Allotments 4 All

 :) a thumbs up for Rosa Bianca from me to,also Pingtung Long (grew fine outside last year) and Thai Green , they taste so much better than shop bought ones./ shades x

Quote from: saddad on January 07, 2011, 17:00:11
On the small palm sized ones between 12 and 20 per plant...  :)

being a novice in the kitchen, what uses do you have for them ? ive never eaten one before !

There are loads of recipes... OH does a mean beef and aubergine curry when we get a glut...  :)

Had no harvest last year in greenhouse, so wasn't planning on aubergines for this year - but if anyone could let me have a couple of seeds for Pingtung or Thai Green I'll try them in pots on my south-facing patio.

Tricia

Is sucess linked to growing a set of plants together that allow polination to occur better, i know that my failed years ive had plenty of flowers but only fruit at the last minute. x sunloving

Quoteaubergines are cheap as chips in the shops.

They're always expensive and not very tasty in the greengrocers here!

It's a crop I'd love to have. But I'd always suspected that I wouldn't be able to get anything off them. Maybe one day I'll give it a go, but at the moment it takes all my energy to grow easy crops!  :)

In terms of eating them, I'd say thorough cooking is the secret to tasty aubergines. They're a strange veg in that they taste completely different when well cooked, to when they're raw or less well-done. Even the texture changes from foamy to a bit tough and juicy (that's in a nice way!) You can get that quickly by par-boiling them for perhaps a minute, and then grilling or shallow frying them till brown and fragrant. Otherwise when you're hungry they seem to take an eternity to cook!

My favourite aubergine recipe is with Georgian walnut sauce called Pkhali, gorgeous for summer when there's lots of coriander leaves http://www.aubergines.org/recipes.php?eggplant=736

Quote from: sunloving on January 08, 2011, 09:36:14
Is sucess linked to growing a set of plants together that allow polination to occur better, i know that my failed years ive had plenty of flowers but only fruit at the last minute. x sunloving

I'm wondering about that as well Sunloving. Last year's attempts were worse than the year before! I have no greenhouse, and tried to give the plants wind protection, but I need to get  my thinking cap on to figure out how I can grow them. I had hardly any flowers last year  :'( What do others grow alongside them? Mine were next to cucumbers last year  :-\

Agree with Pigeonseed (again !) about cooking them thoroughlly, I have friends who won't touch them cos of bad experiences eating undercooked aubergines. For other ideas look for Italian or Greek or Turkish recipes, loads of ideas there  :)

i am sorry to hear you all having so much trouble growing them.
last year, i think i had 12 plants and i harvested 45 fruits .

But better get back planting the seeds of the eight different color aubergines i am growing this year.

if want you know the varieties and colors i am growing just ask.

Quote from: plainleaf on January 19, 2011, 20:06:07
i am sorry to hear you all having so much trouble growing them.
last year, i think i had 12 plants and i harvested 45 fruits .

But better get back planting the seeds of the eight different color aubergines i am growing this year.

if want you know the varieties and colors i am growing just ask.

I'm asking!!

Oh for goodness sake.... :-X

white: Casper
orange Turkish orange
green: apple green
red:red  egg
black: black  beauty
orange/green: striped toga
yellow :thai yellow egg
purple :Rosa Bianca

I've grown four of those varieties quite successfully in a cold greenhouse...  :)

I have been quite pleased with Listada de Gandia the last two seasons.

Moderate-sized fruits, up to 10cm and quite decorative (purple / white .. a sort of marbled effect).

I put them outside on the plot in late May under cloches, removing the cloches in late June when the plants are bursting to get out. This is in Berks.

Long purple did better than I expected last year, even fruiting outdoors... suspect it was the very hot June we had pushe d it far enough along... I'll be doing it again this year, four in the polytunnel, four in the GH and a row of 8-10 outside I expect, or more likely a block acros four rows sharing the rest of the space with peppers....

chrisc

Aubergines are an absolute magnet for red spider under glass.

After last year's fiasco I'm never going to put them in the same area as tomatoes - misting keeps the red spider down but encourages blight in the toms.

This year I'm using two covers completely separated - aubergines with peppers - yes, peppers with tomatoes - yes, but aubergines and tomatoes definitely No!