Let's talk today about a summer crop that can often be forgotten. It's definitely a less

popular cousin to the tomato in the pepper known as the eggplant. So you've got salonum

Americanum and salonum in sanum or in sanum as you might imagine it's a solanaceous plant. So

related to peppers and tomatoes. Very popular rich history feels like a plant that people either love

or hate. There was a time when I did not like plant myself but now I've learned some certain dishes

especially Indian cuisine that I really really like it in and also Thai cuisine. So there's some

preparations that I really like. So let's talk about how to start eggplant from seed can be somewhat

difficult. You want to start it in a perfect world 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost date in

spring. Most of us are past that date right now so you may want to just pick some up from the

nursery nothing wrong with that. Now you really need the soil temp to be above 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

That's why people struggle to germinate eggplant and so get a seedling heat mat and heat it up.

Otherwise you're going to have a hard time. I mean at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit but you might

wait three weeks. So I would say germination in 10 days if you get nice warm warm soil 80 degrees

Fahrenheit or above. When you transplant your seedlings you want to transplant it when the soil is

warm to at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The thing about eggplant that a lot of people forget is it

loves warm soil temperatures full sun 6 to 8 plus hours of sun per day. It's going to love hot

weather. They like it even hotter than peppers and tomatoes. Peppers can handle some heat.

Tomatoes can handle heat but a little bit less so anything below literally 50 degrees Fahrenheit

anything below 50 and they're not going to have a good time. So you're probably going to want to

give them that summer treatment like every other classic summer crop. The sweet spot

if you really want abundant fruit is between 70 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit and it really needs it.

I mean that's probably the biggest tip I have for you on growing eggplant. You will have some

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