Tomatoes & friends
Eggplant
Heat lover; spring and fall plants.
- Indoors
- 6 to 8 wk (Jan, again May)
- Outside
- Mid Mar to mid Apr, again Jul
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Deep weekly soak; drought turns fruit bitter
- Harvest
- Jun, then Oct to Nov
Care
- Water
- Deeply and about weekly, an inch that wets the soil 6 inches down, in the early morning; skip any week that brings half an inch of rain, and step up toward 2 inches in August heat. Steady the whole run: a dry spell sours the fruit well before the leaves wilt.
- Sow
- In cells in January, about eight weeks ahead: seeds a quarter inch deep, sown thick and cut to one strong seedling each. Set plants 18 inches apart and stake each at planting, since a loaded plant tips. Start a second bench in May for the July fall planting.
- Start inside
- Heat mat at 80 to 90F, sprouts in 8 to 12 days; eggplant is slow and will not sprout in a cool January room. Under the lights 14 to 16 hours. Out from mid-March to mid-April once soil hits 55F; the fall bench goes out in July.
- Feed
- A heavy feeder, same as its tomato cousins: compost worked in at planting, then a side-dress once the first fruit form. Hold all feeding through the July-August heat, and give the fall bed a light feed once set resumes with the cool nights.
- Ready
- Cut with pruners while the skin is glossy and firm, at about two-thirds of full size; a thumbnail dent that stays means it is ready. Do not leave mature fruit hanging, it stalls the plant. The fall crop picks from October to the mid-November frost.
- Trouble
- Flea beetles riddle the leaves and can stall seedlings: cover the plants until flowering, then uncover for the bees. Colorado potato beetle: scrape the orange egg clusters off the leaf undersides before the larvae get organized.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 5–7 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily all summer, twice a day in a heat wave, water until it runs from the drainage holes; afternoon shade or 30 to 50 percent shade cloth is part of the deal.
- Feed
- Dilute liquid feed on the watering calendar, leached weekly with plain water; hold the feed when days top 90F.
- Sow
- One plant per 5 gallon bag at the minimum; the Texas container guide lists eggplant at 5 gallons and ideally suited to containers. Skip the black bag in full sun, a cooler-climate trick: this sun cooks roots, so shade the bag afternoons.
Eggplant gets the steady heat it wants in Killeen, scheduled like a pepper: spring and fall plants, the fall crop carrying the season past the gap. Few crops ask for this climate and get it.
Growing
The county's bench plan, straight across: eggplant transplants start indoors in January with the peppers, set out from mid-March to mid-April, and the May bench plants the fall crop in July. Spring fruit picks in June ahead of the gap; the fall plants set once September's nights cool and pick from October to the mid-November frost. Pick glossy and young, since a dull skin means seeds and bitterness, and keep the water steady, because drought bitterness sets in before the plant ever looks thirsty.
Varieties
The Texas sheet names plenty: Black Bell, Black Magic, Epic, Classic, Florida High Bush, Florida Market, Night Shadow, plus the slender oriental types Ichiban and Tycoon, and the container guide adds Black Beauty and Long Tom. Pick on days to maturity and fruit size; the slender types that harvest young are the easiest to cook, and any of them grows like its tomato cousins here.
Pests
Flea beetles treat eggplant as the best restaurant in the garden and can stall seedlings outright, so net or cover the plants until flowering. Colorado potato beetle moves in too; scrape the orange eggs off leaf undersides before the larvae get organized.
In the kitchen
Grilling and roasting are the destination: slender fruit halved onto a hot fire, or roasted whole until collapsing, the smoky flesh mashed with garlic into a dip. Young fruit skips the salting step entirely.