Alexanders are an ancient food source, cultivated for many centuries. This biennial wild flower, with dark green, shiny leaves and umbels of yellow-green flowers can be grown as an ornamental or can be put to use as a culinary herb or spice, the flavour is said to be similar to myrrh.
The Frilly Leaf Salad Mix is a new blend that contains an attractive blend of salads with frilled or indented leaves, an explosion of tastes and colour that is perfect for micro leaf or baby leaf production. Juicy, crisp and fast-maturing, they can be grown all year round.
The Pak Choi Colour Crunch Mix is a new blend that contains a colourful array of pak choi varieties, an explosion of tastes and colour. Juicy, crisp and fast-maturing, they can can be eaten in salad or cooked in stir-fry dishes and can be grown all year round for a continuous supply of tasty baby leaves.
Broad Bean Super Aquadulce is highly prolific, easy to grow and one of the most delicious in terms of flavour. It is universally recognised as being best hardy broad bean for an autumn sowing. RHS AGM. Organic Seed.This lovely, old fashioned Broccoli variety is a very disease resistant, very hardy and very prolific producer of large dark green heads. Italian Green Sprouting Broccoli is very easy to grow and will produce a number of good-size side shoots once the initial head is harvested.
Kailan ‘Kichi’ is a fantastic vegetable chimera – the florets of broccoli, the stems of asparagus, and leaves like tender collard greens. It has a mild flavour and, best of all can be harvested in only eight weeks.
Flourishing famously in Mediterranean and Chinese cultures, elsewhere Raab is still a bit of a curiosity. Easy and fast growing, it can be useful as it comes ready when ordinary broccoli isn’t available, but this isn’t just a replacement for broccoli, it is a great vegetable in its own right.
Chervil ‘Massa’ has a sophisticated yet gentle, aniseedy warmth. It is a dark green selection with smooth leaves and good plant vigour, it has better cold tolerance than standard Chervil and is used for autumn sowings, it also bolts much later.
Famous for the forced, blanched heads or ‘chichons’ that are loved by gourmets Chicory ‘Brussels Witloof’ is the traditional finely-textured variety used for forcing. With a delicious, tangy, unique flavour, it is very easy to grow and produces one of the finest tasting winter vegetables.
The classic tall Italian radicchio. Upright with red and white striped leaves with large pure white stems. Highly prized, this flavoursome early variety is grown in the Treviso area in winter and is eaten, root and all, simply pan fried or grilled. It has high resistance to cold.
‘Wong Bok’ is a tender, sweet tasting, hearted-type of Chinese cabbage. Growing this fast growing cabbage is simplicity itself. Plant the seeds, stand back and once the secondary leaves appear you are a mere 30 days away from mealtime. This vegetable growing season promises to be very rewarding.
Vit is an easy to grow, vigorous variety for spring and autumn crops. This French variety is mildew-resistant with long, oval, glossy green leaves which form a heavy bunch, They have a tender, delicate nutty, minty flavour. An excellent winter gap filler, both in the vegetable garden and at the dining table.
In France this humble plant is called la mâche and enjoys an elevated gourmet status. Vit is an easy to grow, vigorous variety. Mildew-resistant with long, oval, glossy green leaves with a tender, delicate nutty, minty flavour. Organic Seed.Corn Salad ‘Verte de Cambrai’ is a traditional old French variety, the compact plants have good colour and small leaf shape. It is among the softest and most tender of all greens, the leaves have a sweet buttery flavour which almost melt in the mouth.
Once very popular for winter salads, Land Cress has the same pungent nip that Watercress does but can be grown directly in the garden. Leaf production is at it’s highest during the summer and autumn, but it will happily carry on growing right through the winter. It deserves to be far more widely grown.
With deeply cut, slate green oak-like leaves ‘Red Russian’ is one of the tenderest and sweetest kales available. Sow under cover in autumn for baby leaves after four to six weeks, or directly outdoors for over-wintering. This hardy crop can provide nutritious leaves even in the depths of winter.
Until recently Cavolo Nero, or ‘Tuscan Kale’, was one of Italy’s best kept secrets. Simply adored, especially in the north of Italy, it has been an essential fare of traditional dishes for centuries. Cavolo Nero can now be found in garden markets, specialist greengrocers and trendy restaurants throughout Europe.
Komatsuna is possibly Japan’s most beloved vegetable – An all-season green that is easy to grow and can be used in all kinds of cooking. While Japanese people have eaten Komatsuna since the olden days, many people now use Komatsuna to make smoothies – A chilled komatsuna and banana smoothie is lovely morning drink.
As its name suggests, this classic butterhead lettuce can be the basis of fresh daily salads throughout the year. This is no ‘supermarket’ variety, but rather a proper lettuce with an exquisite flavour unavailable from anywhere but from your own vegetable patch.
This French butter-head lettuce is famous for its signature butter-head shape boasting the appearance of a bibb-type rosette with an array of beautiful colours ranging in bronze, gold, red and green. The “Four Seasons” will thrive in a range of climates and its texture always remains crisp and its taste unforgettable.
