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With more than 30 years of experience growing organic vegetables, Connie Zweck knows beans about eggplant.

Zweck Fresh Vegetables and Flowers is a USDA Certified farm in Longmont where Connie and husband Tom grow familiar favorites on their 17 acres.

“Because we have a market on the farm, we try to grow anything that grows in Colorado,” Zweck says. Crops include many kinds of greens and beets, English and sugar snap peas, tomatoes and eggplant.

Although eggplant isn’t as popular as its cousin the tomato, it has a nice personality.

“Oh, they’re just beautiful, with a lavender-colored flower,” Zweck says. “They’re really pretty, and I enjoy eating them, too.” About 150 of the plants are grown at the Zweck farm.

She prefers to grow the Italian type of eggplant, which is similar to the familiar pear-shaped American varieties but smaller and thinner. She says she has better luck with these than the Asian variety.

Successfully growing eggplant requires rotating where it is planted in the garden, Zweck says. This practice prevents depleting the soil of nutrients and helps prevent disease.

Potato beetles are the No.1 enemy of eggplants because they can eat all the leaves and ruin an entire crop. Zweck recommends checking plants for the pests and hand-picking them off.

First-time eggplant growers often make the mistake of waiting to harvest the fruit until they’re as large as those found in grocery stores. If left on the plant too long, eggplants lose their sheen, become seedy and won’t be as tasty.

Zweck recommends picking the fruit as soon as it turns a bright, shiny purple.

“They don’t have to be huge,” she says. “You can eat them when they’re very small.”

Overwatering is another problem in the home garden. On the farm, the Zwecks deep water the plants every five days.

“Be careful not to get water on the leaves,” she adds.

The Zwecks add fertilizer added when the plants start to bloom.

How to grow, pamper, harvest and eat them

Here’s what you need to know about eggplant: