Eggplant as a vegetable crop has been grown by humans for the past 15 centuries. The homeland of this healthy and vitamin-rich vegetable is Asian countries, in particular India. Today eggplant is very popular among gardeners. It is rightly called the vegetable of longevity. One of the brightest representatives of the nightshade family is the “Marathon Man” eggplant.
Description
The eggplant variety “Marathonets” is an early ripening variety. The period of full ripening of fruits from the moment of germination is 100-110 days. Seedlings of this variety can be grown both in open ground and in “covered” or “warm” beds. The adult plant is semi-spreading and quite tall.
The fruits, as you can see in the photo, are elongated, have a cylindrical shape, and are colored in a rich dark purple color. The weight of one individual fruit during the period of biological maturity is 400-600 grams.
The pulp of a ripe vegetable is white, fleshy, without the bitter aftertaste characteristic of eggplant.
The productivity of the variety is high. From one square meter of area you can harvest from 5.2 to 5.7 kilograms of vegetables.
This variety of eggplant has quite a wide range of uses in cooking. The fruits of "Marathonets" are ideal for preparing caviar, as well as salads, main courses and winter wraps.
Growing and care
Eggplant seeds "Marathon Man" are sown in the soil in the last ten days of February, early March.After at least two true leaves appear on the plant, a pick is made. Seedlings are planted under the film in mid-May. Planting is done directly on the garden bed in the first ten days of June. At the end of July, 4-5 of the largest ovaries are left on the plant, the rest are removed so that they do not interfere with the further growth and development of the fruit.
Caring for eggplant bushes, according to reviews of most gardeners, is very simple and consists only of regular watering, fertilizing, loosening the soil and pinching.
You can discover the main secrets of growing eggplants by watching the video below:
Advantages of the variety
Eggplant "Marathon Man" has a number of advantages. The most striking of them include:
- unpretentiousness in care and cultivation;
- good yield;
- excellent taste of the fruit, lack of bitterness;
- low calorie content and rich in vitamins A and B, potassium.
It should be remembered that you should not eat fruits that have been on the bush for a long time and have already reached the stage of biological maturity, since they accumulate harmful substances that negatively affect digestion and the body as a whole.
