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AUBERGINES ARE A problematic veg to grow, tending towards being unreliable. In my experience, some years even a healthy looking plant won’t provide much food.
But nevertheless they are a compact and bushy plant, so you can always pop one or two in to a pot or in the soil in your greenhouse or polytunnel.
If it works, they are a delicious treat. Most of us are familiar with the beautiful, glossy black aubergine but you can also try growing pink, white and even orange fruits. This is a great time of the year to sow them as they benefit from a long growing season.
They require a reasonably fertile soil, good ventilation and a long growing season. You need to sow them as early as possible, certainly by mid March. Sow five seeds in a 9cm pot and place it on a warm sunny windowsill or on a heated propagator.
They will need temperatures of about 18-20 degrees Celsius to germinate. About a week after the seedlings have appeared, prick them out and put each seedling in a 7cm pot. About a month later (when 5cm high) pot them on again in to 10cm pots.
Aubergines are a tropical plant, so they won’t do well outside in Ireland. Plant the aubergines out in to the polytunnel or greenhouse in May – only do so if the weather is mild and all risk of frost has passed.
Allow 45cm between plants (though there are dwarf varieties available that can be planted 30cm apart). You could also try planting them in growbags or large pots (20cm). Water regularly – they like humidity. Don’t allow the plant to get taller than about 50cm – if this happens, pinch out the growing tip which will encourage the plant to become bushy. Fruit bearing branches may require a support stick.
Harvest the fruits when they are a good size and shiney.
Recommended Varieties
Black Beauty, Rosa di Bianca.
Problems
Unfortunately aubergine plants are prone to a range of problems including whitefly/greenfly attacks blossom end rot and grey mould. An occasional garlic spray will help and will make the plants more vigorous. Interplanting with marigolds will deter whitefly.
Tips
1. It is wise to restrict each plant to producing about five fruits. Remove other fruits as they develop.
2. Feed every two weeks or so with a tomato or comfrey feed when the fruit starts to set.
Aubergines are not in season now so this might be a recipe to file away until late summer when they are at their most nutritious and tasty.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Get yourself a large pan, pour in a couple of lugs of olive oil, and place on the heat. Add your aubergine chunks and oregano, season with a little salt and toss around so the aubergine is evenly coated by the oil.
Cook on a high heat for around 4 or 5 minutes, giving the pan a shake every now and then. (Depending on the size of your pan you may need to cook the aubergine in batches.)
When the aubergines are nice and golden on each side, add the onion, garlic and parsley stalks and continue cooking for another couple of minutes. Feel free to add a little more oil to the pan if you feel it’s getting too dry. Throw in the drained capers and the olives and drizzle over the herb vinegar.
When all the vinegar has evaporated, add the tomatoes and simmer for around 15 minutes or until tender. Taste before serving and season if you need to with salt, pepper and a little more vinegar.
Drizzle with some good olive oil and serve sprinkled with the chopped parsley leaves and the almonds if you like.
Michael Kelly is a freelance journalist, author and founder of GIY.
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No border ever ……….its our island ….
Stand up and be counted….
@Aiden Galvin: I’m standing up. What happens now?
@Honeybadger197: sit down lad i cant see
@Aiden Galvin: It was your idea man!
@Honeybadger197: i know i know but your taller then i expected
@Honeybadger197: just waiting on some Gardai to come and count.
@Aiden Galvin: you and honey are hilarious I vote the pair of you decide on 3 options and we vote on the one we like best? Good poll for a change.
@Father Hody Commody: can they?
@Aiden Galvin: Leo’s unique is sounding very like Sinn Fein’s year old special status calls. Bit late but at least he is trying to catch up.
“the issue of the border continues to be a vexing one, but says that a solution is needed”
We’re spending €5 million a year so he can be Captain obvious and come out with that kind of sentence!
The division between north and south post-brexit will be an EU land frontier. So long as the UK also departs from the customs union, then the border will be a trade border.
This affects not only consumers who will have limits (300 EUR a day or whatever, much like as at the airport, and as it used to be) but also companies who must declare their imports and exports for customs tariffs, VAT refunds and regulatory inspection.
There is scope for free movement of people, as is the case in the Schengen area. Several non-EU countries are part of the Schengen and can move across borders without passport or ID controls, but the goods remain tax and duty liable.
I lived some years in the south of Germany close to the Swiss border, also an EU frontier. Thanks to Schengen, people can move. Goods cannot. It’s awkward, restrictive but it’s the way it has to work.
Bandying this word “unique” around just tries to glorify the position.
There’s no way in hell the Brits would join Schengen, or anything similar.
