Sowed aubergines! & Thai Green Peas

[veg4681]

Shoot me for announcing this but I've just sown aubergines with strawberry, chilli and hopefully sweet peppers before I go to bed .

According to Nicky's Seed site, it says you can grow from January onwards . It also says something about soaking the aubergine seeds in warm water 24hrs prior to sowing to aid germination. I didn't do this but I can always retrieve the seeds as they're hardly buried, just lightly covered. Does anyone bother with seed soaking for aubergine?

The aubergine varieties I've sown are Diamond, Ichiban, Ping Tung each but leave out the Stripy Egg Plant a little later as they're smaller fruits so don't feel the need to hurry. I intend to grow them outside under cover with some form of heating that I will think up when the time comes. Depends on how the germination goes, I may sow another batch in mid February.

Has anyone grown Aubergine (Thai Green Pea)? Just seen them in Nicky's seeds. Reckon they have even better chance as they're almost the size of peas (hmmm...nice in Thai Green Curry).

[smallblueplanet]

Lol! Its so difficult to restrain yourself from sowing those itty-bitty seeds too early - we looked back thru our gardening diary (an A4 hard-back book) for the past 3 & a half years we've been growing here. We have a heated prop & an unheated g/h.

We'd sown aub seed in a heated prop as early as end Jan. but I think we'll wait until mid-Feb again this year.

2004 - Bought plant June (3" pot) - 6 June planted in g/h - 1st fruit eaten 21st Aug

2005 - Seed sown 29th Mar - 12 June in g/h - 1st fruit 3rd Aug

2006 - Seed sown 29th Jan - 11 June in g/h - 1st fruit 27th July

2007 - Seed sown 14th Feb - 19th May in g/h - 1st fruit 22nd July

So although last year wasn't sown earliest and it was a rotten year sun/heat-wise we picked fruit earliest!

The difference last year was that (as could be seen from the piccy of our g/h in an Undercover thread) we walked the seedlings down to the g/h in the morning and back to the kitchen in the evening. They really appreciated the extra light.

If you want to try smaller fruiting aubs try 'apple green', early, tasty & prolific and okay in cooler climes.

[veg4681]

We'd sown aub seed in a heated prop as early as end Jan. but I think we'll wait until mid-Feb again this year.

2004 - Bought plant June (3" pot) - 6 June planted in g/h - 1st fruit eaten 21st Aug

2005 - Seed sown 29th Mar - 12 June in g/h - 1st fruit 3rd Aug

2006 - Seed sown 29th Jan - 11 June in g/h - 1st fruit 27th July

2007 - Seed sown 14th Feb - 19th May in g/h - 1st fruit 22nd July

If you want to try smaller fruiting aubs try 'apple green', early, tasty & prolific and okay in cooler climes.

Wow SBP I don't think I can compete with your 3/4 years experience of growing aubergines but it's interesting that your trial has been a linear progress even despite last year's lousy weather...just goes to shows, eh? So do you reckon you could break another record this year? I'm starting earlier because I don't intend to use heated propagator which I gather can shorten the germination times . I too like the idea of 'taking the dog for a walk' approach with your aubergines for all the daylight they can get so that they won't be leggy hopefully .

What variety are you growing this year? I'm so tempted to get the Aubergine Thai Green Peas from Nicky's seeds unless I can acquire one from the Swap section. My hunch is that they'll be a winner.

[smallblueplanet]

I'm hoping we might get the aubs planted in the g/h a bit earlier this year, although our g/h is not heated or insulated so we have to be sure its not gonna get very low temps.! Although after planting we have also started fleecing them (aubs, toms & peppers) over at night after planting to give a little extra protection.

If you search for aubs on past threads there are quite a few piccies of various types of aubs we've grown. I'm a bit partial to aubs!

This year we're growing farmers long F1, apple green, rosa bianca (was surprised just how well they did last year and they were early) and ichiban (gotta keep room for the toms & peppers!).

[Two_Sheds]

The thing I've learned to look at is the time you can plant OUT the seedling, then work backwards from there.
for me, the soil is warm enough in April, not before. Therefore, its no good sowing seeds until, say, 8 weeks before that (allowing for germination, potting on and hardening off)
So, I'm not sowing ANYTHING for another month

[smallblueplanet]

Could try putting black plastic over the place they're going to be planted out, that'd warm the soil up a bit quicker?

