Prolific Pea Eggplant

In a past post on the Pea Eggplant (January), I commented about the extraordinary rate of growth of this plant.

Way over my head. From this...

Well, the time had come. Today, out came the pruning shears to reduce this ‘tree’ to more manageable proportions. In less than twelve months, from a tiny seedling, the Pea Eggplant had reached a height of almost three metres, overshadowing a four-year old mango and a three-year old longan. This situation was not sustainable because the two fruit trees are much more valuable for us than the invasive, little eggplant.

To this... The longan is in the background

Pruning was not a simple process. The small thorns along the stems were a menace at times, needing to be handled very carefully. Finally, task completed, our green waste bin had almost been filled and a bucket of small, green ‘peas’ had been gathered. Of course, Thai Green Curry was in order tonight! However, I am not sure that I have enough friends, who use this vegetable, to discharge the bucket-load of berries! What to do?

They filled the sink!

Now that the Pea Eggplant has been reduced in size, I will be monitoring the reaction of the plant to heavy pruning. My intention is to keep the plant pruned to a lower level, and away from our walkway, so that it does not present further issues with shading… or spiking.

What is the next step with this eggplant? Because the Pea Eggplant bears so profusely, I am trialling a method of pickling the fruit for the winter months. I will post on the success or failure of this at a later time, but at the moment, we might well be enjoying lots of green curry, or even a sambal or two in order to use up our excess of berries… or making more friends!