You have a good starter collection. If you want to branch out, you might want to try the middle eastern(Persian)(beit alpha) cucumbers. There is an OP is simply called Persian. Other Op's in this type are Green Fingers and Garden Oasis.[Renee's Garden] For Hybrids Rocky (Johnny's)
Lots of choices for eggplent, I prefer Asian types, but if you wish to stick with Italian types, the hybrid Nubia, Calliope, Op look at the selection from Seeds of Italy.
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Watermelon: OP icebox type, I prefer Mickylee to Sugar Baby. Yellow Doll is an excelent hybrid. One note, I have not grown any of the pumpkin rind melons, that were satisfactory in flavor. There is a whole new group coming out of China which I have not tried. Royal Golden, FunBell, and New Hampshire Golden melons are the ones that I have tried.

for eggplant, i get great yields from Ping Tung Long. I must grow them under rowcover here, or we get none...the flea beetles decimate the leaves well before fruiting, if i do not cover from the start. They just keep producing like crazy for us, most years in our zone. They like the extra heat from the cover, too. Google image them, and see if you like their looks!

Thanks for the ideas so far. I'm going to pass on Golden Crown for sure. Green Fingers looks like a good choice for what I am looking for.

Trying an Asian eggplant alongside Rosa might be fun. I looked up Ping Tung Long- it sounds promising, but some vendors list it as OP and others list it as F1. Are there 2 similar varieties with the same name?

To follow-up on gryffin's comment on Ping Tung... what's even a bit more intereting is that the many photos of Ping Tung found on the web sites look quite different. They seem to have different fruit colorations, different lengths, and different diameters. I wonder if these are truely the same cultivar. (The photo below is the Ping Tung that I planted last season.) So is there one true true cultivar? If so, which is the "REAL" Ping Tung.

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I've observed the same thing.

Below is a link to an OP Pingtung Long variety.

Here is a link that might be useful: OP Pingtung Lung

Now here is a link to an F1 Pingtung variety. The fruits are similar, but not the same.

Any thoughts on which one I should try? I did send an email to the second vendor to get more information on their variety.

I'd do one of each, but I only have room for 2 or perhaps 3 plants. I'd like one Japanese, at this point leaning towards the Pingtung, and one Italian, I'm considering Rosa Bianca and/or Listada de Gandia. Another that keeps coming up is Rosita.

Here is a link that might be useful: F1 Pingtung Long

Ping Tung Long is a product of the Known You Seed Company (Taiwan)They are are also the producers of the Golden Crown watermelon. I have grown thier cultivar Longship and and am growing Fond May this year. They have developed many popular hybrids. Japanese producers Takii , Sakata, Tokita also have some excellent cultivars on the market. Ichiban and Millionaire being among my favorites. Kitazawa Seeds has a good selection of Japanese eggplants. Evergreen Seeds has a selection which includes Chinese, Indian, Korean, Japanese and Thai eggplants.
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I second the motion for Ping Tung Long. I grew it for the first time last year and it was DELICIOUS. Made tons of fruit, too. I had one plant in the ground that had lots of flea beetles. I have since read that it's best not to plant eggplant in the same spot that brassicas were grown the year before because of this pest.

I had one plant in a pot on my deck that had not a single beetle. Guess where I will grow them this year?

farmerdill, your Ping Tung Long look quite different from the ones I grew last season. I don't know the source of my seeds. They were given to me by a friend. However, my plants resemble the ones provided by Baker Creek in the link below.

Checking Google Images for Ping Tung shows quite a variation in Ping Tung. Surely, there must be multiple Ping Tung cultivars.

Here is a link that might be useful: Baker Creek Rare Seeds - Ping Tung

I've decided that I am definitely going to try Pingtung Long- I'll get it from either Fedco or Pinetree depending on what else I decided to order. I'm also going to grow Rosa Bianca again- as an engineer, I need to have a "control" plant to compare to. :)

For the third variety, I am still undecided. Here are the ones on my list:

Listada de Gandia - Some say better than Rosa, others say bland. Later harvest than Rosa, so it could be pushing it.

Ichiban - Lots of great reviews- not carried by my "local" suppliers- will it bear fruit in northern New England?

Thai Long Green - Lots of great reviews, but sounds like it really needs a lot of hot weather.

Lavender Touch, Nubia, Dancer and Rosita - all sound interesting, all sold by vendors specializing in seeds for northern New England.

There are so many choices, anyone care to help me pick? Feel free to suggest something not on my list!

For watermelon, I think I am leaning towards Renee's Garden- they have a mix with Sorbet Swirl orange, Yellow Doll and Tiger Baby. I could put have one of each plant in my hill. The alternative is Little Baby Flower from Johnny's, for which I haven't found as much anecdotal information.

For cucumbers, it will be Green Fingers from Renee's or Rocky from Johnny's.

