A fast-growing plant, it succeeds in ordinary garden soils and also in poor soils. It requires a very well-drained soil, preferring to grow on a dry sunny bank. A frost tender annual, it does not thrive in areas with hot humid summers.

Seed - cooked. It can be used as a piñole, or can be ground into a powder and used with other ground seeds in a mush or porridge..

Seed - sow March/April in a greenhouse. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle and plant them out in early summer. Alternatively, if you have sufficient seed it is possible to sow in situ during April/May.

Grassy flats by the coast, below 100 metres.