Easy to grow - poached egg plant

The poached egg plant is very simple to grow in almost any soil in a sunny spot. The bright white and yellow cup-shaped flowers create a colourful area of ground cover. It is an asset in the vegetable garden as a companion plant to attract hoverflies which will feed on aphids and pollinate plants. The flowers also have a sweet fragrance and are particularly attractive to bees.

It will self-seed freely and will continue to appear and naturalise themselves over the area, germinating and flowering at different times. This can be imitated by sowing in autumn for flowers as early as April, and from spring to July for a long sequence of summer flowers.

When to grow:  Sow in autumn for flowers as early as April, and from spring to July for a long sequence of summer flowers.

How to grow:  Poached egg plants prefer a sunny position and well drained soil. Seeds can be sown direct in to the ground where they are going to flower. Sow seeds 5 mm deep and 10 cm apart. As they grow the plants can be thinned out to about 10cm apart. They will grow to be about 15 cm tall.