Eggplant Companion Plants: What to Plant With Eggplants

If you are looking to add eggplant to your garden and make the most of your garden space you can use this wonderful and versatile vegetable as a companion plant.

Eggplant gets along well with other plants in the garden making for a great addition to your garden that can help feed your family.

Companion planting allows you to shade tender plants for the harsh summer sun to extend their growing season and add plants that help to attract pollinators and repel pests that want to snack on your eggplants.

Eggplant is a rather large plant making it perfect for companion planting with shorter plants that need shade in the heat of the summer.

Companion planting eggplant is a great way to ensure that your plants have enough healthy soil and protection from pests.

When companion planting your eggplants you are able to help attract pollinators and keep pests at bay to improve your plant’s yield while helping to maximize space for a better yield from your entire garden.

How to Best Companion Plant Eggplant

Eggplant is a tall plant which makes it fantastic for providing shading to other plants if you are strategic about where you plant your eggplant at the start of the season.

You want to ensure that anything that can not handle the shade is not growing on the north side of your eggplants. However, this is the best location for things that need some shade and protection from the sun.

Eggplant can greatly benefit from plants that are good at repelling insects and wildlife that love young tender eggplant. Be sure to plant with several repelling companions for the best results.

The Best companion plants for eggplant

Mint

Mint makes an amazing companion plant for eggplant as this fragrant herb helps to improve the flavor of your eggplant.

Mint loves to spread but will not snuff out your eggplant (due to its large size), making it a great living mulch ground cover for growing with your eggplant.

Peppers

Peppers make a great companion plant for eggplant. Both hot and sweet varieties can be grown with eggplant and make a great option for helping to repel deer and other pests that will snack on your young eggplants and steal the fruits.

Potatoes

Potatoes can make a great companion plant for eggplant. Placing them at the back of your garden bed with potatoes means these plants can grow together without causing any harm to each other.

Your eggplant should be done for the season and harvested before your potatoes are ready to be dug up allowing you to make the most of your space. The vines of your potatoes will even act as a living mulch for your eggplant.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes can be grown side by side with your eggplant. Be sure to place where they will not be shading your tomatoes such as next to them on the east side with plenty of room to grow.

You don’t want your tomatoes to have anything blocking them from the south side, to make the most use of sunlight, so focus on short plants in front of your tomatoes on that side.

Spinach

Spinach grows amazingly well with eggplant. You can use your eggplant’s tall height to help shade your spinach and increase your growing season before the heat becomes far too much for your spinach to keep growing.

As fall rolls back in you can allow this same shade to help get your spinach replanted for the fall season while protecting it from the heat.

Lettuce

Lettuce like other greens can greatly benefit from the addition of shade late into the growing season. Planting your eggplant where it will shade your lettuce in your garden is a great way to help keep them cool so you can have fresh salads longer.

Kale

Kale tends to wilt in the heat of the summer sun. When planting your eggplant, if you grow it along the south side of your garden beds it will provide shade for kale and other greens when your eggplant reaches full height.

What NOT To Plant With Eggplant

Fennel should not be planted with your eggplant because fennel can add natural chemicals and flavorings to the soil that can harm your eggplants and even give them a weird and undesirable taste.

Pumpkins and melons should not be grown with your eggplant as these are very heavy feeders that will quickly zap the soil with the same nutrients that your eggplant needs to grow and thrive.

Remember to space out your garden bed rotation to ensure that your soil has had time to recover before you add in another heavy feeder. Keep your rotation for heavy feeders to every 2 to 3 years between plantings.