Garden Newsletters

Sunday, April 10, 2022

The Best Vegetables to Grow in a Food Crisis - Eggplant

In the 2000's food sustainability on Maui was a hot topic. We were told that Maui 
had at best 7 days of food on island. Right now we aren't experiencing a food shortage on Maui - just rapidly rising inflation affecting food affordability.

Aswad

Eggplant is one of the most versatile veggies. There are so many ways to prepare it and it can even be dehydrated to store for future use. Numerous recipes for eggplant can be found online or in Mediterranean cuisine cookbooks like the Ottolenghi series.

Eggplant is easy to grow but does need adequate sunlight, water and fertilizer. Most varieties don't tolerate the rising temps of spring/summer and the intense sun. If you're planting now, I recommend the Japanese Long Eggplant that's available as a seedling plant at the box stores.

Japanese Long Eggplant
2 months from transplanting

I've grown many different eggplant varieties successfully from seeds but I've found this one to be the most heat/hot sun tolerant of any I've grown in Kihei. It's labeled "Japanese Long Eggplant" and I don't know what it's actual seed name or origin is. 

Eggplant is one of the veggies that does well in our Kihei soil and it can also be grown in a 15 gallon or larger container. Here is a link to my post with more info.

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