It maybe a funny thing to be talking about eggplants at this time of the year, given how much they love the heat. Many gardeners pull them out about now, but if you had good success with them over the current growing period, and they are still looking healthy and holding fruit, think about leaving them in and letting them grow over the colder months. They will not be affected so much by disease over this time, more so by the cold. They may not bear you any fruit, but when next spring comes, they will be raring to go, and you should see plenty of flowers and fruit in October.
If you are going to leave them in, remove any discoloured leaves and put some snail bait down and then all you need do is cover to protect them from any frost. Our greenhouse is perfect for covering anything that needs protection from Mr Frost, as it can be placed anywhere over a current garden bed. The clear commercial grade greenhouse film will also let sunlight through to the plants.
Don’t water the eggplants much during this time. When you see buds appear around August, give them a good feed and trim them back and then tend to them as needed until the fruit is ripe to eat.
Enjoy
Peter