Northern NJ may be a little north for perfect eggplant growing conditions. I live in a cool night, relatively short season area (though if you cover things the Falls can warm up again!). So I use black plastic mulch as well as agrofabric row covers to keep in the heat (I remove the covers in July). Getting the soil warm in Spring as well as keeping the nights warm are very important to eggplant (and some peppers and melons too). I get three times the growth when compared to none of either. With that said, your eggplant choices were probably too late and not that productive to begin with. I love Kamo (somewhat hard to get seeds), and Thai Long Green Hybrid. Both are early and excellent flavor. They are both Asian varieties. I grow many others too. You can keep non-hybrid varieties of eggplant seeds quite reliably as they are nearly 100 percent self-pollinating. I think the other suggested varieties will work well too.
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