May

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'.

Salad Burnet is a wonderful old herb that makes a great addition to any garden. It was planted along pathways 'to perfume the air most delightfully, being trodden on and crushed', the delicate leaves have a subtle cucumber flavour and today are used in salads, as a flavouring and to add interest to cold drinks.

Salvia officianalis, as the Latin name implies, is the original aromatic foliage used for centuries to flavour stuffing, meats and even make sage tea. Good with cheese and is often combined with thyme and used with beans and in soups, of course, nothing says stuffing like good old Garden Sage.

Rosemary can be used for ornamental, culinary and medicinal purposes. The aromatic, evergreen shrub, native to the dry hills of southern Europe and North Africa, can be grown as a clipped hedge, along the edge of a retaining wall, pruned and shaped as topiaries and as a container patio plant.

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.

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.

The Minowase is the finest daikon radish variety for summer to autumn harvest. Sown from mid June to mid July, it can be harvested during cooler weather until the first mild frosts. They store beautifully and excel in stir-fries and roasts, the flesh is tender, buttery, and mild.

Radish ‘China Rose’ is a traditional winter hardy variety that produces long, tapering roots with attractive rosy pink skins and crisp, pure white flesh. Its cylindrical roots grow 15 to 20cm long and add flavour to winter salads. The leaves can also be added to salads and stir fries.

Radish 'White Hailstone' is a brilliant white, sweet, white globe radish. Especially crisp, tender and with a mild flavour that keeps well once pulled. not too spicy and stay mild even as they grow larger.

Not your average radish, Radish ‘Viola’ is one of the jewels of veg patch. This dramatic, magenta-skinned variety is quick to mature and makes a delightful presentation on the plate. High yielding in limited space, they can be grown wherever there is sun and moist, fertile soil, even on the smallest city lot.

Quick to grow and beautiful to look at, Radish 'Rainbow Mixed' is a visually stunning selection of coloured-skinned radishes. A very exciting sight to see when picked and an excellent choice for salads and gourmet dishes.

Radish 'Long White Icicle' is a uniform strain which forms long, pure snow-white roots. The white flesh is crisp and mild and less pungent than that of the round varieties, they have a spice that warms the tongue, but doesn’t bite back. Very easy to grow and ready for harvest only 25 days after planting,

A first in this colour break for rounded radishes Radish 'Diana' is a unique round radish with distinctive purple skin and a white tip. Resistant to cracking and bolting, harvest in just 35 to 40 days and enjoy the beautiful two-toned roots from spring until autumn.

The globe shaped roots of Radish ‘Cherry Belle’ have appealing bright red skins, smooth white flesh and a crisp, crunchy texture. This fast maturing variety is reliable and versatile, producing early crops of sweet and succulent, mildly flavoured radish.