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By Bobbie Whitehead
Looking for a bold and versatile vegetable that can serve as a main dish or side? Gardeners might want to add an interesting eggplant variety such as “Ivory” or “White Lightning.”
Several new white eggplant varieties this year offer an elegant look to tasty meals and could attract buyers at the local farmers markets.
Among new varieties, gardeners can find the F1 “Ivory,” resembling large white eggs on the vine, a variety introduced by the National Garden Bureau for 2010.
Another white eggplant variety introduced by the Tomato Growers Supply Co. of Fort Myers, Fla., is the “White Lightning Hybrid,” a long, teardrop-shaped variety.
Described as a “compact determinate eggplant with multi-branching habit,” the F1 Ivory plant grows up to 24 inches tall, according to the NGB.
Looking for a bold and versatile vegetable that can serve as a main dish or side? Gardeners might want to add an interesting eggplant variety such as “Ivory” or “White Lightning.”
Several new white eggplant varieties this year offer an elegant look to tasty meals and could attract buyers at the local farmers markets.
Among new varieties, gardeners can find the F1 “Ivory,” resembling large white eggs on the vine, a variety introduced by the National Garden Bureau for 2010.
Another white eggplant variety introduced by the Tomato Growers Supply Co. of Fort Myers, Fla., is the “White Lightning Hybrid,” a long, teardrop-shaped variety.
Described as a “compact determinate eggplant with multi-branching habit,” the F1 Ivory plant grows up to 24 inches tall, according to the NGB.
Gardeners can try the F1 Ivory, a new white eggplant variety for 2010 (Photo Courtesy of the National Garden Bureau).
Add elegant new eggplant variety to the garden for 2010
A good choice for either straight in the garden or in containers, Ivory eggplant fruit range in size from three to five inches and are oval in shape, as noted in the product description. Developed by Vegitalis, a UK company established by Floranova Ltd., Ivory fruit is ready for harvest in about 126 days after planting from seed, the NGB reports.
Also a hybrid, the White Lightning Hybrid is described as a “snow-white oval eggplant” with a teardrop shape. This eggplant fruit grows to seven inches tall and three inches wide and is ready for harvest in 60 days, as noted in the product description.
The “fruit has the delicate, mild white flavor prized by cooks and gardeners alike,” the Tomato Growers Supply Co. notes. “This variety’s taste, beautiful appearance, and productivity make it great for home growing as well as specialty markets.”
But for those preferring a traditional purple eggplant, Tomato Growers Supply Co. has also introduced this year the Violette di Firenze, which is ready for harvest in about 85 days. An Italian heirloom variety, the Violette di Firenze eggplant fruit has a scalloped shape, is “rimmed with white up around the calyx,” according to the product description, and grows to about five inches in length and width.
The eggplant, a native of India, contains many vitamins and nutrients. One unpeeled, raw eggplant offers 18.6 grams of fiber, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database. Eggplant also provides a source of Vitamins A, C and K, folate and potassium.
In 2004, the USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists found that chlorogenic acid, a powerful antioxidant, “was the predominant phenolic compound” in eggplant.
In the article, “Everyone Knows What an Eggplant Is. . . Right?” David Elstein, ARS Information Staff, writes that in India’s literature, there exist “more than 30 Sanskrit names for the fruit.” So how did the eggplant arrive in the United States? Thomas Jefferson, in his Monticello gardens in Virginia, grew plants from all over the world, including the eggplant, according to the NGB.
When planting eggplants, growers should wait until after the last frost and when the soil is warm, according to the Virginia Cooperative Extension. As many other plants, eggplants prefer a sunny location with soil that has adequate drainage, write Horticulture Extension Specialists Diane Relf and Alan McDaniel of Virginia Tech in their article “Potatoes, Peppers and Eggplant.”
Also, Relf and McDaniel suggest spacing the plants about 18 to 24 inches apart with about 30 to 36 inches between rows.
Because eggplants are heavy feeders (plants using significant amounts of nutrients from the soil), gardeners need to fertilize, according to Relf and McDaniel.
“Before planting broadcast 3 lbs. 10-10-10 per 100 square feet,” write Relf and McDaniel. “Use a starter solution on transplants.”
Then, gardeners should sidedress the row, using one pound of “10-10-10 per 100 square feet 3 to 4 weeks after planting and repeat in one month if needed,” Rel and McDaniel write. “When fruits are swelling, apply a high potash tomato fertilizer.”
To try the new varieties, gardeners can find them at the following companies:
1. Harris Seed in New York, http://www.harrisseeds.com/storefront/p-13637-eggplant-ivory.aspx
2. Tomato Growers Supply Co. of Florida, http://www.tomatogrowers.com/eggplant.htm
Also a hybrid, the White Lightning Hybrid is described as a “snow-white oval eggplant” with a teardrop shape. This eggplant fruit grows to seven inches tall and three inches wide and is ready for harvest in 60 days, as noted in the product description.
The “fruit has the delicate, mild white flavor prized by cooks and gardeners alike,” the Tomato Growers Supply Co. notes. “This variety’s taste, beautiful appearance, and productivity make it great for home growing as well as specialty markets.”
But for those preferring a traditional purple eggplant, Tomato Growers Supply Co. has also introduced this year the Violette di Firenze, which is ready for harvest in about 85 days. An Italian heirloom variety, the Violette di Firenze eggplant fruit has a scalloped shape, is “rimmed with white up around the calyx,” according to the product description, and grows to about five inches in length and width.
The eggplant, a native of India, contains many vitamins and nutrients. One unpeeled, raw eggplant offers 18.6 grams of fiber, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database. Eggplant also provides a source of Vitamins A, C and K, folate and potassium.
In 2004, the USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists found that chlorogenic acid, a powerful antioxidant, “was the predominant phenolic compound” in eggplant.
In the article, “Everyone Knows What an Eggplant Is. . . Right?” David Elstein, ARS Information Staff, writes that in India’s literature, there exist “more than 30 Sanskrit names for the fruit.” So how did the eggplant arrive in the United States? Thomas Jefferson, in his Monticello gardens in Virginia, grew plants from all over the world, including the eggplant, according to the NGB.
When planting eggplants, growers should wait until after the last frost and when the soil is warm, according to the Virginia Cooperative Extension. As many other plants, eggplants prefer a sunny location with soil that has adequate drainage, write Horticulture Extension Specialists Diane Relf and Alan McDaniel of Virginia Tech in their article “Potatoes, Peppers and Eggplant.”
Also, Relf and McDaniel suggest spacing the plants about 18 to 24 inches apart with about 30 to 36 inches between rows.
Because eggplants are heavy feeders (plants using significant amounts of nutrients from the soil), gardeners need to fertilize, according to Relf and McDaniel.
“Before planting broadcast 3 lbs. 10-10-10 per 100 square feet,” write Relf and McDaniel. “Use a starter solution on transplants.”
Then, gardeners should sidedress the row, using one pound of “10-10-10 per 100 square feet 3 to 4 weeks after planting and repeat in one month if needed,” Rel and McDaniel write. “When fruits are swelling, apply a high potash tomato fertilizer.”
To try the new varieties, gardeners can find them at the following companies:
1. Harris Seed in New York, http://www.harrisseeds.com/storefront/p-13637-eggplant-ivory.aspx
2. Tomato Growers Supply Co. of Florida, http://www.tomatogrowers.com/eggplant.htm
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