Seasonal Seedlings on Main

Around 70% of the people who walk through my gates are newbie gardeners, which is absolutely fantastic, I love it! I often spend quite a lot of time with newbies, talking through varieties, soil conditions, planting spaces and this gives me a lot of joy.

There are two main sorts of newbie gardeners; the ones who know absolutely nothing and don’t know where to start and the ones who have put in heaps of research, know a bit about what they want and have a rough idea of where to start.

The first sort are usually just winging it and hoping that something will grow, which is exactly how I started! Plant things, hope for the best, water regularly... This boosts some great conversations and helps me to see who they are and what kinds of things bring them happiness.

The second group usually just need a few bits of pointed advice such as what to use to condition soil, pest reduction and whether something will be ok growing in full sun or shade. Often garden beds have already been built and are just waiting to have something green growing in them.

One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give for the vege garden is to always plant what you are going to eat. Plant the vegetables that you love! When you are just starting it’s really tempting to put exotic things in that you’ve not heard of before, only to forget what they are, or not know what to do with them when it comes time to harvest. This can lead to a lot of waste or lead to discouragement which makes people not want to try again.

The other piece of advice is to definitely plant those popular vegetables that take a long time to grow but also plant quick growing varieties alongside them so that there’s something to harvest whilst you are waiting. This means that you get to have those cauliflower, leek and cabbages grow, which can take months to mature but there’s also the rapid growing veges that you can eat from a lot sooner such as pak choi, lettuce, spinach and most other leafy greens. This makes the whole gardening experience so much more rewarding as you can be harvesting over a long season instead of waiting a lifetime to be able to eat what you’ve planted.

When you come to my nursery you waste less money as I’m very happy to help you figure out how to get the best from your gardening space and what varieties would suit you the most. Learning from experience is fantastic and that will come in time, but in the meantime you can pick my brains for the knowledge that I’ve picked up over the years, both learned and experienced. I definitely don’t know everything and am constantly learning and growing, but it’s fun to do that together! I’ve grown most of the varieties that can be found in my nursery, or at least varieties in the same group so have a pretty good idea of what’s needed to grow them all with success!

Pm me if you want to make a time to pop over! I’d love to show you my plants in my Belfast based nursery and chat about what you're wanting. Every pot and punnet is still $3. If you’re wanting to see what I have the below links will take you to either my flower or my vege varieties with a short description of each that I tried to carefully write out!

Vegetables:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1420733990077567&id=100064229376388

Flowers:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1424866172997682&id=100064229376388

I've just updated this list of cool season flowers that are good to grow throughout Winter and Spring. Each variety of flowers listed has a short description that I personally wrote. Most come in punnets, but a few like the sweet pea come in pots and all of the punnets have more than 6 plants, most have a lot more! Every pot and punnet is $3 and my nursery is in Belfast. If you'd like anything, please pm me to make a time to pop over, it would be fantastic to see you!

Alyssum – Aphrodite: This lovely compact flower comes in a beautiful array of colours! You will get a colour mix of rose, lavender, red, yellow, wine, pure white and deep violet, just a stunning combination of shades for your autumn and winter garden! There are heaps of seedlings in these punnets, way more than you would ordinarily get! Put these low growers in the front of your flower beds as they are very low growers. They prefer full sun and pair well with calendula and cornflower! These are still small seedlings but are growing beautifully and should be ready to plant out in a few weeks! Annual.

Alyssum: Carpet of White: A prolific producer of sweet white flowers gathered together in dainty wee clusters that are heavily scented a little like warm honey! They’re so lovely planted amongst more colourful taller growing flowers as these are quite low growing and fill in any gaps in the garden bed. They are very easy to grow and self seed readily, plant in full sun and keep well watered, particularly when establishing.

Bellis Perennis Habanera – A beautiful eye-catching English daisy with red tips! These are a perennial flower that will flower in the second spring after planting as they need a cold period first, but it is worth the wait! They prefer cooler areas so sowing in a partial shade area would be best for these beauties and kept well-watered so they can do their best. Perennial.

Bellis Perennis Pompoms: A cute and compact English daisy with tightly quilled, button-like 2cm wide flowers in vibrant shades of rose, pink and white. They are great grown in pots or as an edging plant to give a uniform carpet-like effect. Regular deadheading will ensure continuous blooming. Perennial.

Calendula – Double Red: These give a wonderful interest to the cool season garden! They are bicoloured with a deep sunset orange base and a deep toffee contrast with a dark centre, absolutely striking throughout the autumn and winter season! They grow from around 40 to 60cm and are good to plant in the middle of your flower beds, between taller growing flowers at the pack, and shorter varieties in the front. They are easy to grow and tolerate a range of soils and weather conditions. Annual. Edible. Cut flower.

Calendula - Dwarf Mix: Compact, bushy plants are covered with 7-8 cm blooms in a wonderful mix of standard and pastel-coloured flowers. They are a very cheerful bloomer in warming colours that contrast well with flowers in cool shades such as white, blue and purple! They are quick to grow and tolerant of many soils and conditions. Annual. Edible. Cut flower.

