Growing garden eggplant
Ihave mentioned in my articles that I have a few small raised bed vegetable gardens at home. The square footage of the gardens is rather small, but I harvest enough vegetables for our needs. A few years back, I did grow eggplant with positive success. My youngest daughter, Lindsay, did a fabulous job of preparing eggplant parmesan from the harvest. Flea beetles can be an issue with the plants, but I had no visible issues that season. If you wish to try something different in your vegetable gardening efforts, you may want to give eggplants a try.
Today, I will be sharing eggplant basics by way of a UGA publication by Malgorzata Florkowska and Bob Westerfield, UGA Horticulturists. I would like to start with a short history lesson on eggplant. Thomas Jefferson is credited with bringing the first eggplant to the United States from Europe. It should not be hard to figure out that the first eggplant looked similar to white chicken eggs. Now, eggplant can come in numerous shapes, sizes and colors.
Eggplant is a member of the Solanaceus family and can be grown anywhere in Georgia. You can have a great harvest with eggplant. I will add that eggplant has been known to be grown in containers as ornamental plants by some people. The recommended purple varieties for Georgia are Black Beauty, Classic and Epic. Depending on the variety, mature range is from 60 to 75 days.
The recommended white eggplant varieties are Ghostbuster, Santana, Snowy and Casper. The white eggplant varieties can have a longer maturity range from 70 to 80 days depending on the variety grown by the gardener. Some people like to start their plants from seed. This needs to be done 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost indoors.
In north Georgia this is typically the end of March. When starting indoors, cover the seeds very lightly with soil and keep them in a warm spot with good light. You may need to supplement light to aid growth and also to prevent the plant from being leggy. Set up lights six inches above the plants and keep the lights on approximately 14 hours per day. You should water the soil using a fine mist to keep the plants moist.
You will need to harden off the plants before transplanting them outdoors in the garden area. The hardening off can be accomplished by leaving the plants outdoors for two to three days, but you bring them back indoors at night. On the fourth day, leave the plants outdoors for 24 hours. When I grew my eggplant, I decided to do a transplant purchase. This purchase can be done locally. Keep in mind that eggplants do well in warm soils so you may want to wait to purchase eggplant transplants after the danger of frost has passed and the weather is staying warm with sunshine.
The soil temperatures should be in the 65-70 degrees F range before planting the transplants. Make sure the planting spot is well-draining of excess moisture and the area provides 8 to 10 hours of sunlight each day also. Ideally for any vegetable gardening efforts, you should take a proper soil sample and submit to the UGA Soil Test Lab for $9. We have soil probes that can be borrowed for collection efforts. We can provide you steps for how to complete the process.
If you choose to not conduct a soil test, you can fertilize eggplant with a complete fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 13-13-13 at the rate of 3 pounds per 100 square feet of garden. You should spade or till the soil to a depth of at least 6 to 8 inches. Our information states that you can also add organic matter in the form of topsoil, compost or bagged amendment and incorporate into the native soil to better the results. It is also recommended that after the amending and tilling to level the soil with a rake.
I grew may eggplant in a raised bed and our information states you can do this also. Plant your eggplants in a row and space them 18 inches apart with 30 inches between the rows. The plants as they grow may need some sort of support system. Tomato cages can be successively used for support. It is advised to mulch the plants to help conserve soil moisture and also to reduce weeds. Weed free grass clippings, straw or wood chips can be used for mulch. Do not forget water needs for eggplant.
You should water as needed to a depth of six inches with drip irrigation when possible per Florkowska and Westerfield. Eggplants need 1 to 2 inches of water per week. Harvest when eggplant develop a shiny skin and feel firm when squeezed. You should cut the fruit with a sharp knife or pruners. Make sure to never twist or break the fruit from the stem. This can limit future crop production.
Eggplant can produce up to first frost. Eggplant should be used soon after harvest since it is a highly perishable item. One tip is to store eggplants in a paper bag in the coolest place in the house for up to two days. In the refrigerator, eggplants can store for approximately five days.