy Gardener & Garden

 DO

• Add compost and other good stuff to enrich your soil when preparing your garden bed - this helps your soil retain water
• Build raised beds for better drainage
• After planting use 1-2" or more of mulch - spread around the plants after planting but don't bury your plants with mulch
• Use soaker hoses/drip irrigation when possible (with timers in case you forget to turn off the water) less water evaporation
• Water early morning slow and deeply. Over 90% of plant diseases are fungal related so watering early eliminates alot of problems that are caused by watering late in the day.

  

DON'T

• Let the weeds suck out all the water from your plant - eliminate them using mulch immediately after planting and weeding periodically.
• Water sidewalks, driveways, streets or curbs – concrete - no matter how much you water them, they still won't grow

Benefits of Mulch

• Mulch keeps soil cooler so the water doesn’t evaporate from the soil as fast so less loss of water
• As mulch breaks down it adds to the soil
• Keeps weed growth down
• When weeds do come up, they are a whole lot easier to pull out from the mulch - that means less weeds and easier removal

Placing bags of mulch around the zinnia bed in preperation for putting
around the plants. For the most benefit, you have to remove
the mulch from the bags (he he).



Mulched Zinnia Beds. Happy Zinnias!

Happy Zinnias, Happy Gardener!



Garden Basics for Newbie Gardeners

I am so proud of you as a gardening newbie! Remember it’s about having fun and trial and error. Some of the best learning times in gardens is just going through different experiences trying different things. What’s the fun if everything comes out perfect? It’s especially fun for you if you have children or grandchildren to make memories together in the garden now that they will remember all the rest of their lives.

My dad grew tomatoes when I was little and I always think of him when I eat homegrown tomatoes. I always think of my mom when I taste and smell honeysuckle. I wish we’d had an herb garden back then cause the wonderful fragrances would trigger all kinds of memories of them.

Basic Gardening Tips
As a new gardener, I’m going to give you some basic gardening tips in addition to answering your question. I hope I do not overwhelm you – that is not my intention. Take some of the info or all of it – whatever you do will be good.

Mulching and Watering Tips
It’s good to keep herbs & veggies watered and mulched. Mulching your garden keeps the soil from getting so hot and drying out quickly (conserving water). Mulching also helps keep the weeds down and if they do come up they are easier to pull through the mulch. You can buy mulch at your local nursery or garden center. I like the cedar mulch myself. You open the bag and spread it several inches deep around the base of your plants and throughout the flower bed but not right up against the plant – leave several inches clear of the plant stems. It’s not a big deal if some is touching but do not pile in on top of the plant as bugs will get in there and start eating the stems that are covered with the mulch.

You don’t want to over water your plants because if you do, oxygen won’t get to the roots and too much water will smother and drown them which kills the plant. When watering, water slowly and deeply and before you water again check how wet they are by poking one of your fingers in the soil next to the plant before watering again. If the soil feels soggy or real muddy, you don’t need to water. If it’s starting to feel dried out, water. Plants always look much better after a nice rain as rain helps to wash away the salts that build up in the soil. So rainwater tops hose or irrigation water every time. We usually get rain all at once or not at all.



Raised beds shown above before mulching.


Raised Beds
Raised beds also make for a better herb and veggie garden which allows good drainage for plants to grow. That’s important in our soils and in other places as well.

Every year you can add compost to the soil in your beds turning with a shovel or pitchfork or tilling the top 12 inches and the soil will get better and better and easier to work. Don’t expect it to be perfect the first year.

You can tell in our garden which are the older beds as they are a lot easier to work in compared to the newer ones. You wouldn’t believe how much time my husband will spend on preparing the bed but when he does the payoff is really good. As you improve your beds, the improved soil will be able to retain water much better and the healthier the soil the healthier your plants.
Now to answer your question…

Flowering Basil?
Use basil often as pruning encourages it to grow bushier and this prolongs the plant’s life. Basil will sometimes start blooming as soon as it starts growing, but keep the bloom stalks cut off as much as possible. The plants will get woody the older they get and leaves a bit sparser. It’s good to plant basil at different times throughout the growing season to keep a fresh supply. Where we live it grows a lot longer before needing replacement.

So it’s not bad that basil flowers but it’s good to keep them cut – I like to cut the flowers and bring them in and fill containers with water and the fresh cut herbs – it smells so nice and looks pretty.