Here's the old thread with piccies of different aubs - the thai long green were quite prolific too.

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...grow_2125.html

[veg4681]

I'm banking on the possibility of a mild/warm weather by March seeing as we've had a freaky hot summer weather in the entire month of April last year and then there are reports of possible Spring coming early. Doing 'hot weather catching' just in case but if I'm wrong, so be it!...who cares, not me!

[Two_Sheds]

Yes, have a go. Save some of your seed back to try again a few weeks later in the event of failure.

[Alice]

No expert here, but I planted my aubergines Baby Belle in Jan last year. They did brilliantly to start with, on the windowsill, and made little baby aubergines. But the waether went to pigs and whistles and the end result was very poor - well the weather's my excuse anyway. They did do well to start with but died by inches once put into the greenhouse and the miserable weather we had. Will be giving it another go this year. Good luck.

[veg4681]

No expert here, but I planted my aubergines Baby Belle in Jan last year. They did brilliantly to start with, on the windowsill, and made little baby aubergines. But the waether went to pigs and whistles and the end result was very poor - well the weather's my excuse anyway. They did do well to start with but died by inches once put into the greenhouse and the miserable weather we had. Will be giving it another go this year. Good luck.

They look so sweet. Thanks for confirming that you sowed yours in Jan too even though your Baby Belle sounds like a smaller fruited aubergine...making me wonder if I should make a move on Stripy Eggplant soon too.

In our last aubergine related thread, you said you'd be interested to try out Diamond which I had ordered from US but never arrived. Anyway thanks to SBP I've secured few seeds and if you're still interested, let me know although not highly rated by Manda amongst her other superstars so I'm not counting on it much. I'm more hopeful for the eggplant size.

BTW do you soak your aubergine seeds 24hrs before sowing?

[smallblueplanet]

Yahoo! First baby aubergine germinated today - planted on the 2nd Feb, 5 days! Hello little calliope aub.

[veg4681]

Yahoo! First baby aubergine germinated today - planted on the 2nd Feb, 5 days! Hello little calliope aub.

Is that the Calliope I gave you? If yes, then I'm glad to hear the seeds are viable as it has expiry date of Jul 2007 (got it for 25p from car boot sales ).

None of my aubergines (Ichiban, Ping Tung & Diamond) have germinated but the Calliope were sowed a week later than those 3 and still over a week earlier than yours...I told you, yours would germinate before mine. I may try sowing another seeds of Calliope but I won't bother with the other three if they fail to germinate. As disappointed as I am with these three, I'm still skeptical that I'd get decent crops from the bigger fruiting aubergine varieties so I'm pinning my hope on the Calliope.

How long more should I give them before disposing these unsuccessful aubgergine sowings.

[smallblueplanet]

Just double-checked and both Calliope's have germinated, yep they're your seeds.

Have a little gentle poke about yours - how have you got them 'germinating'? Ours are in the heated prop, on the dining table, near the window, room temp is about 18.5C-19.5C. They're in multi-cells (5cmx5cm) on capillary matting to ensure they don't dry out, vents closed.

[veg4681]

Just double-checked and both Calliope's have germinated, yep they're your seeds.

Have a little gentle poke about yours - how have you got them 'germinating'? Ours are in the heated prop, on the dining table, near the window, room temp is about 18.5C-19.5C. They're in multi-cells (5cmx5cm) on capillary matting to ensure they don't dry out, vents closed.

It was a mistake to start them off without a heated propagator (think they've gone duff), I'll sow another one tomorrow after soaking the seeds overnight, may help to germinate faster. Of the three (Ichiban, Diamond and Ping Tung), which one is the smallest fruiting aubs? Is it Ping Tung as it's long. I'll need 4 years of your experience to make aubs work for me so I think I'm giving up on the aubs except for eggplant depending on its performance this year.

[smallblueplanet]

Don't give up, maybe just wait a week or so and try again, it is easier the warmer and lighter it gets and the longer the days are.

The Ichiban is an F1 variety for early fruiting, here's piccies from past postings:

They're not the best shots of the aubs, they don't look at their best, the black beauty is on its last fruit and its leaves have been removed from low down to let air circulate! I'd deffo recommend thai long green, easy, early and prolific, but a little mild tasting for me - run out of seeds, but was from Dave's.

- ichiban

- thai long green, very prolific

- ping tung long

- rosa bianca

- black beauty