Also known as Merveille des Quatre Saisons this is a butter-head lettuce that is a true delight. With ruby toned leaves that encompass tightly folded green hearts it is as tasty as it is beautiful, and it is a truly beautiful lettuce. Organic Seed.Lettuce Meraviglia d’Inverno is truly a ‘Marvel of Winter’, it is from one of the coldest regions of Italy and is hardy to around minus 10°C (14°F). Compact and tender, it will stand in perfect condition right through winter and can be harvested from September right through to March.
If you haven’t cooked with lovage before then you have missed out on a very flavourful herb. The flavour is distinct and greatly appreciated by food aficionados. Even though some like to compare lovage to celery, it is almost like saying that an apricot tastes like a small peach.
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.
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.
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.
The marvelous 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 and very easy to grow. Organic Seed. We have all heard of Nigella Lawson, the British cooking show goddess who advocates the importance of a well-stocked pantry. But the seeds had the name first. Nigella sativa have a spicy, nutty flavour with a crunchy texture, they may be used whole or ground, and develop their flavour best after short toasting.
White Lisbon is traditionally the most popular spring onion for successional sowings from March to September, it can also be sown in autumn and over wintered for early spring harvests. Matures in 60 days. NIAB accreditation and RHS AGM. Organic seed.Dwarf Canton White is a short and squat variety, often known as Baby or Squat Pak Choi. Tender and delicious, with a compact habit, this fast growing vegetable can be harvested at any stage, for ‘baby leaf or left to mature to thick succulent white stems.
Round seeded Feltham First can be relied upon to produce a substantial crop of large pointed pods packed with tasty, sweet peas early in the summer. It is a traditional high-yielding favourite with good cold tolerance. Suitable for autumn or spring sowing.
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.
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.
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’.
Sweet Cicely is an attractive plant that is a striking component of herb gardens and hedgerows. Growing to around 90cm, umbels of tiny white flowers appear from spring to early summer. Formerly a widely cultivated culinary herb, the fern-like leaves are deeply divided and smell of aniseed when crushed.
Tatsoi or Rosette Pak Choi is among the most popular of oriental greens. The spoon-shaped, dark green, 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.
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.
Introduced before 1888 Purple Top Milan has smooth creamy-white flat roots with bright purple shoulders and pure white flesh of choice quality. Quick to mature and early cropping, it is an ideal ‘catch crop’ between slower growing vegetables. Organic Seed. Recommended by the N.I.A.B ‘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.
The Baby Leaf Salad Mix Collection contains six packets of seeds. They can be grown all year round, for a continuous supply of tasty and nutritious baby leaves. They can be grown in the home, on windowsills or raised in pots in glasshouses or polytunnels in cooler areas for winter early spring crops.
Broad Bean ‘Eleonora’ is a new improved selection of the popular Express variety. The fast growing plants are not too tall and produce long pods that are well packed with white beans. But it is the beans’ great flavour that makes ‘Eleonora’ stand out. Organic Seed.
Broad Bean ‘Ratio’ is a very high-yielding variety. It produces fairly short plants that have a multi-branched habit, producing several stems which increases yield. It is suited to standard and late sowings and can be sown from February and as late as May. Organic Seed.
Chicory Variegata di Castelfranco has a beautiful form with wavy leaves that are flecked with purple. Incredibly hardy and totally invaluable, this traditional variety is one of the easiest to grow at any time in the year.
One of the tenderest kales available, with a sweeter taste than most traditional varieties, ‘Red Russian’ is delicious raw in salads and excellent used in stir-frying. It will grow to baby leaf in only 25 days, just add to lettuce to make your own mesclun mix. Organic Seeds. Some years ago, we knew kale as a hearty winter meal, suddenly its popularity soared and ‘Kale Madness’ erupted. Now available in all manner of shapes, sizes and colours. ‘Scarlet Curled’ Kale is a highly attractive and ultra-hardy variety, the leaves intensify in colour turning to violet-red after a few frosts.
One of the least problematic and hardiest plants in the Brassica tribe, Kale ‘Westland Winter’ is a medium early variety that typically grows 40 to 60cm tall, which makes it ideal for more exposed production areas. Organic Seeds.‘Black Magic’ is an improved Italian Black Kale, more cold tolerant, vigorous and slower-to-bolt than other Italian kales. They form an easy-to-harvest rosette of very dark, savoyed leaves with a flavour that is rich and mild.
Simply adored, especially in the north of Italy, Cavolo Nero is an extremely cold hardy kale that will tolerate conditions that would make most brassicas keel over. Thank heavens we have finally managed to locate Organic Seeds!
‘Perpetual Spinach is one of the easiest and most productive vegetables for a small space. Extremely resistant to bolting, it responds particularly well to repeat cutting. With just one sowing you can feast on the succulent leaves the entire summer and through to winter. €2.00
€1.95
€2.25
€2.25
€1.40
€2.35
€1.95
€2.20
€2.35
€1.50
€1.55
€2.65
€3.25