Eggplant Grown Fresh in Your Own Garden
by John Yazo
Eggplant with there beautiful purple flower and glossy fruit that can be in a variety of colors are not only a vegetable, but an excellent ornamental plant that can be included as a part of your edible landscape. They can be grown in pots, window boxes, containers and the traditional way that they are most known to be grown in, the garden.
Giving your eggplant a head start by starting to grow them as transplants indoors is a good way to give them the time they need to mature, they need up to 150 days to produce a mature fruit, depending on the variety you choose to plant.
Either way you choose to plant eggplant, indoors or out, you should soak the seeds for 12 hours before you start to plant. This helps to encourage the seeds to germinate. The seeds need to be planted and then covered with about 1/4 inch of soil or media. When planting indoors place a growing heat mat under the containers and keep the temperature between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit for about 8 to 10 days until they germinate and sprout. Then transplant the seedlings into individual peat pots once they have reached a height of 3 inches and leave them in a warm sunny location, keeping them watered. Once the outside temperatures have reached 50 degrees Fahrenheit at night you can start hardening off the plants. Once your plants are hardened off you can transplant them into larger containers if needed. The temperature outdoors should be for both soil and air 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Raised beds are the best method of gardening if you want the soil to warm earlier in the season.
Once the temperatures have gotten to where they need to be, you can transplant the eggplant to there permanent location outdoors. Eggplant need room to grow. Space them in the garden 2 1/2 to 3 feet apart and in rows 3 feet apart, water well and give them a feeding of compost or manure tea. Mulch heavily with an organic mulch once you have finished.
Eggplants are ready to harvest once there skins turn shinny or glossy looking, this is at between 1/3 to 2/3 of there fully matured size. A way of testing the skin to see if they are ready is to press on the skin, if the skin doesn't spring back then that means they are ready to be picked. Harvest by cutting the fruit from the stem with a knife or pruning shears.
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