Aubergine Seedlings!

[magz.mccarthy]

I read in a magazine a few weeks ago that in order to get the best crop from Aubergines, that it's possible to start them off in January, so long as you have space to keep them indoors (sunny windowsill or greenhouse) till around April. Well I have a sunny windowsill and so long as the boyfriend doesn't mind our bedroom turning into a forest, there they'll live before going to our unheated greenhouse in April.

These are the little fellas now, just starting to show their heads. They went in around the 10th January with a little plastic lid.

Hopefully I've managed to attach the picture!

[janeyo]

Cool

My house is slowly turning into a forest again....

[Rhona]

Try not to let them get too warm though, else they could go a bit leggy. Mine do every year!

[Flummery]

looking good! April is a bit soon to put them out - unless you have a heated greenhouse. They are seriously frost-tender.

[Alison]

Planted mine early Jan last year and they went out into the greenhouse in mid May (I think). The plants were lovely and well advanced but the fruiting was still rubbish in such a poor year. Good luck with yours.

[magz.mccarthy]

Thanks for the advice. My flat is freezing all the time so hopefully they'll not get too warm, and I'll hold off till May too. Remembering the snow in April last year? Mental.

[Flummery]

They need a fair bit of warmth to germinate. It's afterwards that they need to be kept (relatively) cool.

[magz.mccarthy]

Thanks Flummery. You blog is great by the way - the chicken coop looks excellent! I'd love to keep chickens but live too far from the allotment to give them proper attention.

[muslimgrower]

i grew aubergines for 2 seasons now.. and they need heat in September and plenty of it. the ones i have managed to fruit outdoors in September but the mould killed them all.. better under a polytunnel or greenhouse

[magz.mccarthy]

Wow they look great MG, I hope mine prove to be as entuhsiastic as those.

[smallblueplanet]

The aubergine that has been cut in half is 'off', it should not have that brown colour to it - it looks like it has either had too much water or been damp?

We've grown lots of aubergine varieties - if you do a search of the site you'll find lots of pictures and tips on growing.

[Storming Norman]

Hi MM,

I've got baby aubergines just like yours lurking in the kitchen presently, as well as tiny chilies, pepers and a few toms as a try out. They were in the airing cupboard for a week and popped up really quickly. They will need to be potted on soon.

I've learned from reading here, and experience, that a long season is important - they always mature too late to provide a full crop if grown later or even bought as small plants from the garden centre.

I'd like a better crop this year so I planted a couple of weeks ago.

Possibly we will both be well fed up with them in the house before they can be moved on to the greenhouse!

What variety have you chosen? I had stripey ones last year - very pretty but not so fruitful so I'm going for a standard Moneymaker this year.

Ann

[magz.mccarthy]

I planted Diamond seeds from the real seeds company. All of them sprouted, i'm very impressed! They will end up having a nice dark skin and a few aubergines per plant, so i'm hoping to squeeze all the plants into the greenhouse.