Height: 4 feet
Spacing: 24 inches
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: (annual)
Brand: Ball
Description:
Early maturing and high yielding this mounded variety produces 4” long teardrop shaped white fruit; wonderful in patio containers and gardens; tender and non bitter, delicious for grilling, pickling and roasting; harvest often to encourage new growth
Edible Qualities
Gretel Eggplant is an annual vegetable plant that is commonly grown for its edible qualities, although it does have ornamental merits as well. It produces clusters of white oblong eggplants (which are technically 'berries') with creamy white flesh which are usually ready for picking from mid summer to mid fall. The eggplants have a sweet taste and a firm texture.
The eggplants are most often used in the following ways:
- Eating When Cooked/Prepared
- Cooking
- Baking
- Pickling
- Canning
Planting & Growing
Gretel Eggplant will grow to be about 4 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 24 inches apart. This fast-growing vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop.
This plant can be integrated into a landscape or flower garden by creative gardeners, but is usually grown in a designated vegetable garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It may require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.
Gretel Eggplant is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.
