Direct Sow In Autumn

Pea 'Terrain' is a recent introduction and one of the most the most exciting developments of recent times. Yield, pod quality and taste – Pea Terrain couldn’t be beaten. Considered the most mildew resistant pea available this powerhouse pea is ideal for late summer sowing, especially in June/July enabling peas to be picked into November and up to a hard frost.

Phacelia is a very attractive plant and one with a variety of uses. Very rich in both nectar and pollen, it is listed as one of the top 20 honey-producing flowers for honeybees. It is ideal for a wildlife-friendly planting scheme and makes a wonderful green manure.

This incredibly succulent, melt-in-your-mouth raw salad green has recently gained popularity in the gourmet greens world, attracting both world class growers and chefs. Best used fresh and tiny, these elegant leaves bring a rich, tart-creaminess to delicate, micro-green salads.

'Wild' or 'Perennial' rocket is gaining in popularity; it has narrower and more deeply divided, aromatic leaves than the annual variety. With a sharp and clean flavour they hardly need a dressing. For restaurant quality micro-greens or pesto, use wild rocket when only the finest ingredients will do!

'Dentellata' is a classic salad rocket with a typical wild rocket indented leaf shape. With good texture and colour it has a mild flavour. Also known as arugula, it is popular in Italy and Southern France, where it has been grown and eaten for centuries.

In recent years, Rocket has undergone a renaissance and a whole range of varieties are now available in a variety of leaf shapes and flavours. Rocket 'Green Brigade' is a refined variety of the classic salad rocket type. The plant has an upright habit for ease of harvesting and is suitable for growing all year round.

Rocket 'Pronto' is a very attractive and fast growing salad rocket. A clear improvement to regular varieties, the highly serrated leaves resemble the shape of wild rocket yet are mildly spicy with a nutty, light peppery flavour. Ideal as a bed for seafood and it also makes a wonderful salad on its own.

Rocket ‘Dragons Tongue’ is a distinctive wild rocket variety with striking purple-red leaf veins which contrast beautifully with the dark green leaf. It is the essence of a lightly flavoured rocket – honeyed, grassy and only lightly peppery. It is something a bit little bit different for the salad bowl.

GIOVE, the Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element are the satellites that test technology in orbit for the Galileo positioning system, while Rocket ‘Giove’ is a new wild rocket variety that has been bred for flavour. Bolt-resistant, hardy with a distinctive flavour, I am sure Galileo would have approved of this new variety.

Relatively unknown to our shores, Rocket ‘Olive Leaf’ is an excellent selection of the traditional Italian olive leaf wild rocket. With a beautiful light green colour and smooth shape similar to an olive leaf, this perennial form has a distinctive aroma and flavour that is more subtle than the usual wild rockets.

Rocket 'Sorrento' is a reliable main season variety with distinct thick leaf and strongly erect plant habit. A little slower to mature with good field holding ability for summer and autumn crops, the plants are more upright, and bolting is slower than with standard wild rocket. Use as a baby leaf in salad mixes, it will ‘cut and come again’ two to three times.

This trendy Wasabi Rocket actually has the punchy flavour of Wasabi - a Japanese vegetable much like horseradish. It can be picked from microleaf, babyleaf or a larger rocket sized leaf. Easy to grow and packs a full flavoured punch with the unusual flavour of wasabi. .

Root Parsley Hamburg is an off-beat, dual purpose vegetable that deserves to be better known. The root can be left in the ground all winter and dug up as and when your Sunday roast requires and the luxury of having plenty of leaves to snip from the garden in winter can’t be overstated.

Salsify may be a chic new vegetable with the foodie crowd but it just happens to be an old-fashioned heritage root crop. This unprepossessing Mediterranean winter vegetable has a delicate taste, ever so slightly sweet, some say slightly reminiscent of oysters, so much so that it is also known as the 'oyster plant'.

Spinach ‘F1 Piano’ is a modern, variety with smooth, green leaves. Highly productive, it is completely resistant to all races of spinach mildew and is very strongly resistant to bolting. With these properties it ranks among the most successful varieties for summer and autumn cultivation.