Concerning watermelons.....Likely you may be well pleased with Yellow Doll. Tiger Baby has good potential too. I remember one year my Tiger Baby had 6 fruits averaging 10 pounds apiece. Another year there was just one fruit ...a huge scrumptious 15 and a half pounder. I lean to fewer fruits and better quality...and these two can crank out QUANTITY. As far as Micky Lee goes, my lone one last year got off to a slow start and was completely over run by its neighbors so I don't know for sure about that one.

Grandad I have not grown any of "Ping Tung" varieties. The photo is "Longship" also a Known You Seed developed variety. It is quite possible that was a generic variety grown in Taiwan, which someone imported. Perhaps The Taiwanese Developer Known You create an improved version. Some one could have dehybridized and kept the same name. Lots of misnamed, renamed varieties running loose in cyberspace.

gryffin, besides the recently tried Ping Tung, the other eggplants which have done well for me are Rosita and Ichiban. Millionaire is similar to Ichiban and is an excellent substitute. I grew Millionaire a for a couple of years after finding the seed on the Burpee seed rack in one of the local stores. If I recall, it actually performed slightly better than Ichiban.

Ichiban seems to get great reviews from a broad section of the US. So it would seem to be a great choice.

Rosa Bianca has not peroformed well for me. Perhaps it is not suited to my climate. However, it may actually do well in your neck of the woods.

You may want to check the site below for various ratings. If you do, I would give more weigth to the ratings from folks who grew the vegetables in a climate similar to yours.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell Web Site

My zone 5 is different from yours, but my next door neighbor grew Casper eggplant and it was delicious.

I've purchased Casper seed for myself for this spring. Fingers crossed that it works as well for me. It's a white globe, very pretty, no bitterness at all, medium sized.

There are many ways to cook eggplant that I love, but it's hard to get past simply slicing it and throwing it on the grill. I obviously need more eggplant.

for watermelon you could try vanessa, a seedless small red melon. it is very sweet. not sure how it would do in a container trellised. the seed is kind of pricy. i get seed from seedway. if you want to try it i could send you some in exchange for something you'd like to share.
for eggplant i like orient express that i get from johnnys.

I was searching for Ichiban seeds and came across the following link:

http://horticulturetalk.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/bye-bye-mr-ichiban-the-discontinuation-of-ichiban-hybrid-eggplant/

I see that Ichiban is still listed at Reimer Seeds. Is it possible they still have the real deal? Is Swallow a similar type?

Here is a link that might be useful: Ichiban

Well, I finally finished my last seed orders. I had already ordered the bulk of my seeds from Fedco with a local group.

Tonight, I placed another Fedco order for eggplant (it kills me to have paid the $5 handling fee since if I could have made up my mind last weekend, I would have been able to order my eggplant then.)

I got Rosa Bianca since it did well for me last year (as well as other years that I grew it) and so I can use it for comparison. Then I got Ping Tung Long and Swallow so I could try two different oriental types that have done well in my area. I decided to go with Swallow because it sounds similar to Ichiban, it got good reviews for my zone, and it looks like Ichiban is no longer in production.

I ordered the 3 other things I needed from Jung Seeds because they had "Snack Face" a naked-seeded pumpkin (I had been planning on Baby Bear, but decided to try a completely hull-less variety instead) and the Yellow Doll watermelon. They had two types of cucumbers that fit what I was looking for- I went with Iznik, a 3-5 incher with very short vines. I've never ordered from them before, they have some negative reviews on Garden Watchdog, so I hope things go ok.

randy41: I appreciate the offer, but I had my heart set on Yellow Doll- I love the reactions I get when I grow unusual varieties. :)

Any one has suggestions for Italian variety eggplants? I see them here in Northern Virginia from Korean grocery stores. They are TASTY, much better than the long Asian type sold in the same store. Not sure of either variety though, must be very commonly commercialized. The long Asian type look like the ones in the photo above from farmerdill. Not to bad mouth Asian long ones, I had those back in China and they tasted much better than these in grocery store too. But the Italian variety is equally tasty if not more. It's a bit fatter, glossy dark purple/black color. Not as fat as black beauty though. What's more, it's selling for $3.99/lb or $4.99/lb while the Asian type sold for $0.99/lb or $1.49/lb

Anyone might know?

Thanks,

Italian varieities come in all shapes and sizes like other types. You are probably looking for a half long type. Here are a couple that I have grown recently.
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Ping Tung Long photos look exactly like the Millionaire hybrid I have been growing for years. You will get the light not so nice color when they get large or stop growing in cool weather.

I much prefer thees types as you don't need to peel them. They are excellent on pizza, in stews, and poked full of holes and thrown on the grill. Make an excellent substitute for potatoes when grilling out.

I never had much luck with yields on eggplant until I moved to Arizona. The Asian types will get you massive amounts of fruit. From 10 plants I get a 5 gallon bucket every other day when the weather is right.