Best Aubergine Varieties for Scotland

By late August, a lot of Scottish aubergine plants are still carrying fruit stalled between egg-sized and full: not diseased or starved, just out of season. Aubergines need at least five months from sowing to harvest, so a plant started in February has little margin if the summer is cool. Choosing an early, compact variety does more against that than almost anything else.

What Scotland means for the choice

Two things decide it. The first is time: with at least five months from sowing to harvest, an early-cropping or fast-maturing variety gives you margin in a cool summer. The second is space: most Scottish aubergines grow under glass, where bench and polytunnel room, not garden ground, is what limits how many plants you can fit. Outdoors is a stretch for any variety. The aubergine growing guide covers sowing, care and pollination.

The four AGM varieties

The RHS recommends Bonica, Kaberi, Galine and Clara with its Award of Garden Merit (AGMThe RHS's Award of Garden Merit: a UK-wide trials award for reliable performance, not a Scotland-specific recommendation. Full definition →), a UK-wide award rather than a Scottish one.

Bonica crops early and suits an unheated greenhouse, which makes it the safest all-round choice. Kaberi tackles the season from the other side: it matures fast on a plant small enough for a container. Galine is a second compact container variety, with a slightly different fruit. Clara is described as maturing early, but no harvest timing is given to show it's faster than Bonica or Kaberi. Grow it for its oval, white-skinned, white-fleshed fruit.

Five more varieties

None of these holds the AGM, but all five are narrower than the AGM varieties, spreading only about 30cm, which matters where greenhouse space is the limit.

Fairy Tale is compact and suits containers: the tightest option here for a small greenhouse or a large patio pot. Moneymaker crops early on a narrow plant, a space-saving alternative to Bonica if you'd rather fit more plants than grow the biggest fruit. Asian Bride finishes earliest, in September, a month before most of the others. Little Fingers is narrow but, at 90cm, the tallest plant here, so give it full height. Melanzana Violetta di Firenze starts cropping later than every other variety, from late July, which leaves the least margin in a Scottish season.

Grafted plants

Grafted aubergines, a named top growing on a stronger rootstockThe root system and lower stem a fruit tree is grafted onto, chosen to control the tree's eventual size rather than for its own fruit. Full definition →, are another option. Grafted vegetables generally grow more vigorously and resist soil-borne pests and diseases better, and aubergines suit graftingJoining a chosen fruiting variety onto a separate rootstock, so the tree grows the fruit of one plant on the roots of another. Full definition →. They're a way to a stronger plant, alongside choosing the right variety rather than instead of it.

Which one for your situation

• An unheated greenhouse or polytunnel, the safest choice: Bonica.
• Tight space: Kaberi or Galine, or Fairy Tale for the narrowest plant.
• The earliest crop: Bonica, or fast-maturing Kaberi in a container.
• Finishing early, in September: Asian Bride.
• Something different on the plate: Clara, for white fruit.
• Avoid unless your season runs long: Melanzana Violetta di Firenze.

Compact varieties suit pots, but pots dry out fast, and uneven watering causes blossom end rot. Under glass, watch for red spider mite, aphids and whitefly.

Common questions

Sources