What to Sow in May

Radish French Breakfast is an easy to grow and quick to crop veg that can pep up your salad (the leaves can be used in salads too!) It is a long oval type with white tips that have a flavour of medium intensity. Radishes don't need much space and are...

Cauliflower has lost much of its popularity recently which is a shame as it is one of the most successful veg that can grow all year round in Britain. Many chefs are promoting it with new imaginative recipes but 'cauliflower cheese' is still a tasty option just don't overcook it....

Asparagus Pea is a cracking little plant that is not only attractive with pretty crimson flowers that look beautiful in the ornamental garden but also produces a pod that is great to eat, tastes like asparagus and is very exotic in appearance. The pod is best eaten when no longer...

Lettuce All Year Round is a butterhead lettuce with lovely compact crisp hearts. As the name suggests, it can be sown all year round - Autumn sown ones will need to be sown under cover but will be ready to harvest in the spring. Can be sown March-August and excellent...

Kale 'Red Ruble' has been specially bred for the salad leaf market and makes a quick growing colourful tasty salad leaf with its' wine-red serrated foliage. Although it can be grown to mature leaf size it is not as suited to large leaf production as it loses its intense colour...

Courgette Chiaro di Nizza is an Italian heritage variety that is easy to grow and very productive. It produces unusual pale green round courgettes that are their very best when about 10cm round cricket ball sized. Courgette Chiaro di Nizza is a compact trailing plant that requires little maintenance other...

Lettuce Winter density is a compact semi-cos variety. It has dark green hearts with crisps leaves with a very sweet flavour. It has excellent winter hardiness and should be sown outside in September to crop the following March to April. It is also suitable for sowing March to July for...

Pea Carouby de Maussanne is a very attractive large mangetout pea that has flowers so pretty they could be grown in the garden borders! Pea Carouby de Maussanne is a tall variety (75cm) that produces bicoloured deep pink/mauve flowers followed by large flat pods that grow in pairs. The pods...

Lettuce Freckles is an unusual semi-cos heritage variety that has bright green leaves with splodges of burgundy/red - the red darkens as the lettuce leaf matures. An excellent 'cut & come again' variety - just snip a few leaves at a time to ensure fresh new leaf production. It can...

Squash Queensland Blue is a fabulous ribbed, muffin top variety with a bluish green outer skin colour and inner orange flesh that has a lovely rich sweet flavour. It is a heritage variety from Australia that pre-dates 1932 where it is first recorded in a seed catalogue. This trailing vine...

Radish Malaga has a dark purple exterior that contrasts really well against the clean white inner making an attractive veg to perk up the salad bowl. Radish Malaga Violet produces crisp, peppery roots that are ready to eat about 4-6 weeks. Radish Malaga Violet are at their best picked when...

Squash Marina di Chioggia is a warty, almost toad like green-grey skinned squash with beautiful flavourful yellow-orange flesh inside. It is a slightly flattened turban shaped, medium to large squash that can weigh up to 10kg. It stores particularly well and can keep for up to 6 months in cool,...

Lettuce Black Seeded Simpson is a wonderful heritage variety that can be traced back to the 1850's. It is a tall, large crisphead type that has light green wrinkled, crunchy leaves and so makes a perfect lettuce for those who like a bit of bite to their salad leaves. It...

It's fascinating to think that many of the vegetable varieties we grow today are over 100 years old and have stood the test of time for flavour and reliability. Heritage (Heirloom) vegetable seeds are growing in popularity and a topic of much debate as to what a 'heritage' variety is....

Endive Encornet de Bordeaux Seeds are the fine old French heirloom variety with large broad leaves. Extremely hardy, making it particularly suitable for early spring sowing directly into the ground, and lasting well for picking into autumn and winter. It's a fantastic addition to any salad and you may find other...

Kale Dwarf Green Curled is one of the most beautiful Kale we grow. A Heritage variety introduced before 1865. This compact curly Kale is ideal for growing in windswept gardens or on poor soils. Kale 'Dwarf Green Curled' produces attractive, dark, tightly frilled leaves of excellent quality. Like all Kale,...

Carrot ‘Paris Market Atlas’ is an improved variety of the 19th century French heirloom, an early Parisian Market-type carrot that feature the traditional globe shape roots. Smooth, round, bite-sized and instantly recognisable, this very flavoursome variety has a deep-crisp refreshing taste. They are ideal for growing in containers and shallow, hard...