Growing Eggplant
Eggplant companion plants can perform various support tasks in the garden. A tried-and-true gardening technique known as companion planting enhances and defends delicate crops.
While some plants benefit from eggplant, some herbs can ward off pests. You might receive more fruit if you draw pollinators. When you allow companion plants to assist you, growing eggplant is simple.
What is an Eggplant?
Eggplant is a vegetable that you can grow successfully in various temperatures. It can produce dozens of pounds ( or kilograms) of eggplants in a single season and does best in hot and humid temperatures. Because the fruit is occasionally susceptible to pest attacks, it is an ideal candidate for employing companion plant techniques.
One could say that caring for an eggplant requires significant effort. Not only does eggplant need a great deal of sunlight, but it also requires supplemental nourishment in addition to what it receives from the soil and regular water application. They are also susceptible to attacks by insects.
On the other hand, you may grow some plants alongside eggplants, making cultivating these vegetables somewhat less challenging.
What is Companion Planting?
In the context of gardening, companion planting can be both an old art and cutting-edge science. Some plants exude chemicals or send out signals that might either stunt the growth of their neighboring plant or help it along.
Others serve as “trap” crops, luring pests to feast on their leaves while defending your primary plant from attack. By releasing naturally occurring chemicals into the soil, certain companion plants can improve the overall health of the plants and their flavor.
Tall plants that can provide shade for others, more tender plants, and plants that use other plants as a trellis to grow on are all examples of plants that can benefit from companion planting. Other advantages of companion planting include the reduction of weeds and competition for nutrients, as well as soil shading.
Plants that fix nitrogen in the soil, such as legumes, make for useful companions to plants that require a lot of nutrients. Some companion plants can attract pollinators, which in turn helps the garden’s other plants reproduce. This improves the habitat, encouraging crop plants to produce more fruit.
In addition to that, it helps maximize production while also conserving space. Many benefits help gardeners grow their finest harvests, even as scientific research establishes why companion planting is effective.
What are the Benefits of Companion Planting?
Companion plants are plants that either grow better beside a specific crop or help that crop to grow more successfully by themselves. The following are the benefits of these plants:
Repel Insect Pests
Vegetable gardens are susceptible to various pests, including cabbage worms, cucumber beetles, Mexican bean beetles, carrot flies, and cabbage moths. For instance, you can protect herbs from cabbage moths by planting sage and rosemary close to broccoli, cauliflower, and radishes in the garden. Read our article and find out A SIMPLIFIED 21 Common Beetle Identification Chart.
You should grow numerous companion plants, such as marigold flowers, catnip, and rue, close to certain crops to maintain those crops free of pests.
Bring in Insects That are Helpful to Your Garden
Pollinators such as bees and ladybugs need a little nudge in the right direction to make their way into vegetable gardens and pollinate the crops. Gardeners frequently cultivate visually appealing plants like borage blooms to entice pollinators to their gardens.
Improve Soil Nutrients
As plants grow, they extract useful nutrients from the soil, leaving the gardener with a lot of work to perform after the growing season to replenish the earth’s supply of those nutrients. On the other hand, many companion plants (such as pole beans and bush beans) add minerals such as nitrogen back into the soil, which helps maintain other plants healthy and well-fed.
Encourage Faster Growth or Better Taste
Encourage a quicker development rate or improved flavor. Many companion plants, such as marjoram, chamomile, and summer savory, secrete specialized compounds that encourage faster growth or greater taste in the plants around them. This results in speedier and better harvests for home gardeners and improved overall quality.
Ensure Ground Cover
Plants that grow low to the ground and spread out like oregano act as a blanket over the soil, shading it from the sun’s heat and keeping it cooler for other plants that require it.
Provides Enough Shade
Plants that can grow tall and have a lot of foliage, such as zucchini and asparagus, can provide a pleasant shadow on sun-loving plants that are grown underneath them.
Act as Identifiers or Markers
While waiting for the seeds to germinate and grow into plants, it can be tough to visualize where the rows will be when cultivating plants that grow slowly. Gardeners frequently employ fast-growing plants (such as radishes) to indicate the location of the slower-growing plants by interspersing them with slower-growing plants in their rows.
Some Recommended Eggplant Companion Plants
In the context of gardening, companion planting can be both an old art and cutting-edge science. Some plants exude chemicals or send out signals that might either stunt the growth of their neighboring plant or help it along. Others serve as “trap” crops, luring pests to feast on their leaves while defending your primary plant from attack.
By releasing naturally occurring chemicals into the soil, certain companion plants can improve the overall health of the plants and their flavor.
Plants that use other plants as a trellis to grow on, tall plants that can provide shade for others, more tender plants, and plants that use other plants as a trellis to grow on are all examples of the types of plants that can benefit from companion planting.
Other advantages of companion planting include the reduction of weeds and competition for nutrients, as well as soil shading. Plants known for their ability to fix nitrogen in the soil, such as legumes, make for useful companions to plants that require a lot of nutrients.
Some companion plants can attract pollinators, which in turn helps the garden’s other plants reproduce. This improves the habitat, encouraging crop plants to produce more fruit. In addition to that, it helps maximize production while also conserving space. You need to know what grows well with eggplant. Some of the plants that grow well with eggplant include;
Nightshades
Can you plant eggplant and peppers together? Since eggplant is a member of the nightshade family, it does particularly well when you plant it in the same soil as other nightshade plants and tends to produce more fruit. Alongside eggplant, you can also successfully cultivate other nightshade plants such as pepper, tomato, and potato.
Rosemary
Eggplants benefit from having rosemary nearby as a companion plant because it is such a wonderful herb. This herb has a potent smell and is highly effective in warding off Colorado potato beetles and keeping them away from your eggplants.
