Well, in garden things have stopped since quite a while now. No frost, just too cold, dark and basically rains all the time. Again, have to remind, the garden is just a place to see what can grow, because the conditions are not at all good for eggplant there (like 3 weeks total of the year when nights are not cold or very cold).
The Kashalot and Diamond were different than what they should have been, I don't think they were crossed, just something else completely. Kashalot was a tiny white one, not sure what the dominant genes are but I doubt it's the white. Diamond made some strangely shaped things that were hard as a rock all the time. Needless to say, both were massive disappointments.
Irene F1 again showed decent vigour, managed about 3 or 4 decent fruit (about 250 grams each maybe). Good taste while young, becomes somewhat bitter when old.
Applegreen was a very healthy plant, good vigour, plenty of qualities. The problem is the fruit is small (50-200g), which makes it less practical and also you will probably pick it too late. Good taste while young, becomes extremely bitter if too old. Got like 6-7 smallish fruit from it.
The clear winner is Xi'an Green, the first one to actually make big size fruit in the garden, about 300-500g, so it definitely tolerates cold better than most. One must cut the first flower, maybe even more, because the plant is just too generative, let the plant grow first, or else it will remain small, and production will suffer. Sweetish taste, not at all bitter even if old.
Also, the transparent-black plastic mulch most surely helped. If your conditions are a bit cold, make a raised bed and cover it with it.
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