One Little Eggplant

This growing season, I’ve started a little project.  It’s called “One Pot Pizza,” and it’s based on both square-foot gardening and, well, a love of pizza.  In my one pot, I planted a tomato plant, an eggplant plant, oregano and basil.

Alas, here’s what happens when you cram so many desperate, overreaching vegetables into a single space.  The attenuated tomato erupts into multiple clusters of underdeveloped leaves, a weak stem, and no fruits or flowers whatsoever. The oregano grows rapidly and makes a break for it, tumbling over the edge of the pot.  The basil is most mysteriously replaced by coleus (ok: this was, technically, a miscommunication and human intervention by a garden volunteer).  As to the eggplant? It grows majestically, fakes you out all summer with velvetine leaves and little else, and then, come September–lo! It produces the most beautiful, purple, smooth, shiny fruit you’ve ever seen.

 In about ten days, I’m going to harvest my eggplant.  I plan on slicing it thin, soaking it in salt, rinsing and grilling it in a light dressing of olive oil and garlic.  Then I’ll dress my pizza with a scattering of fresh oregano and the sole fruit of this summer’s labor.  Sob.  Maybe next year I’ll have a bigger pot.