@Pied Piper: we have a common travel area that existed long before the EU came about and this has to be maintained…..schengen isn’t needed
@Pied Piper: Well said and I might add that it is probably “one bottle and 200 cigs” that you are allowed – no more Christmas drinks shopping allowed under current EU rules,, and what about the trade in bringing in second hand cars from the UK? Will they require customs and VAT be paid as well as VRT – same rule as shipping second hand cars from Japan?
On another front, the shops in Paris will not want the free movement of goods between Ireland and Paris if we also have the free movement of non duty paid goods from Northern Ireland.
Do people remember when you could not even bring in a pound of butter? The EU have rules about employees conditions and item production etc., that are enforced within the EU to put all competitors on a equal footing, the Northern Ireland exit could give unfair advantage to the UK to use “cheap” labour to produce cheaper “inferior” goods as they would no longer be compelled to comply with EU rules and the EU would have to impose restrictions which cannot be implemented without some sort of stopping and checking the contents of vehicles and items carried by travellers travelling to and from the EU.
This “we will not help develop a solution” attitude is really saying that there is no “unique” solution to the problem or put another way “I do not know how to fix it but… if I keep my mouth shut then I can blame someone else”.
Ireland still have passport controls to other EU countries so we can retain the free movement people between Ireland and the UK – and that is easy cause we will not have a land border with other UK states – and this could permit the re-introduction of pre EU membership controls (checks) being introduced on good entering the EU from Ireland if we do not step up to the plate and implement controls on good entering Ireland – not that would be a “unique” solution which, in a nut shell means that if the the UK does nothing the ball will end in our court to do the impossible.
@Cathal and @diarmaid I know, I wasn’t suggesting that as I know hell would first have to form a thin layer of ice on its surface. I was saying that travel arrangements can exist beyond the EU membership. Iceland is another example.
The only end result I can see is a customs border, with free movement of people. Any freedom of goods into Ireland would mean the loss of import duties and VAT a) for Ireland and b) for all other EU countries whose companies would use Ireland as a channel in and out of the UK – there’s no way the governments of those countries would have that – and the EU being the EU, these governments will all get their say on moving forward – Ireland isn’t negotiating for itself here.
Timeline, FF making the most of the whole weekend of publicity with their Ard fheis, spewing out bs on everything they can think of from SF to scientology. FG 5 million euro PR unit says we can’t have that, we must think of something to say, quick, so leo’s got a unique brexit border solution, well what is it? They say, we’ll tell you some other day!
Leo Varadkar solves the “Irish Question “can’t wait to hear this solution
Brexit will never happen. I wonder how all these officials occupied their time before there was any mention of Brexit!
Well given that Verhofstadt called the border an illogical absurdity (an Belgians know all about surrealism) a border that goes through Mrs.Murphy’s kitchen outside Clones can not clearly be the external border of the single market…unless they want it wide open to the birdies. So Varadkar is just stating the bleeding obvious. There will be a special arrangement for Ireland as a whole and that is that.
@John Sullivan: plus the whole preexisting common travel area we have with the uk which predates the EU needs to be recognised too.
Amusing to see the cynical eurocrats using the internationally recognised border as another stick with which to beat the British on Brexit – as if they cared.
Just to bring matters back to reality. If Brexit does in fact happen. There won’t be anything special about Ireland. There will be a border. There will be border control. Varadker has neither the age or experience to say anything else. The civil service are the people who know. Varadker can spout idiotic soundbites all he likes, but he hasn’t a clue.
@Father Hody Commody: Very true but it will be the Belfast gombeens controlling it, not Varadkar….
Can we cut Northern Ireland out and push it towards Scotland?
Unique? Great big wall?
Very simple answer to the border. “get out brits”
An Irish solution to an EU problem, we will simply operate the notional border on a purely notional basis, repeat notional not national.
As long as the British pay for the border systems & infrastructure outlined on whatever map, avoid putting anything in place to shoot at, make sure the British & Irish paperwork, & import export tables tally( nice job for redundant Brussels staff), sure everyone will be able to carry on regardless. Carry on Regardless, a British comedy,& an apt motto for the Irish version of Brexit.
The practical reality is that the only effective way to monitor the movement of goods & people is at the UK arrival points, if they really want to do it.
I love the buzz words “ relationship is fragile “
Meaning : oh sheeeeeit is gonna go down!!
At least Varadkar has finally said something sensible it, eventhough we don’t want a border he shouldn’t leave it all up to the British god knows what feckin mess they’d make of it – I just hope the EU gives them such a big divorce bill for Ireland that thy finally decide to up sticks and leave permanently.
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