If you only want suggestions from the DFW area then you might want to post on the Texas Gardening forum here.

I am at the same latitude as you and while it is too late to start them now you might want to consider Diamond variety for next year.

Dave

Texas A&M agricultural direct seeding for a fall garden in my region shows I can direct sow July 1. I don't know if that really will work but I thought I would try as I'm starting a fall garden. I figure I don't have much to lose to plant a couple. I went ahead and purchased Ichaban seeds since they are recommended here and in the future I may try some other varieties. TY!

Ichiban is a very popular EP so i think you will be happy with it. Unfortunately this is reportedly the last year that seeds for it will be available. So store those extra seeds well and if you like it you'll have enough for next couple of years.

Good luck with your Fall garden. Wish my season was as long as yours is.

Dave

I'm doing it because I just got my garden ready and I think it can be done from what I've read (mainly from A&M and Howard Garrett). Next year, I will plant them earlier. So, they will make all summer and into the fall, when I do that? Do you think I should shade the new seedlings at first or during the afternoons for the first few days or so? Also, I think Ichaban was a shorter maturity than a lot eggplants I lookeda t...not looking right now but 60 days, I think?

Sure. Plant NOW. They'll make it into the late fall, though production will drop dramatically when it starts getting cool. Maturity dates will depend on a lot of things. Temperature, sunlight, soil, nutrients, etc. If you plant now there's a good chance you'll get a harvest. If you want a challenge, protect them from frost in the winter and get a head start on next year.

So if I protect them from frost how long will the produce into the next spring/summer/fall season? What is the best way to protect them?

If the plants survive the winter, they will kick in and start producing as soon as it gets warm in the spring. They will not bear at all during the winter. Eggplants are formally perennial. I did that just this year with Ping Tung. Had a large plant last year that had a somewhat disappointing yield. I protected it, and come springtime, BLAM!, I was getting loads of fruit, FAR earlier than anyone else. I was picking eggplant in April! The plant has gone on to produce twice as much as it did last year.

Protection means -- don't let it freeze. In my climate, that's either easy or hard, depending on the winter.

What measures do you take to protect it? Sounds like it might be worth doing.

If you have a light freeze (say down to 29F or so), a tarp over it, sealed at the bottom, would work. If a hard freeze (say, down to 26F), you're going to have to throw a blanket or two on top of that, and maybe stick an incandescent light bulb underneath. Below that, life gets hard. For the eggplant.

This last year, our temps dropped *barely* to freezing. That was it. Lucky for plants you're trying to preserve. Less lucky for killing off insects you want a freeze to kill off.

Linda - How to over-winter plants, season extension, and frost protection are whole other topics and lengthy discussions. But fortunately literally tons of into is available on the subject, including from A&M extension.

All sorts of plant protection methods are available ranging from simple, temporary, and cheap but effort required to simple and expensive with little effort required permanent structures. It is a topic well worth exploring in depth on the web if for no other reason than to explore all the options available to you. Fortunately you have plenty of time to research those options before it will become an issue for you.

Here are a few links to get you started:

/season-extending-techniques

Plant Protection Methods

A&M: Protecting-Plants-from-Frosts-Freezes

But first you have to get you plants going. ;-)

Dave

Let me add that protecting a plant from freezing temperatures is NOT achieved by wrapping the plant in a blanket. I see that done around here some winters, and the whole premise of that is hilarious. Blankets work with humans because humans generate heat, and the blanket keeps that heat in. But plants don't generate heat. So the plant you wrap will end up being just as cold as if you didn't wrap it. The purpose of the tarp I mentioned above is to wrap the plant along with the ground. The soil is a lot warmer than the air, at least in early winter. Its the warm soil that you want to use to keep the plant warm. You want to hold in THAT heat. In the A&M site, that's what "covers" are all about.

Funny, talking about this when it's almost July!

Do you think I should shade the new seedlings at first or during the afternoons for the first few days or so?

Linda, this will be a major challenge, i would start them in pots so that you can move them in and out of the sun and then plant them out when the worst of summer is over.

I agree. But the worst of the summer down here won't be over until the end of September at least, so I'd start them in pots, and put them in the ground at the end of July. At that point yes, protect them from full sun for a week or two. You might get some fruit by the time it starts to cool off.