you know, after all this great eggplant talk I still haven't started mine yet. The tomatoes are already sitting outside--I better get with it tonight!
always a day late and a dollar short here...
=)
Favorite eggplant variety?
Well, I haven't started mine either, but I have 3 months before I can even think about planting them out. So I will probably wait another month before starting eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers. Sigh. Sometimes I envy you people in Houston.
Actually the envelope for eggplant planting down here is March 15-April 28; they will be a little small but I'll probably make it. Peppers germinated in 13 days in the house (heating mats definitely not needed now). My house usually stays between 68-71 with no heat or ac this time of year.
I remember gardening in New Orleans. I got eggplant and okra and bell peppers during the hottest part of the summer. Learned to make ratatouille because of the abundance of eggplant and bell pepper.
We are basically very much like New Orleans--it gets a tad colder here in winter and a tad warmer in summer. I'm inland about 60 miles--New Orleans is a little close to the Gulf.
I think I'll try planting the okra, eggplant and peppers out early this year and keep a WallOWater and frost blanket on them to offer extra warmth. Worst case scenario, they just sit there and grow roots and do nothing else till summer kicks in. It's so hard to tell what the weather is going to do anymore. At least we've had rain for the last few days. Not enought to fill all the resevoirs but it's a big help.
I have a neighbor that swears by those wall-o-waters and they are pretty cool to see. He already has his tomato plants in the ground with them. Mine are outside, just still in pots. He takes a small piece of cardboard and puts it on the top of them if we have a late frost (which we might still have) and holds it down with a smallish rock (about the size of my fist--my fist is small).
We used WallOWaters in the Sierras to get the tomatos started early with great success. I'm just not sure how well they will work on the okra. Worth a try though!
I think Walls of Water will work quite well with okra. My problem with them is getting the walls of water to stand up. We can put our tomatoes out much earlier if we use them, but mine always fall over. I once read an article in Kitchen Garden magazine about a woman who grew okra in main by using a glass cold frame to grow it, then removing the glass when the weather warmed up. That isn't so different from Walls of Water.
Do you put a bucket over the plant and then put the WallOWater around the bucket when you fill them? The base definitely needs to be spread wide to create the tipi effect. I do sometimes put a couple of stakes inside to hold the walls up if I'm stretching the WOW into an oval to cover two plants.
No, I don't do the bucket. Maybe that is what is wrong. I have tried the stakes but often after the WOW is collapsing. Maybe the bucket is what I need! I will try it this year. Our growing season is so short WOW's would help a lot.
Don't know if this will help but my neighbor digs about a 5" hole and props them up on the inside and outside with dirt--then he call's me or another friend up on the cell phone to come hold them while he fills them with water. Then he plants the tomatoes inside. He only grows turf grass, oranges, live oaks, and tomatoes so he's pretty well got it down to an art.
;)
Well, definitely part of my problem was trying to do it alone. Maybe I could make DH hold them? Or maybe the bucket will solve the problem. But good suggestion. I suspect I will try both methods to see which is best for me.
I can set them up alone if I use the bucket method. The transplants are small enough to place an overturned bucket over the plant. I usually use a 5 gallon contractors bucket for the large size WOWs. I put the empty WOW over the bucket, and then start filling the channels about 2/3 full, one at a time, alternating sides. Once all the channels are filled., I pull the bucket out slowly and fill the rest of the channels. Sometimes I have to tug the bottom a little to get it back into round after I remove the bucket.
I will definitely try it. I actually have quite a few WOWs that I have purchased before I gave up.
Has anyone tried Kermit? I thought it might be fun for Shish Kebab.
Kermit Hybrid
Small, ball-shaped fruit are about 2 inches across and green marbled with white stripes. This is a traditional Thai type of eggplant that is used extensively in many Asian dishes for its distinctive flavor. They are also the perfect size and shape to put on a shish kebab skewer, brush with olive oil, and grill. Vigorous plants yield a very generous harvest. 60 days.
I have tried Kermit. It is a Thai green eggplant used for green curries. Personally, I don't like it because it is bitter. But Thai people love the bitter taste and that is why they use it. I think you should try it and decide for yourself.
pajaritomt . . .I grew Udmalbet and it, like Kermit, is bitter. A pretty fruit but nothing I would grow again. Udmalbet, white tango eggplants and assorted tomatoes Aug 2 last year:
Has anyone tried Kurume Long? Looking for a non-hybridized version of Ichiban -type (Ichiban is my favorite...)
I think I may have tried Kurume Long and if I did I liked it. Here is a website with lots of Asian eggplants. It tells you which are hybrids. I remember really liking pingtung long.
http://www.evergreenseeds.com/oreg.html
I also often grow itchiban and like it. It is the only one I can by the plant of in my area. The rest I have to do from seed.
