July

Until a few years ago you would never have seen wild garlic on a menu, but these days is definitely a chefs' favourite. The whole plant is edible. The flavour is softer, more pleasant than cloves from garlic bulbs. The leaves have a vibrant colour that brings food to life.

Amaranth 'Green Giant' is a vigorous selection that produces slightly savoyed, large mid green leaves. The popular Calaloo in Caribbean cuisine, the leaves have a mild spinach flavour and can be harvested when plants are just 20cm tall.

Amaranth 'Passion' has attractive oval, mid-green leaves that are streaked through with shades of red and purple. Easy to grow and tolerant of wide-ranging conditions. Its soft leaves are a great addition to salads and, like spinach they melt delectably when cooked. The plants are very ornamental and also look good in the border

Most gardeners are familiar with ornamental amaranth, but few realise that this plant is a delicious nutritional powerhouse. In the hot summer months, when growing spinach is near impossible, amaranth thrives. A favorite with chefs, Amaranth tricolor ‘Red Army’ is an intense cherry red selection with a delicate pea-like flavour. Use at babyleaf stage for salad or garnish, or leave to mature for steamed vegetable or soups.

Lettuce leaf basil is a popular old Italian variety, a large leafed variety of Sweet Basil and one of the most productive of all basils. With very large, crinkled and highly aromatic leaves, it adds the texture of leaf lettuce while packing a tasty basil flavour to brighten up your summer sandwiches.

Basil ‘Red Rubin’ is a purple version of Italian large leaf basil, a multi-purpose variety that is one of the mainstays of many herb gardens. Distinguished from other purple basils by its sweeter aroma and flavour, the rich, dark purple leaves are more consistent in colour than some of the other purple basils.

Blooming earlier than most varieties, Basil ‘Blue Spice’ is a heavily fragrant variety with flavours of vanilla, spice and lemon. The dark purple flower stems produce dense spikes of dark purple bracts with light purple flowers. Add the floral sweetness of their perfume, and you have a plant well worth including in any ornamental planting.

The lemon basils have a predominant flavour characteristic of citrus, like the flower essence of lemon or orange blossoms. Basil 'Lemonette' plants have small, light green leaves with with slightly serrated edges and white to pale pink flowers. They grow to just 20 to 40cm tall, so make a wonderful compact border plant.

Basil Bush is a dwarf, compact variety, approximately half the size of sweet basil, it is ideal for planting in pots and probably the easiest basil to grow, it is perfect for the kitchen window sill and for container gardening.The leaves are smaller than sweet basil, with a slightly milder flavour. Tiny white flowers will appear in the summer.

The composition of oils varies greatly in different basil types, thus accounting for the wide range of scents available. True to its name, this Basil has a distinct cinnamon aftertaste, although it initially resembles sweet basil it has a cooler flavour. Use this herb just as you would use sweet basil.

Greek Basil is an improved variety of 'Bush'. It has a tight compact growing habit and forms a perfectly spherical bush appearing as though having been pruned. The size and scent make it suitable for growing in virtually any horticultural department:- beds, borders, path edging or even window boxes.

With handsome heavily ruffled and fringed leaves, Basil 'Green Ruffles' deserves a place in your kitchen garden and makes an excellent contrast plant in the border. The leaves are full of flavour, aromatic when crushed and are especially fine for herb vinegars and for garnishing.

Purple Ruffles is probably the prettiest of basils, if not of all herbs. While it deserves a place in your kitchen garden, it also makes an excellent contrasting plant in a border. Tempting though it is to admire your plant, one taste will have you tearing the leaves of by the armful.

Sweet Genovese is often associated with Italian cuisine. Basil is native to the region surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. This delicate herb has with an intense, spicy-sweet, aroma and a slight anise-like undertone. It is THE Basil for pesto and a wonderful companion plant.

Thai Basil 'Siam Queen' is a large leaf variety that has been cultivated to provide a distinctive set of traits preferred in Asian cuisine. It has an identifiable liquorice flavour not present in sweet basil, and its flavour is more stable under high or extended cooking temperatures than that of sweet basil.

Holy basil, also called Tulsi or Sacred Basil is an ancient variety. It has highly aromatic, narrow oval leaves and pink flowers with a perfumed fragrance. This reddish-purple tinted plant exudes a delicious, sweet, clove-like aroma. The hotter the summer, the deeper the purple.

‘Purple Queen’ French beans are the sort of fun, sassy crop every stylish gardener wants to grow in their good-looking veg plot. They race up their supports, burst into shocking magenta flower, and then produce hundreds of gorgeous regal purple beans which are a pure pleasure to eat.