Long Purple Eggplant
Growing couple of eggplants on a deck, verandah, or porch is an enticing dream for any gardener in the summer. In India, this vegetable comes in many shapes and sizes: small, long, fat, oval, round, green, white, and dark purple. It is widely used in many dishes in south India – from simple curries, sambar, chutneys, and even in pickles. People keep the sun dried eggplant slices safely stored for preparing out-of-season tasty dishes. If one is not allergic to this simple vegetable, one can enjoy this modest native vegetable throughout the year. Both in south and north India, I have tasted very delicious dishes out of this vegetable. The large round ones (weighing almost a kilo) are ideally suited for making vankayi pachchadi (వంకాయి పచ్చడి). They can be cooked (baked) in an oven or fireplace or red hot coals. Cooking eggplants or sweet potatoes on the hearth in a fire place is a pleasant diversion during the chilly nights in North America. Near Visakha, we used to roast cashew nuts in fire (made from old newspapers) on idle Sundays. I can still recall those middle school days vividly even now. Our drawing teacher (those were really simple days, we never had fancy art teachers – just drawing master, music teacher, or craft master) asked us to make a pencil drawing of a long curvy eggplant. And then we had to color it using crayons. Some colors really catch our eyes and their intensity remains forever on our retinas (mind). Of those, I will always remember eggplant color and the yellow of tamarind flower.
This writer has grown many things - tomatoes, bell peppers, string beans, mint, coriander, pumpkin, melon, sun flowers, gongura (గోంగూర), cauliflower, potatoes, etc. But this is the first time I have attempted to grow the long purple eggplant (the farmer introduced these as “little fingers”) in containers. Many years ago, Gora used to exhort people to grow vegetables in front of offices and collector bungalows. Those were really hard days, India was struggling with limited wheat and rice crops. There is some value in that, i.e., growing valuable food in limited space or vacant (idle) city land. He might have went too far in his rationality. Flower plants also do extreme good, they promote happiness and health around.
This time I resorted to container vegetable gardening out of sheer necessity. On the ground the writer has to wrestle with squirrels, rabbits, deer, and other animals. So, that is the paradox of life: Like the line, “Water, water everywhere/But not a drop to drink”, plenty of space to grow, but very little protection from a squirrel bite. At least above ground, I have been able to fence off some area and enjoy flowers and vegetables. At the farmers market, we got a six pack of eggplant seedlings for a dollar. Now, the tricky job is to grow at least six long shiny purple eggplants in the limited short summer season here. Is it possible to bring this fancy gardening to fruition without throwing loads of money? I want to beat my Bengali Cornell friend in this game. It is feasible with a bit of sensitive touch and dirty hands.
We used some leftover plastic pots. Just recycled the old ones. I could have used old broken plastic pails, juice cans, or gallon milk jugs. In principle we can use any container for vegetable gardening. The containers do not have to be pretty. For a flower plant, I may be a bit choosy, just to bring out pleasing color and style. Layered the bottom with some old pine needles, bark, and coconut shell pieces. I avoided using heavy rocks or crock; that keeps the pots a bit light. In containers, our main problems are twofold. One is to provide sufficient drainage for water. This is essential when we get soaking downpours in summer here. The second one is to give plenty of nutrients for the plant. I collected high quality compost from the county’s recycling yard. So, a bit of compost, some top soil, and a shovel of organic manure – that is enough for eggplant. If needed, we can add a bit of sand to keep the soil loose. Fully decomposed compost is easy to recognize: It is dark black, loose and free of lumps.
The eggplants were transplanted into 9” – 12” diameter plastic containers. Before transferring, I scored/scratched the roots a few places. Otherwise, the root bound plant tends to be lethargic and does not spread its root system easily in the container. All the plants at present have at least one eggplant; some have six or seven hanging from their stems. Most of the leaves (except the oldest ones at bottom) are dark green and there are good number of flowers ready for pollination. Eggplants have both male and female flowers on a single plant. I have noticed one bee coming and going around each flower daily. So, that saves the need for any hand pollination. Anyway, which farmer can hand pollinate each plant? Once the frost starts, I will have to bring them indoors to save the last pick of the crop. So far, this exercise seems to be profitable. No pests, not even the Japanese beetle. Not bad for a dollar. Of course, plenty of care, watering, fertilizing went into it. But these slender eggplants are a rare treat in northeast and the view across a glass window is wonderful. Used 24-8-16 garden fertilizer solution twice a month. A bamboo stake helps the plant from the downward pull of heavy eggplants. In the fields here, farmers just leave the plants without any support.
I wish we had attempted growing eggplants in our garden during my childhood. For some reason, we did not try. But I did remember seeing eggplants in our drawing master’s garden. He had a nice collection of tropical trees like drumstick, sapotas, date, and curry leaf. There in India too, one can buy the seedlings in a farmers’ market. We can grow from the seeds but they need to be transplanted for good results. Here in cold climates, our troubles are many. A short growing season, lack of sun light, too much rain, or bugs. (I must remark in passing, right now even the coastal farmers in India too are going through hard times due to drought. Tough life for farmers, always, everywhere anywhere.) The growing season can be extended a bit by starting transplants indoors in the beginning. One can try a transparent plastic cover in the fall to extend the season for a week or two. In principle, we can save one healthy fruit (eggplant) for seeds. We tried saving for seeds for other vegetables like white pumpkin, snake gourd, gongura, thotakura (తోటకూర), spinach, etc., with good results.
Due to the wet summer this year, I did not have to water the plants frequently. Sometimes, the plants went without watering for three or four days at a stretch. On hot days the leaves exhibit a bit of wilting but soon they recover during the cool nights. The conventional eggplant, found in supermarkets here is the large variety. My friend used to call it as the ‘buffalo eggplant’ due to its enormous size. When we grow these vegetables personally in our gardens, we tend to pick them a bit early, so the eggplants are soft and have fewer seeds. Some people are allergic to the seeds. In India, I did not come across an eggplant (the ones found in markets) with thorns on the stem. But here, most eggplants have one or two thorns on the green stem (is it pedicle?). I did see some wild eggplants (ones that grow in abandoned fields) in India with thorns. Nothing very bothersome but something that need to be watched while slicing the fruit (vegetable) for cooking.
In the early days I hardly cared about these blogs. Many were written spontaneously to encapsulate a particular theme. But I was pleasantly surprised when some of my blogs (a post on Curry Leaf Plant, a blog on a famous carnatic song) attracted thousands. Still, it does not mean anything nor does it prove any hypothesis. Perhaps, some readers find them useful. Or, one of my blogs might have inspired someone to grow a curry leaf plant or venture into singing.
In any case, the writer is obliged to all such anonymous readers. I hope they will continue to find these ruminations worth reading. Whether the article is on music or gardening, it is always written from real first hand experience. In that sense, these blogs are authentic, a genuine distillation of many hours, days, or even months of effort and toil. Copyright 2009