Aubergines and chillis

[Saoirse]

I thought that I would have a go at posting some photos of my plants in the greenhouse. The aubergine are "Slim Jim" and seem to crop really well. The round chillis, which are at the moment yellow but ripen to red, are Alma Paprika. The long sweet peppers are a variety called Jimmy Nardello are are really delicious!

Hope they come up alright on the photos.

The Slim Jim have not come out as the file is too big, so I will re-size are put it up later!

I have also put up the harlequin squash: I have one plant climbing up the end of the french bean framework: they seem to like it. And also a pic of the sweet potatoes: no, they aren't a healthy crop of bindweed!!

Nicky

[Saoirse]

Trying again with the slim jim!

It worked!

Nicky

[FoxHillGardener]

They look great Saoirse! All the fab phoots on here have inspired me to have a go at taking some. I'll borrow OH's posh digital camera. I've tried taking them with my bog-standard proper-film camera before and always been disappointed with the results. and , of course you have to wait (and pay) to get them back before discovering they're rubbish

[smallblueplanet]

The slim jim look interesting saoirse, are you growing them in a pot? when did you start them/when did they start fruiting.

[Saoirse]

I'm growing them in an extra large growbag: two slim jims and a zebra aubergine. I did cheat with the plants as I bought them from Simpsons Seeds as plug plants (although you can buy the seed from them). Last year I tried growing from seed (not theirs) without success, so I decided to go for plugs this year. They arrived in about may, and I grew them on for a short time in pots, before planting them into the grow bag. I think that they started fruiting about a month ago, after I sprayed them with seaweed solution and began tickling them with a feather!

The Zebra are also very pretty: violet with white stripes.

Worth growing as they seem to fruit so well: I've grown very big ones before but you really only get one or two per plant, so to get lots of little ones is great. Perfect for thai curries!

Nicky

[smallblueplanet]

Think I'll try the slim jim next year Nicky, might look at simpsons plants too. This year we bought one (black beauty) from a garden centre and it fruited well before our other seed-grown ones (we don't have a heated greenhouse so they start a bit late).

I put some piccies of thai long green on the veggie thread, they seem to grow as lots of smaller fruit too.

[Saoirse]

Your thai green look very similar to the slim jim, but green! I wonder if anyone has grown the "pea" aubergines that are often found in thai green currry. I can't decide whether I like the taste or not. They are kind of bitter abd explode in your mouth when you bite into them. A bit odd really!

The simpsons plants were nice and sturdy and grew on pretty quickly. You have to buy a pack of 6 but can make that up from any plants that you fancy. I got my tomatillo/physalis from them.

Nicky

[Slug]

I'd love to know how your sweet potatoes go - and whether you'd do them again next year! I'm tempted to give them a try...

[smallblueplanet]

I'm not sure I fancy exploding aubergines Nicky!

I like trying different types of aub, but most of all I like eating them.

So because of limited space in the greenhouse they have to grow and fruit quickly and repeatedly. I'd like to try some of the white/purple ones but they might be limited in nos of fruit per plant? So will stick with Ichiban, applegreen, try slim jim and one other....

I find the same problem with peppers - the california wonder has grown two very good tasting 'supermarket-type' blocky green peppers, but it takes up the same space as the cubanelle 'mediterranean-type' long, green, good taste and profuse. What sort of size are your Jimmy Nardello they look similar only smaller and red!