Ancient Crops

Anyone who has had the pleasure of traveling to countries such as Japan or China will appreciate the bewildering but totally delicious array of vegetables on offer there. No wonder the Japanese have no problem reaching their official recommended intake of not merely five, but 17 portions of fruit and veg per day!

Buckler Leaf Sorrel, sometimes called 'True French Sorrel' is a superb salad crop. It has all the best qualities of common sorrel but is a much smaller, more compact plant. It has the same vibrant, lemony taste, but is less sour and it has a softer texture. Its distinct leaves are shaped like a shield.

A most attractive selection 'Red Veined' Sorrel is valued for its pointed and bright lime-green leaves with dark red veins, and because of its low-growing habit it makes a nice border plant or garden accent. It looks right at home in a flower border or container if you don't have space for a vegetable patch.

Mexican Tree Spinach is the latest ‘new’ arrival on the veg-growing scene. With a hundred different names including 'Micro Glitter Spinach' - this is a beautiful plant to have in the garden or allotment. Vivid pink tinged triangular bright green leaves with each new set of leaves blushed a shocking magenta.

The European woodland strawberry is the old fashioned wild strawberry once widely grown in gardens. Called 'Fraises des Bois' meaning literally Strawberries of the Forest, the compact plants give a good yield of small, intensely sweet little berries. A burst of true, scrumptious Strawberry that puts the taste of many bigger berries to shame.

Artemisia annua, commonly called Sweet Annie is a graceful annual with tall stems with fine bright green ferny foliage. With sweetly fragrant foliage it has a wide variety of uses both medicinal and for handcrafting but is most often grown for fresh and dried arrangements.

Sweet Cicely is an attractive plant that is a striking component of herb gardens and hedgerows. Growing to around 90cm, umbels of tiny white flowers appear from spring to early summer. Formerly a widely cultivated culinary herb, the fern-like leaves are deeply divided and smell of aniseed when crushed.

Texsel Greens is an unusual vegetable that provides an incredibly tender, smooth-textured salads and sauté greens, this fast growing variety has become a popular choice for use as a cut and come again salad crop. Also known as Garlic Kale, the small delicious leaves have an excellent flavour, a mild combination of spinach and cabbage.

Thymus mastichina is a very special thyme with an intense flavour. Used in Andalucía to season and preserve olives, the leaves have eucalyptus like overtones and are prized for their essential oils. Distinct and intoxicating, the flowers are like fluffy snowballs and are attractive both fresh and dry.

Thymus pulegoides has large, fleshy dark green, round leaves, known as Broad Leaf Thyme it is regarded by many as the ultimate culinary thyme. The aromatic leaves have a stronger flavour and are much easier to use than narrow leaved varieties. Very ornamental, it can be also be useful as a groundcover.

Turkish Rocket is a robust, fast-growing plant and a great, herbaceous addition to permaculture projects, it is one of the most hardy and long-lived of all winter salad greens. It is blessedly simple to grow. Easy to raise, never needs weeding or watering and goes on for ever.

Chinatown's produce stands offer many items that make only fleeting seasonal appearances, often so brief that many chefs scarcely have time to figure out how to cook them properly before they disappear for another year. One example is water spinach, a common vegetable in Asian cuisine.