Hi Peter, yes they can be grown successfully without a glasshouse here. Although it depends on where you are in the P.N.W. Most people seem to grow a hybrid called Dusky. Another is an asian type hybrid called Ichiban. I have managed to get some eggplant from o.p. varieties, but never even tried to save seed.

Have you ever tried growing eggplants in pots? That way you can move them or give them protection from cold if necessary. It has worked for me sometimes.

Another thing I have tried is looking for small eggplant varieties. Good luck in your search. You might try the Baker Creek catalogue. I can't remember their url, but you should be able to do a search for them successfully. They carry a lot of eggplant, so it would give you some names and descriptions. I don't know if they ship internationally, but perhaps you could find some of the eggplants in an Australian or New Zealand seed catalogue.

Best wishes.

Mary

Pingtung does OK for me in a pot on a black roof next to a darkly painted south facing wall. Our climate is mild maritime with little chance of much snow in winter, minimum temps around -5C but very cool and often rainy summers frost free from around mid May to mid/end October. I grow peppers the same way, but they are not nearly as particular about warmth. I grow Acongua, Corno di Toro and Calwonder. I don't really care for the Calwonder, but my husband does so that's "his" plant. All that said, I plan to put them in a greenhouse next year. It's too much hassle where they are now.

Here is a link to Baker Creek that Mary mentioned. One of my favorite sites!

Peter,

Last year was my first trying peppers and eggplant here in Seattle, where our microclimate seems close to yours. The book on these crops here says that they will produce only in especially warm years--and then not be all that productive. (Speaking of the book, you might check out "Growing Fruits and Vegetables West of the Cascades" by Steve Solomon if your climate is like ours.)

But I had great success with peppers last year and look like I will again this year. While the were not under a glasshouse they were and are under an inexpensive plastic cloche, constructed of 5 pvc pipes, each ten feet in length, and some painters plastic (2 mil thickness and very translucent). This was on top of a highly raised bed.

Varieties included Early Jalepeno, Hungarian Wax, and several generic bell varieties bought as starts from Rent's Due Ranch in Bellingham, Washington (perhaps they can tell you the actual varieties). Eachhe bell yielded at least two dozen produed thick walled, fully matured fruit. The other varieties also fully matured and were prolific.

This year I am trying Gourmet and Golden Bell as my bells, Early Jalepeno, Ancho, Bugarian Carrot (a small, early hot pepper others grow successfully here)and two varieties of paprika peppers.

My eggplants, Kermit, Bambino, and Ichiban, did not fruit very well last year though the plants seemed strong and healthy. I never learned whether there was a polination problem, bad companion planting with the peppers, or too much heat.

Hope this helps. It would be interesting to find out more about our climate similarities and varietal successes.

Neil

Hi Guys
Thanks for your help
I have read a magazine put out by Bakers creek (their first edition ) and found their advive very good...checked their catalogue...thanks Julie...great
I know Corno di Toro (not very successful in the coldest year in white history here) must try them again...seed available here I think
Calwonder (I think we can get Californian Wonder here too)
Have read the name Acongua but have not sourced seeds
I have had success with Healthy, an early type and even Chocolate and a few others but they were never very prolific...I get two or three full sized fruit per plant if lucky...Healthy is better producer
I know Steve Solomon...He has produce a book called...Growing Vegetables South of Australia...which might be a cut and paste of his "cascades" to some extent...it is a very good book in many respects but I take issue with him on his no mulch approach and wide spacing...I tend to heavily mulch (with living mulch) and space closely (as in nature)....I think he is right about not using poor mulches such as straw but if you use whole plant mulches (hay)or better still seed based mulch (poppy or pyrethrum spent marc) then the opposite occurs
I may be my own worst enemy but I try not to use plastics etc (because of the unsustainability of so doing)
I tend to search for tolerant varieties instead...hence the above request
I have heard of Ichiban thanks for the info that it is not an OP var
Where we are here in NE Tasmania at about 43deg S it does not snow but will snow occasionally about 5 Km away (3 mile)...I am at 220m (665ft) and face North on a gentle slope...I am protected from our westerly and NW winds by a river gully backed by a hillmy property is surrounded by native forest so the winds have to come down the hill into the river and then very steeply up through the forest to my gardenÂbut I do get some decent frostsÂ-4C (25F) are common but usual is -2C
Rain is (nowadays) not common and mostly falls in late winter (August/ September) but we get it at any timeÂnowadays we get a lot of overcast and cool weather over summerÂoften lasting 3-4 days at a timeÂwe used to get rain (often overnight every 10-14 days over summer but for the last 5-10 years that has changedÂlast year we got 2 inches between October and AprilÂI am fortunate in having gravity fed water from two springs which feed into a dam storage in my forest from where it is piped to the garden (660m) about 50m below (good pressure)
We rarely get warm nightsÂlast year despite the dry weather we had not one warm nightÂnights in summer are occasionally down to 3C (38F) but usually around 8-10C ( 46-50F)Âeach year we get a day (up to 4 days ) in the middle of February where we get light frosts (this last year it was in March) but it can frost in any monthÂit can snow in any month on the world famous Overland Track (a hiking experience in our highlands) and people have been snowed if for a week thereÂhaving to get food helicoptered in to them
I grew over 100 vars this year (83 toms)plus experimented with another 18 bush and polebeans plus soybeans, azuki beans, cannelini beans, runnerbeans, and tried Lima beans too
can send you lists of what I have had success with if you want
cheers
Peter

I found that the Oriental eggplants, like Ichiban or Pingting (thinner & more elongated,like bananas, rather than the balloon-like)Black Beauty did better in a cooler maritime climate like the Pacific NW... also the smaller, hotter peppers, like Thai Dragon, or Jalapeno, did better than Cal Wonder...
Another trick for when we had long overcast cool spells in late summer & heat lovers like tomatoes, eggplants & peppers didn't mature quickly, was to envelop the bushes in plastic tents (from the dry cleaners), & open at the top until the fall rains came... this seems to keep in the necessary heat to finish ripening...Good growing to you, K