Leafy Greens

'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!

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.

This highly esteemed ancient crop can be used raw in salads, sautéed as a side dish or cooked like spinach. Summer Purslane has a crispy texture you would expect from a succulent and an interesting nutty, peppery flavour. It is salty on the tongue.

Summer Purslane was highly esteemed and cultivated in Europe as far back as the Middle Ages, but is now cultivated only for specialised connoisseurs.This wonderfully succulent and cooling herb has tangy leaves make a very nice contrast, in texture as well as taste to other salad leaves.

Sometimes referred to as Perilla 'Britton' and called ‘Hojiso’ in Japan, this less typical form of Perilla has beautiful bi-coloured leaves. The serrated, red-veined leaves are green on top and deep purple-red underneath.

Shiso ‘Aoshiso’ leaves make for exquisite decoration. It is finely sliced with ginger and added to salads, sautéed vegetables, sashimi, tempura and sushi. Available either red or green, the red having more of an anise flavour and slightly less spicy than the green variety, which tastes more like cinnamon.

The Stinging Nettle is a very valuable plant, used for food and medicine by traditional cultures for hundreds of years. This wild herb is one of the most useful plants we have. Most useful to the organic gardener they can be used to make nitrogen-rich liquid feed for your plants.

The marvellous Mizuna is an oriental wonder! It grows as a large rosette of finely serrated, feathery leaves, which are dark, glossy green, similar to rocket leaves. A very hardy plant, being both heat and cold tolerant, it usually grows better in moist conditions.

A new red hybrid Mizuna, great for adding colour in a salad. The purple-red leaf blades contrast wonderfully against green undersides. It has a long petiole and thick bladed leaves with shallow serrations. Vigorous and high yielding.

Minutina, also known as Erba Stella is a unique, cold weather salad green prized in Italy for its mild nutty flavour and crunchy texture. This perennial can be grown all winter in temperate climates. With a mild nutty flavour and crunchy texture it is a great addition to salad mixes or for stir-frying.

Mibuna is a delicate and unusual plant that has been grown for centuries in Japan. It is best enjoyed in baby leaf salads where its addictive flavour can shine, or in stir-fries for a milder taste. Perfect for “cut and come” scissor harvest.

Commonly called Malabar Spinach, Basella rubra is valued for the brilliant fuchsia-purplish colour of its leaf stems and veins as well as its mild flavour. The leaves are delicious mixed in with other greens in tossed salads. Juicy and crisp, the flavours of citrus and pepper accompany the succulent leaves.

Malabar Spinach, is a vining type of plant that thrives in hot temperatures, it is a discovery that is a boon for those of us that love our greens but find the warm days of summer a bit too hot for good growth. It can be grown throughout the summer and can even cope when the heat exceeds 32°C (90°F).

Perpetual Spinach 'Everglade' is a modern selection with an upright habit and dark green compact leaves that contrast sharply with bright white stems. It responds particularly well to repeat cutting and is one of the easiest and most productive vegetables for a small space.

Bulls Blood 'Atlanta Red' is a heat tolerant summer variety which holds its magnificent red colour in high temperatures. Used by commercial growers for both baby leaf and mixed salad leaves, this dual purpose variety can be harvested at any stage of growth, use the leaves in salads or steamed like spinach, or the roots can be left to grow like any other beetroot.