Because of this, your eggplant will have a better chance of growing without getting effects from potato bugs, and you will not spend any money on pesticides.
When selecting rosemary to grow beside your eggplants, it is best to choose varieties with a strong aroma because this will enhance the flavor of the eggplants. The taste of your eggplant will also improve as a result.
Broccoli
Another great plant that works well as a companion for eggplants is broccoli. Eggplants, known as heavy feeders by nature, need various nutrients to develop normally. Try to guess what happens when you plant broccoli alongside eggplant.
It enriches the soil with additional nutrients necessary for the eggplant’s growth and development. This provides your eggplant with another natural fertilizer source, a perk that any farmer would be happy to have.
Nasturtium
The nasturtium is a beautiful flower that, when grown alongside eggplant, can enhance the overall aesthetic of your farm. In addition to giving your farmland a splash of color, the presence of these flowers will deter pests from attacking your vegetable plant.
It’s possible that learning that nasturtiums are one of the most common companion plants for other plants will pique your curiosity.
Borage
Borage is another plant that makes for a great companion for your eggplant. It is advantageous to them since it attracts insects that are good for them. In addition to this, it protects your eggplants from destructive worms.
Consuming a worm-infested eggplant is one of the most frustrating experiences imaginable. Planting your eggplant next to some borage helps prevent this problem from occurring.
Pole Beans
Eggplants can only grow to their full potential if the soil you plant them in has a large quantity of nitrogen. The combination of pole beans and eggplants in your garden will produce this result.
The legume nature of the pole bean plant facilitates the addition of nitrogen to the soil. Your eggplants will benefit from pole beans since they leak additional nitrogen into the soil. Pole beans are an excellent choice as a companion crop to put alongside eggplant since they can provide a kind of fertilizer for the plant.
Oregano
You need to grow oregano as a companion plant for your eggplant if you want to protect it from spider mites, aphids, and cabbage moths. In addition, they have a propensity to entice pollinators like ladybugs and honey bees, both of which are helpful and essential to the garden.
Oregano is one of the most valuable plants for gardens.
Spinach
You can plant eggplant next to spinach. This is because they have a high degree of compatibility and can coexist successfully. Be confident, on the other hand, that there will be no transmission of any disease-causing organisms or pests.
Mints
The pairing of mints with eggplant makes for wonderful company. As a gardener, you will find that using peppermints, spearmints, and winter mints as companion plants for eggplant is the most successful strategy. These mints effectively ward off unwanted guests, such as insects and rodents.
Radish
Like nasturtiums, this companion plant entices flea beetles in its vicinity. Because they have the potential to act as a trap crop, you should plant them at a safe distance away from your eggplant plants.
Avoiding Bad Companion Plants for Eggplant
It is important to know what not to plant with eggplant. You should not plant some crops if you are growing eggplants, even though you are seeking companion plants to reap the benefits of companion planting this season. Do not plant fennel near your eggplant. Many plants, including eggplant, may not grow well when fennel is present.
Because geraniums can act as a host for diseases that harm eggplants, such as leaf blight and root rot, it is best to avoid planting geraniums beside eggplant in your garden. You should also stay away from plants that require a lot of care and attention since they will compete with eggplant for nutrients.
Corn and eggplant, for instance, are two examples of vegetables that require a significant amount of fertilizer. Although corn does not pose a direct threat to eggplant, it is best to avoid depleting the soil in the area if you wish to grow eggplant.
In addition, it is best to avoid planting eggplant near allelopathic trees, such as black walnut, as this will prevent the plant from growing and germinating underneath it.
Frequently Asked Questions About What to Plant With Eggplant.
Why is My Eggplant Not Fruiting?
Eggplants are extremely temperature sensitive and may not produce fruit in excessively warm environments. If your eggplant is under a lot of stress, it may also cease yielding fruit. This stress causes flowers to dry and fall off without producing fruit.
Do Eggplants Grow Well With Tomatoes?
Yes! Tomatoes and eggplant plants can coexist in the same garden. They are both nightshade family members. Tomatoes and eggplant plants can coexist in the same garden. All you should do is ensure adequate room and sufficient compost for each plant to flourish.
Can I grow Zucchini Together With Eggplant?
The answer is no; we do not recommend doing this because zucchini and eggplants are both heavy feeders. As a result, they will not make suitable companion plants because they will fight with one another for soil space and nutrients.
Can I Plant Eggplant in Coffee Grounds?
The spent grinds from coffee are an excellent source of nitrogen, potassium, and magnesium. As a result, it is suitable for use as fertilizer for eggplants.
Will Eggplants Survive During Winter Seasons?
Most eggplants harvest during the hotter months of the year. As a result, it is possible that throughout the cold months, it will tend to slow down.
Final Thoughts
You now have enough information on companion plants for eggplant. Eggplants are wonderful plants to cultivate as vegetable crops in your garden. They are healthy in addition to being quite simple to cultivate. Growing them in your yard not only lends a beautiful aesthetic touch to the space but also results in one of the quickest and most abundant harvests.
Eggplant isn’t a wonderful plant for beginners, so if you’re trying to raise two species at the same time while also growing eggplant, you can run into some challenges. Companion planting is a technique that can help. In terms of a plant’s requirements, eggplant falls in the middle.
It is not difficult to take care of it. If this is your first time growing an eggplant, concentrate on that plant. You are aware of all the plants compatible with planting eggplant. You can cultivate this vegetable with many partner plants to promote mutually beneficial growth.
You should be able to locate at least a few herbs, vegetables, or flowers that are compatible with eggplant, given the large diversity of plants that can grow in the same plot of soil. This should allow you to grow several complementary plants with eggplant.