Patio Baby Hybrid Eggplant Seeds

Days to Maturity: 45 from transplant

All-America Selections (AAS) Winner 2014

Eggplants in pretty tubs on the patio, or marching up the front steps in terracotta pots. With Patio Baby, it's so easy!

This natural dwarf plant sets fruit all summer long—an astonishing 25 to 50 eggplants per plant—that you pick when it's just a few inches in diameter, tender and succulent. If you love cooking with baby eggplants but can never get enough from full-sized plants—or if you're looking to grow more of your vegetable garden in containers—Patio Baby is the one for you.

Even those who aren't crazy about eggplants will thrill to the mild, rich flavor of this 2014 All-America Selection winner. The fruit is ready in less than 7 weeks from transplanting the seedlings in spring. Just 2 to 3 inches in diameter, they are a glossy purple so dark it looks black. They arise on thornless stems, so you don't have to wear gloves to pick them. As soon as you harvest one, another begins growing to take its place. So easy, so productive, so delicious!

The All-America Selection judges love Patio Baby for its compact habit, its quick finish, and its great productivity. This is a plant you'll never have to stake, and it's simply covered in fruit all summer long. Spring brings small, attractive pale lavender blooms as well, just for another season of beauty.

Expect Patio Baby to reach 10 to 24 inches high and to spread 18 to 22 inches wide. It will fill the container space you give it, without crowding out its neighbors or looking stressed for space. An F1 (first generation) hybrid, it has a high germination rate and is ultra-dependable in any climate, but especially suited for the shorter growing seasons of the northeast and Midwest.

Patio Baby was bred by plantswoman Ellen Leue, who remarks, "Fun new recipes call for baby eggplants", but if you just harvest conventional varieties when they're small, you get very few fruit. Also, the plants get big and are often full of thorns, so they're not a candidate for your patio. We were able to solve both these problems by breeding a prolific baby eggplant that is non-bitter, early maturing and absurdly productive. It looks great in a large patio pot. We heartily agree—Patio Baby is a true ornamental edible!

Begin seeds indoors 8 to 10 weeks before planning to set out. Eggplant is a warm-weather crop, so wait until after danger of frost before transplanting seedlings into the sunny garden or container. In the garden, space plants 2 feet apart.