Eggplant’s negative characteristics have been bred out of award winner

The recent announcement by All-America Selections, or AAS, of its three award winners for 2008 brought back vivid memories of a past life.

As horticultural manager for George W. Park Seed Co. in Greenwood, S.C., between 1977 and 1986, I managed the annual flower and vegetable trial program, including the AAS section. We grew hundreds of flower and vegetable varieties, evaluating their performance through the long South Carolina summer. My responsibilities included germinating the seeds in a climate-controlled germination room, raising the transplants in the greenhouses, planting the transplants to more than 4 acres of raised beds, and evaluation of the performance of each variety. It was the beginning of this gardener’s education.

Regulations for the AAS trials were (and still are, I’m sure) rigid. Each variety had to be planted in a block of 48 plants, typically on 12-inch spacing. We ran four rows of 12 plants for each variety, blocks of new entries growing side-by-side with the best of the old varieties. The AAS trials, incorporated into a much larger variety evaluation program, covered more than 3,000 square feet of raised beds, all drip-irrigated.

I remember my teachers. Lucy Smith, already 20 years on the job as propagation supervisor when I came aboard, taught me everything she knew about germinating and transplanting seeds and about producing a hardy transplant in the greenhouse. I remember moving each batch of seedlings from the glasshouse to open shed for hardening before going to the field. Old Tom Peterson taught me how to drive the tractor – a necessary skill neglected in the curriculum at Auburn University.

I remember my mentor, Klaus Neubner, a horticulturist without equal who also knew how to grow people. Together we moved the trial program away from intensive use of chemicals, including soil sterilization every year with methyl bromide, to organic methods such as annual incorporation of cow manure in every bed. I spent a lot of time searching for local sources of weed-free manure and truckers to haul it.

In summer I walked the grassy paths between the beds, scouting for insect and disease problems, making notes on what to change next time around, tasting cherry tomatoes at will.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the AAS program, now with 61 AAS judges at 48 trial garden locations across the country. In addition, there are 178 AAS Display Gardens, including one at Rogers Farm (University of Maine) in Stillwater.

Each of those 75 years, the program has introduced the best of new flower and vegetable varieties to American gardeners. The highest number of AAS winners was 32 in 1934. In 1954 and 1976, only one variety won this recognition. Forty-nine varieties have won the most prestigious AAS Gold Medal.

For 2008, there are three winners, far below the 75-year average of nine. The sole AAS Vegetable Award winner for 2008 goes to an eggplant, the variety ‘Hansel.’ Glossy dark purple fruits develop in clusters on miniature plants only 36 inches high and 30 inches wide. It is a perfect plant for pot culture with small eggplants (3 to 10 inches long) ready for harvest in only 55 days after planting to containers.

Many eggplant disadvantages have been bred out of ‘Hansel.’ For example, the young fruits have very few seeds. And the problem of bitterness has been solved. With most eggplants, the cook must remove the purple skin to dispose of the bad taste. Not so with ‘Hansel;’ the fruit is both tender and nonbitter.

For all eggplant aficionados, ‘Hansel’ is a new, miniature plant with improved eating qualities and high yields. Both seeds and bedding plants will be available to gardeners this spring at local garden centers.

Next week: a look at the two AAS Bedding Plant Award winners for 2008.

Send queries to Gardening Questions, P.O. Box 418, Ellsworth 04605, or to rmanley@ptc-me.net. Include name, address and telephone number.