Success with eggplant has always escaped me, even as a child in my parents’ garden.

Our eggplants, a close relative of the potato, were devoured each summer by Colorado Potato Beetles. Considering we lived on a 300-acre potato farm, we had a few thousand potato beetles to contend with. Poor eggplant. It didn’t stand a chance.

These days I leave the large, oblong, deep purple eggplants of the supermarket for the supermarket and instead buy planting varieties that produce interesting-looking fruit.

I bought a 6-pack of Rosa Blanca transplants this year that will grow into fruits of light lavender and white colorations. In years past I have tried varieties that produce white fruit. Those are fun because it does look like eggs are hanging from the plants. There are quite a few shapes and sizes and colors to choose from, so have fun with it.

Another reason to add eggplant to your garden is for the beauty of the plant itself. As I am seeing with proper fertilization, these plants grow into sturdy bushes with thick, purple velvety leaves. The flowers are delightful, too, with their lilac petals pulled back to reveal a cone of anthers. Really lovely. In fact, don’t relegate eggplants only to the veggie garden. They can lend a lot of beauty to mixed containers on porches or even in an ornamental garden.

Best Temperature for Eggplant

Eggplant, like their family members potatoes and tomatoes, are warm-temperature lovers. As such, they don’t appreciate the cold much and dislike conditions that drop below 60F. But unlike their family, eggplants shrink away from temperatures that are too hot. For anyone dealing with a heat wave this summer (as I am): pay special attention to your eggplants.

Soil

As a rule, all eggplant varieties enjoy rich soil that drains well.

Here is where I believe my errors occurred in years past, as the soil was tired and I didn’t fertilize well at all. Having a new batch of fresh garden soil brought in last season has given this year’s eggplant crop a great chance of success. And adding “Moo Poo Tea,” or Authentic Haven Brand Manure Compost Tea, to the plants on a regular basis has made the plants grow strong and healthy so far this summer.

When to Harvest Eggplant

Eggplant is not one of those crops like zucchini, where if you turn your head away for a minute you have three more harvestable fruits waiting for you. They take their time—about 90 days—to produce something. To shorten this time I buy transplants at the garden center to skip the germination process. The best time to put them out in the garden is when summer has started and the air temps are consistently above 65F.

Stake Your Eggplants

Something I’ve never done that I recommend—likely because my plants didn’t grow big enough—is to stake the eggplant. They will tip or lean and maybe even break as the fruits weigh down the plant.