June

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.

Recommended by the N.I.A.B, Turnip ‘Snowball’ is a very popular first-class, globe variety with solid flesh and a juicy, sweet, mild flavour. They are a fast crop, being ready in just five to eight weeks from sowing. With pure white flesh as its name suggests, Snowball is superb for both table and exhibition.

Purple Top Milan is a classic Italian heirloom variety and is still as popular as ever. Highly ornamental, it has smooth creamy-white flat roots with bright purple shoulders and pure white flesh. A strap-leaved variety, quick to mature and early cropping, it is an ideal 'catch crop' between slower growing vegetables.

Turnip ‘Goldana’ is an improved version of the popular turnip Golden Ball. A maincrop variety that produces uniform round golden roots with tender creamy-yellow flesh. They are much sweeter than regular turnips with an excellent flavour. They can be harvested as a mini-veg or left to mature.

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.

Tatsoi or Rosette Pak Choi is among the most popular of oriental greens and one of the best vegetables to grow in a cool climate. The spoon-shaped, evenly spaced leaves form a plant worthy to be grown for its decorative value alone. Given enough room the plants will form beautiful wide rosettes of regular, concentric circles.

Swede is one of the easiest vegetables to grow and well-suited to the novice gardener, few other crops are quite so straightforward. A favorite with growers, Swede 'Best of All' is an old variety that produced globe shaped roots with purple tops and yellow flesh, it is very hardy and reliable with good storing qualities.

'Waltham' is an improved version of the common Butternut squash. First bred in the 1960's they are reliable, productive and a long-keeper. It has very little seed cavity, thicker & straighter necks, fruits earlier, and produces more flesh per fruit.

A curiously-shaped heirloom winter squash from France that is named for the colour and shape of the fruit, Squash 'Turkish Turban' produces attractive, acorn shape fruit, at its blossom end is a Turban-like cap, thus its name. Closely related to the buttercup squash, the taste is similar to other Cucurbita maxima cultivars.

Squash 'F1 Table Gold' is a high sugar Acorn type squash that is one of the most productive squash you can grow. Maturing in 85 days, the fruits can be harvested as summer squash or left for autumn. Deliciously sweet and just the right size, to prepare simply remove the seeds and bake.

An award winning variety of the Japanese Kabocha squash, 'Sweet Mama F1’ is a unique kabocha that produces on a very space-saving short vine. It produces flattened globe shaped fruit with an excellent sweet and nutty flavour. The distinct bush-type growth habit makes it possible to inter plant these vines quite closely.

'Spaghetti squash' is a unique variety whose creamy coloured flesh separates into spaghetti-like strands once cooked. Mild, sweet and nutty, this squash is delicious roasted. Sow May to July and harvest up to first frosts, it is a healthy gluten free alternative to pasta or use instead of rice noodles in Asian-style dishes. A great way pack more nutrients into your diet.

'F1 Rolet' is a Gem type squash variety that is summer-fruiting, like a courgette but with the creaminess and superb flavour of a winter storing squash. Its deep green smooth skin sets it apart from other squashes. Early maturing and high yielding, it is very easy to cook and has a incredible nutty, warm flavour.

Squash 'Turkish Turban' produces decorative fruits that are brightly colourful and striped. 'Mini Red Turban' is a small-sized bicolour variety with red cap and white turban. Perfect for baking or for use as an ornament for decoration in autumn, the taste is nutty and sweet and reminiscent of hazelnuts.