I've heard good things about the ping tung too. Spent 7 years in Japan so I typically go for Japanese just out of habit...wonder how the two compare?
Thanks pajaritomt. I'm not into bitter, so I will skip it. I found Lao Purple Stripe Eggplant in the SSE catalog, and they are small too. I decided to try those instead. Hopefully, they are not bitter. They sure are pretty.
I'm no eggplant connoisseur as I'm new to them. I grew my first ones last year, Ping Tung Long and Lavender Touch. Both beautiful to look at. I think I preferred the shape of the lavender touch better. Silly, I know, but that's what's so cool about growing your own. You're not stuck with what's available at the grocery store.
I also ordered seeds for Rosa Bianca and Little Prince.
I am not sure my eggplant pallet is all that good. I liked ping tung very much but couldn't tell all that much difference between it and Ichiban. But I like the fact that they are larger. Both excellent. Ping tung is from Taiwan, as I recall. It is from a town by that tame if memory serves me correctly. I hope you try it and let me know what you think.
I am envious of your spending 7 years in Japan. I would love to do that. My husband has taught classes there 4 times but I never got to go with him for a variety of reasons. I hope they have that class again. But when he teaches he is in class 8 hours per day and so I would have to be on my own. I have done that in many countries but usually ones that use the Roman alphabet!
Jse was my major so it was kinda required, lol. I didn't travel in Asia nearly enough though. Married a Korean so made it there. I'm sure you'd enjoy it if you can con DH into setting it up so you get the fun too!!
On the Roman alphabet -They purport to! ( Does that count?!)
Yes, I have some books on Japanese and Romanji. I bought them once when I really thought I would get to go. I am not sure how much help that would be for me. But I always try to learn a bit. It just helps deepen the understanding of the trip.
I haven't traveled enough in Asia either. I took a 3 week trip to China once with my mother -- on a tour in 1985. I really enjoyed it, but I understand that I wouldn't even recognize it now.
I also took a 1 month tour of Thailand with my Thai cooking teacher. That was fabulous. I have never been to Korea but I understand it is beautiful. Lovely that you married a Korean and have so many resources to learn Korean cooking. I bet your DH is glad he didn't marry a woman who would only cook hamburgers and macaroni!.
The Asian diet is so healthy!
Know what you mean!! So many of our really healthy habits disappeared with mass marketing. It doesn't make sense to ship much over there because EVERYTHING is right next door!!
It gets kinda funny actually -so few women really like cooking it seems. I do more tha a lot of the Koreans. Just wish I knew more recipes!! Their soups are amazing!!
Wish I knew more about the Thai cooking...
Thai cooking is heavenly, but you have to have an Asian grocery around to do much of it. It depends a lot of fresh herbs -- some of which I grow. Thai basil makes a great ornamental in the garden with its lovely purple flowers. If you want to eat real Thai, you have to be willing to eat hot pepper --- which doesn't bother me too much. I am good up to about 7 on the pepper hotness scale, but I am more comfortable at level 5. Thai's make a lot of yummy meat salads -- like beef, pork, catfish, etc. etc. They are very spicy and are called laab or larb depending on how you transliterate it. Their curries are delicious as well and are very different from Indian curries. And their food is very healthy, also.
I love the herbs but I'm kind of a pepper wuss....don't enjoy the flavor when it gets hot...
I am only good so far on pepper, myself, but Thai food is often very hot with pepper. The best Seafood Tom Yum soup I have ever had made my cry, but I loved ever bite. I even make it myself.
Have you ever tasted Korean Silken Tofu Soup? The restaurant here only just started making it. I can't get enough of it!
Had something similar last night. They have so many varieties though, I'm never quite sure what it is I'm having.
Just looked it up online -had something similar last night at a friend's place. Do something very like that with my extra kimchee juice...have we just hijacked a thread?!
Nice basket there David-- that Udmalbet sure is a pretty eggplant. How was the taste on that one?
Debbie
Yes, I am afraid we have hijacked a thread. Maybe we should start a Korean cooking thread under Recipes. I will do so later this evening.
If you do please include Kimchi. That is hard to come by in Texas. Oh ya my egg plant did finally germinate. It just took forever.
Lisa
Been doing it all day, Lisa!! You just weren't there, lol. Kelly
We now have a new Recipes thread on Kimchi and another on Korean cooking. Please feel free to join us there. We won't take up anymore time on the eggplant thread, which I find fascinating.
Debbie....maybe I didn't give Udmalbet a fare trial. Put a few on the grill, one exploded and the others cooked down inside so much there wasn't much point to them. What I tasted was on the bitter side. Udmalbet is productive but the white Tango eggplants were so good and easy to prepare, that is what we ate last summer.