Start Planning a Vegetable Garden

Light Requirements

Vegetables, like many flowers, need lots of sunlight to thrive and produce tasty vegetables. Most vegetables need full sunlight, which gardeners define as six or more hours of sunlight per day. This direct sunlight stimulates the plant’s cells to produce the food it needs through photosynthesis to build a strong root system and produce fruit.

Many people are confused about what type of light they have in the garden. Try this simple test. Pick a day when you’re home and can observe the garden. Take a look at the garden area you want to grow vegetables in first thing in the morning, and write down whether or not the sun is actually touching the ground. Look for full, bright sun, not dappled sunlight filtering through tree leaves. Now set a kitchen timer or alarm clock and return to your observation once an hour or once every two hours until dinnertime, marking down how much light the spot in the garden receives. Then, add up all the times you saw direct light. This will give you an idea of whether you’re working with full sun, partial sun or shade.

While you can grow some vegetables in partial sun, most will struggle. If the entire yard gets only partial sun or shade due to immovable objects like garages, homes, or trees in neighbors’ yards, look for a place that gets bright direct sunlight and grow vegetables in pots instead.

Irresistable Eggplant

Eggplants were once considered a Sexy Fruit. They were called “apples of love” by the Portuguese and Spanish . Medieval Europeans believed that eggplant was an aphrodisiac.  Botanists once classified them as ” Mala insana,”  -”mad apple,”- there was a belief that consuming Eggplant would cause insanity.

In modern times they serve as an excellent meal, and are quite frequently used as a meat substitute. They are a favorite of many North American Gardner’s

Planting Eggplant

Eggplant grows best in a well-drained sandy loam or loam soil, fairly high in organic matter.

Start early indoors in peat potsor cell packs

Rows should be 3 to 5 ft. apart. Plants should be 2 to 3 ft. apart

Transplants should be 8 to 10 wks old and slightly hardened, grown in 2 inch. or larger pots.

The outdoor environment can be very harsh for a transplant. So, harden the transplants before planting outdoors to increase their survival rate. Place them outdoors in their original containers where they will receive direct sunlight and some wind for a few hours each day for a week, possibly more.. Gradually lengthen the amount of time outside each day. Move the plants inside at night .