🍆 When to Plant Eggplant

Eggplant is a heat-loving crop that needs a long warm season. Beautiful in the garden and on the plate.

Recommended Varieties

Eggplant variety is a choice between big globes and the faster, narrow Asian types — and in short or cool seasons, the early types are what give you a crop at all.

• Globe — Black Beauty is the standard large, glossy purple-black globe (~76 days).
• Italian heirlooms — Listada de Gandia is a streaked purple-and-white, thin-skinned heirloom (~78 days); Rosa Bianca has creamy white-and-rose fruit that’s sweeter and less bitter (~78 days).
• Asian types — Ichiban bears narrow 10-inch fruit and produces from zone 5 to 11 (~61 days); Ping Tung Long is a Taiwanese heirloom with narrow fruit and excellent heat tolerance (~65 days).
• Compact — Fairy Tale is an AAS winner and the most reliable short-season eggplant (~50 days).

Short-season and cool zones should start with the fast Asian and compact types (Fairy Tale ~50 days, Ichiban from zone 5); long, hot zones get the full range, including the slower globes and Italian heirlooms.

Top Growing Tips

• Needs warm soil (70°F+) and air — don’t rush transplanting
• Flea beetles are the main pest — use row covers on young plants
• Harvest when skin is glossy and springs back when pressed
• Stake heavy-fruiting plants to prevent branch breakage
• Japanese varieties mature faster and work in shorter seasons

Companion Planting

Good companions: peppers, beans, spinach, thyme

Avoid planting near: fennel

Harvest Timeline

65-80 days from transplant