“Eggplants
in containers? You’ve got to be kidding me!” These, if memory serves me right,
are the exact words I uttered when I'd first heard the idea of growing
eggplants in containers. I’d chanced upon one of my not too friendly neighbors while
out for a jog and had struck a conversation about vegetable gardening. I figured
he was just pulling my leg or trying to slow me down- he was struggling to
keep up with me. God! I was wrong! After having debated the subject for almost
half an hour, I expressed my eagerness to check out his container garden. Hard
as I’ve tried, I have, to this day, been unable to forget the disturbing,
triumphant guffaw he’d let out as I gaped at that astonishing sight- gorgeous eggplants
growing in a 3 gallon container!
It wasn’t
too long before I took up the challenge myself. And to be honest, growing
eggplants in a container turned out to be a surprisingly simple activity. Here’s
an account of my own little success story.
I started
eggplant seeds indoors about 8 weeks from the last frost date. I filled the
tray with sterile potting mix and planted the seeds. Eggplant seeds should be
planted shallow, with no more than ¼ inch of soil covering them. I covered the
tray with a plastic sheet and placed it on top of the refrigerator. My main
focus was on keeping the soil moist at all times. The seedlings emerged within
2 weeks of planting and I heaved a sigh of relief. I removed the plastic and
moved the tray to a sunny window. I started fertilizing eggplants right after
they developed a couple of pairs of leaves. I used a 5-10-10 fertilizer and
decided to feed the plants every week. It turned out to be the right strategy-
the seedlings were soon big enough to be moved to individual containers. I picked 5 gallon containers for my eggplants, spread them along the sunlit
sidewalk and irrigated them on a regular basis.
Growing
eggplants from seed is a rewarding process, even for those with a limited
growing space. Give it a go!
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