Patio Baby Hybrid Eggplant Seeds

Days to Maturity: 45 from transplant

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.

Eggplant is a versatile vegetable that's an essential ingredient in dishes from around the world! It's naturally low in calories, fat, and sodium, yet high in fiber and loads of other vitamins and nutrients, and it comes in a number of varieties that are just as beautiful as they are tasty! Our wide selection is sure to provide something for everyone. If you're not already a fan of the excellent, edible Eggplant, you soon will be!

Choosing an Eggplant Variety

When choosing which Eggplant to grow, you have a lovely variety of colors, shapes, and sizes to pick from! The basic types are globe-shaped, elongated and cylindrical, and egg-shaped, with the possible colors for the fruit including white, purple, rose, green, black, yellow, orange, or red, and solid or striped. The most common type found in North America is the Western or oval eggplant. Its large deep purple fruit is used for stuffing, baking, sautéing, and grilling.

When to Start Eggplant Seeds

Eggplants are best started inside approximately 6 weeks before the last frost or about 8 weeks before you expect the outside temperatures to remain above 60 degrees F at night. They can be sown outdoors only in climates with very long growing seasons, when the soil is warm and all danger of frost is past.

How to Start Eggplant Seeds

Park’s Bio Dome seed starter is a great way to sow your Eggplant seeds, as each Bio Sponge has a pre-drilled hole into which you can just drop one seed—there's no need to thin seedlings or waste seeds! And you have a couple options, depending on how many Eggplants you want to grow—our original 60-cell Bio Dome or our 18-cell Jumbo Bio Dome, which grows big, stocky seedlings ready to transplant right into your garden.

If you're using a potting mix, plant at a depth of 4 times the size of the seed (below a ¼ inch of soil). You can use our convenient Jiffy Pots and Strips—Jiffy Pots are constructed of lightweight, biodegradable peat moss, so as the roots develop, they will grow right through the Jiffy Pot walls and into the garden soil.

You can use a seedling heat mat to raise the temperature to about 80 degrees F, but as the first leaves appear, lower the temperature a bit, to 70-75 degrees F.

Fluorescent light for around 14 to 16 hours a day is also ideal for the fastest growth. You will want to keep the seedlings just a few inches below the light so they don't “stretch ”and get “leggy". If you don't have strong artificial light, a sunny window will work, too—just keep the clear dome on your Bio Dome to protect your seedlings from those chilly drafts.

Germination should occur in 10 to 15 days and fruit should appear in 45 to 90 days from sowing, depending on the variety.

Transplanting Eggplant Seedlings

About 2 weeks before your transplant date work the garden soil thoroughly. Eggplants like a rich, fertile soil with plenty of organic matter so add compost or manure before planting. You can also work in a time-released fertilizer, which can be reapplied every 4 to 6 weeks. Then cover the soil with a tarp or plastic mulch to keep the weeds from sprouting until you're ready to plant. The use of mulch or a pop-up cold frame will also warm the soil, an important step before planting your young Eggplants.

Three to five days before transplanting, you'll need to start “hardening off ”your young plants by setting them outdoors in a lightly shaded area for an hour or two. The next day, give them a longer visit outside until they remain outdoors overnight, still in their pots. Naturally, if a cold spell hits, bring them indoors again to wait for the temperature to rise.

Your plants are ready to be transplanted when they have at least two sets of true leaves. Plant them 1 ½ to 2 feet apart in rows that are 2 ½ to 3 feet apart. Site them in full sun in well-drained soil, where they will receive 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight each day. Water well and mulch to conserve moisture. If you're growing the plants in straight rows, plastic mulch is far easier and effective than loose mulch (such as straw or pine bark).

Special Considerations

Eggplants dislike root disturbance, so transplant carefully.

Eggplants are very sensitive to extreme cold, so after you've planted your seedlings, if there's a chance of a really cold or frosty night, securely cover them with a plastic bucket, plastic bag, or row cover.

Unless you have no other choice, don't plant your Eggplants in the same place you planted Tomatoes, Eggplants, or Broccoli & Cauliflower the year before. These veggies all belong to the same plant family and therefore have similar nutritional needs and are susceptible to similar diseases. Their presence can deplete the soil of important nutrients and possibly leave remnants of diseases in leaf litter the following year.

