Why It Is Important to Grow a Garden Before SHTF.

Here's what I think is the Million Dollar Garden Question:

Is this little 4 inch plant or these heirloom seeds I'm buying really the vegetable I have in mind?  Is this thing going to bear fruit that is the size and flavor that I am expecting?  Okay, well, that's two questions, but quite related. 

When I first started gardening last year, the most easiest plant for me to choose was the cherry tomato.  Mostly because I trust the little sliver of paper telling me it is, as well as the picture of what the little tomato will look like.

Eggplants, on the other hand, are a bit harder to figure out at my local nursery.  There was only one eggplant with a picture and that was the large Brinjal eggplant.  That wasn't what I wanted.  I am more used to the slender purple eggplants from Asia.  Last year, the only thing that matched my thoughts were labeled "Japanese Eggplant."  Perfect!  That's the one!  We bought three and with the help of my youngest son, planted our first container garden. 

A month went by and little slender purple fingerlike fruit began to grow.  We were excited.  Then the fruit quit growing at 5 to 6 inches.  Here's a picture:

Wait, that's it?  I let them sit on the plant thinking, hoping for one more growth spurt.  The vegetable tasted the same as what I am used to, but the size was disappointing.  Maybe I needed more water?  Maybe not enough nutrients in the soil?  Maybe it didn't like the coffee grinds I was throwing in.  Whatever I did yielded the same short fruit, now with less frequency because they were on the plant for too long. 

At the beginning of this year, two of the three plants eventually died with the third on life support.  Time to go shopping for another kind of eggplant.  Went to the same place, but this time, they had plants labeled "Filipino eggplant," again with no picture.  "Worth a try."  I told myself.  So I bought just one plant this time.  Here's the result:

Now that's more like it!  Since it passed probation, I went back to the nursery for more.  Too bad, so sad, all gone.  Ah crap.  One week, then two weeks went by and still no Filipino eggplants.  On the third week, I was in luck.  Just one scrawny little plant.  I decided to pass.  The fourth and fifth week went by with no success and the scrawny plant was long gone.  Proving patience is a virtue, six weeks went by and FINALLY!  I grabbed three of the best looking eggplants I could get.  With a big smile on my face, you would have thought I had found gold.  Needless to say, the plants including the once sickly Japanese eggplant are doing well along with the cherry tomatoes and bitter melon.

I hope this helps you decide that starting a garden now is imperative so you not only know what kind of vegetables you like, but also how much watering and nutrients they need to grow. 

Aloha,
J.