Traditional eggplants are large and purplish-black in appearance. However, other types are now also available, including white-skinned and striped varieties, lady’s fingers and tiny pea eggplants, which are used in Asian cooking.

Red varieties are also now available. These have a better flavour than the more traditional purple ones because they are less acidic. They are most suitable for cutting in half and placing on the barbecue, or sliced thinly, fried and added to platters of antipasto.

Eggplants require a position of full sun and a long, warm growing season. Seeds and seedlings can be planted out now.

A layer of plastic mulch around the plants may assist in providing conditions of additional warmth, as well as conserving moisture, ensuring the plants can grow as quickly as possible.

Because eggplants are in the same family as tomatoes and capsicums, they require similar conditions and care as that applied to these vegetables. A good supply of organic material should be dug well into the soil at planting time. Mulching and frequent watering will generally be required. Regular applications of a complete fertiliser will ensure good growth. The fertiliser should contain higher proportions of potassium and phosphorous, rather than nitrogen. This is particularly important at times of flowering and fruiting.

It is very important that the soil should absorb and retain water effectively and drain well, as eggplant is a water hungry plant when fruiting.

Of the most common varieties, each plant will produce approximately 4-8 fruits.

As with tomatoes, eggplants may become susceptible to attack by fruit fly, so appropriate control measures should be undertaken.

Eggplants grow very well in raised beds and can be spaced 30cm apart in each direction. Healthy plants will quickly cover and shade the bed, eliminating any opportunity for weeds to become established. Eggplants can be grown in the same area as capsicums as they prefer similar growth conditions.

One of the more difficult weeds to control in the home garden is Onion Weed. Plants are very visible in gardens at this time because they are in flower. In fact, some gardeners may not realise that the small white flowers that appear at the top of tall, slender, light green stems are actually from the onion weeds.

The flowers could easily be mistaken for a spring-flowering bulb. However, crushing the stem will reveal the onion-type odour that is present. The leaves of the plant are long, narrow and flat in the same colour as the flowering stem.

It is fairly easy to eradicate onion weed from lawns by keeping the grass growing vigorously. Healthy lawn grass will out-compete onion grass in a fairly short time and no other treatment is necessary. The presence of onion weed in lawns is a sign that the lawn needs a bit more care.

Onion Weed is a perennial weed. It stores nutrients and carbohydrates in its bulbs to generate growth the following season. This is the same process used by daffodils are other spring flowering bulbs.

It is the bulbs that create difficulties in attempts at eradicating the weeds. If the leaves of the plant are pulled or dug up, they usually break away from the bulb underneath, or only the parent bulb is removed. Small bulbs (bulbils) are released from the main bulb and each of these will then form new plants. Therefore, attempts at eradication of onion weed by digging it up will only result in spreading the plants.

Treating the leaves with a glysophate-based preparation will only kill the parent bulb. Some gardeners use undiluted glysophate sprays but this can cause other problems in the garden. Glyphosate is not broken down on contact with soil. It binds to certain soil compounds. When soil conditions change, it can become unbound and affect later crops.

The main principle to observe in attempting to eradicate onion weed from the garden is the prevention of the bulbs storing food for growth. It is also important to remember that persistence in treatment options will be necessary, probably over several seasons.

An immediate partial control at this time of the year involves removing the flower heads before they set seed and disposing of them with the rubbish. Cutting the foliage off at ground level will prevent the plants making carbohydrates in their leaves.

If the weeds are present in an unused part of the garden, the plants can be slashed or mown, with the area then covered in black plastic for several months.

Onion weed that is present in the average garden bed, with other plants, is much more difficult to eradicate.

Cut off the foliage at ground level with shears to prevent it making food for the bulbs. Then mulch the beds with 5–7 cm of mulch. It may be necessary to cut back foliage several times. If this process is undertaken consistently, bulb growth will become progressively weaker, and the problem will eventually be eliminated without disturbing the soil and stimulating the growth of more bulbs.

The injection of vegetable oil carefully into the soil around the bulbs, causing them to suffocate and then die down, may be an alternate method of removal.