Growing Tips for Eggplants

• Use a row cover to reduce insect damage.
  
• Encourage the presence of ladybugs, lacewings, and other beneficial insects in your garden. These “good ”insects prey on aphids and other destructive insects. They're available at many garden centers.
  
• Use cages or supports to keep fruit-laden plants from falling over.
  
• The mature size of each plant will determine how much space you need to provide. For standard-size varieties, allow 18 to 24 inches between plants. Smaller types can be placed closer together, perhaps 12 to 18 inches apart.
  
• In order to remain productive, Eggplants need about 1 inch of water per week. A 1- to 2-inch layer of mulch will help retain moisture as well as offer weed control.
  
• If the nights become cool once your Eggplants have been planted in the garden, you can protect them with row covers or a tarp. Be careful, however, not to lay the tarp directly on the plants. You will need to use blocks, sticks, or whatever you have available to form a tent over your tender young Eggplants. You can remove it during the day and replace it at night, or leave it in place for several days and nights without damage to the plants.
  
• Growing Eggplants in containers adds beauty to decks and patios as well as offers a solution if you have limited gardening space or if you simply want delicious veggies within easy reach. You can grow dwarf varieties in an 8-inch pot or a deep window box. Larger Eggplants will need a 12-inch pot or 5-gallon container to allow for root development. Only use containers with drainage for excess water, and choose a potting mix designed for container gardening. Water as needed, especially during the heat of summer and as fruit begins to form on the plants.
  
• Harvest fruits regularly to keep the plants producing. Don't pull them off, but rather cut them off cleanly—pulling the fruit off may damage the stems. If a stem does get broken, use a knife or cutter to remove it cleanly. Eggplant fruit is best used fresh but will keep for about a week if it's loosely wrapped in a perforated plastic bag and stored in your refrigerator's crisper or a cool pantry.

Pests and Problems to Watch For

• Flea beetles, so named for their tendency to jump when disturbed, love Eggplants. They produce a characteristic injury to leaves known as “shot-holing." Young plants and seedlings are particularly susceptible to this damage. You can use Sevin Dust or organic Neem oil to control them.
  
• Aphids are often found on the underside of leaves and on stems and young buds. You can wash them off with a strong stream of water or use an insecticidal soap (be sure to follow the label instructions). Check the plants regularly, as aphids can be a recurring problem.
  
• Mites are extremely small and often not noticed until the damage has been done. A fine webbing on the underside of the leaves may indicate their presence. They thrive under hot, dry conditions, injuring the plants by sucking out the juices, which causes the leaves to discolor and yellow. Mites can be controlled by washing the plants with water every day for about a week or by applying an insecticidal soap to the underside and top of the leaves.
  
• Verticillium wilt can affect Eggplants, Tomatoes, Broccoli & Cauliflower, and Potatoes. A soil-borne fungus that makes the plants wilt, turn yellow, and eventually die causes this disease. Rotating these plants to different areas of the garden every year can prevent this problem.

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Solanum Germination Information

• Sow indoors, 8-10 weeks before last frost, at alternating temperatures of 68 and 86°
• Seeds will germinate in 10-15 days

Grown primarily for its fruit that is both edible and highly ornamental. The vigorous, bushy plants grow 12-36 inches tall and have 9 inch long, lobed leaves. The 11/2 inch, lavender flowers are not showy, but are followed by a variety of showy fruits. The white- and yellow-fruited types are mostly grown for ornamental purposes, while the purple-fruited types are more tasty for eating

Heirloom Seeds are open-pollinated -- they are not hybrids. You can gather and save heirloom seed from year to year and they will grow true to type every year, so they can be passed down through generations. To be considered an heirloom, a variety would have to be at least from the 1940's and 3 generations old (many varieties are much older -- some 100 years or more!).

Hybrid seed are the product of cross-pollination between 2 different parent plants, resulting in a new plant/seed that is different from the parents. Unlike Heirloom seed, hybrid seed need to be re-purchased new every year (and not saved). They usually will not grow true to type if you save them, but will revert to one of the parents they were crossed with and most likely look/taste different in some way.