Calendula – Snow Princess: A beautiful delicately coloured calendula, white with faint yellow tips and underside, truly beautiful for a winter garden. Calendula is an absolutely beautiful and useful flower that prefers cooler temperatures and will happily bloom throughout the autumn and winter months. This one grows to around 70cm tall and graceful and looks great paired with many other winter blooming flowers. Annual. Edible. Cut flower.

Calendula – Sunset tones: These calendula flowers are unique and make a marvellous cool season display! They are bicoloured with the lighter orange, apricot and yellow tones on the top of the petals with darker maroon and orange tones under the petals that looks like a sunset, as the name suggests. This is a gorgeous and interesting variety of calendula that look amazing paired with many other winter varieties, particularly cornflowers! Annual. Edible. Cut flower.

Campanula – Purple Bellflower: A beautiful flower that deserves recognition in our modern gardens! It features a petal ‘bell’ that’s very distinctive with its lovely unique shape. The gorgeous and deep shade of purple that this grows into is incredibly striking and grows in tall 60-80cm towers that produce in the 2nd year in Spring. This is easily grown in partial shade to full sun, just keep well-watered, particularly when establishing. It is a biennial, flowering in its second year. Biennial, cut flower.

Centaurea – Sweet Sultan Mix: These are lovely and soft thistle like flowers in shades of lilac, white and rose. They have a soft honey like scent and are in the same family as cornflowers, so grow well in partial shade to full sun. They are quite a tall flower and do well planted at the back of your garden beds if you want to plant shorter varieties amongst them. Keep well-watered and watch them bloom over a long season! Plant again in winter, for cold season blooming, these flowers are so awesome! Annual. Cut Flower.

Corn Cockle – Soft Rose: This corn cockle is very similar to the pure white variety bit is a soft pink colour with darker pink veins and dots, so delightful! These are best grown in full sun and can tolerate draught and poor soil but does best in well-draining fertile soil. These will self-sow readily but are not weedy as they can be easily pulled out. They grow from around 80-100cm tall.

Cornflower – Dwarf Blue: A beautiful classic sky-blue cornflower that is a dwarf variety, growing to around 30 to 40cm tall. Cornflowers are very easy to grow and as they get more mature and established, will bush and produce many beautiful and edible blooms. They need lots of water to establish and then minimal care. Annual. Cut flower. Edible.

Cornflower – Classic Fantastic. These are beautiful flowers that grow up to 1mtr in shades of blue, from a beautiful deep royal blue to a very light blue. Many are bicoloured and have contrasting centres! They are gorgeous planted ‘en masse’ and look amazing paired with yellow porcupine or orange porcupine calendula for a blue/orange or blue/yellow look, amazing in a winter garden! Cornflowers are easy to grow and tasty as well! Annual. Cut flower. Edible.

Cornflower – Classic Magic. A beautiful Cornflower, a lot like classic fantastic and classic romantic cornflowers in growth and habit, but in shades of gorgeous purples, from the very lightest shades, to the deepest of purple! They are mostly bicoloured and often have white accents! They are easy to grow, reach up to 1mtr tall and the flowers are completely edible. These are just beautiful in the winter garden. Annual. Cut flower. Edible.

Cornflower – Tom Thumb: A dwarf variety of cornflower that come in white, blue, pink, rose and violet colourings! Tom thumb grows to around 35 to 45cm tall and like all cornflowers, the flower petals are edible and wonderful to add to salads and spring rolls! They are really easy to grow and can be sown year-round, making them so versatile and a really awesome addition to the flower garden. Bees love them too; you can plant in your vege garden beds to attract pollinators. Annual. Cut flower. Edible.

Dianthus – Rainbow Loveliness: This is a very showy and fragrant variety of dianthus that I am super keen to have blooming in my own garden! It features heavily fringed single flowers that look feathery, in a range of colours from white to pink to rose to carmine to lilac with some bicolored and with some having contrasting eyes or rings. After flowering, foliage remains attractive throughout the growing season as long as the soil is given consistent moisture. They grow to around 45cm tall. Perennial. Cut flower. Edible

Dianthus – Wee Willie Improved: A wonderful miniature dianthus that is improved as it will flower in the first season it is sown, and you will not have to wait for it to overwinter for it to do so. They grow to around 15cm and come in a lovely range of pinks, whites and reds with cute frilly edges and many are bicoloured with interesting patterns. Wee willie improved also have retained that lovely spicy scent that is common for the dianthus/carnation range! Grow in full sun in either pots or garden! Perennial. Cut flower. Edible.

Layia – Tidy Tips: This is such a bright and cheerful daisy-like wildflower in an awesome bright yellow with white tips. They are so easy to grow and actually prefer poor soil which makes them bloom even more, and helps to keep the plants tidier. It looks beautiful when put against purple and blue varieties of flowers but makes a stand in the garden whatever you decide to plant with it. Annual, Cut Flower. Edible.

Linaria – Fairy Bouquet. These plants produce masses of flowers in a stunning array of colours from pinks, purples, yellows, blues and in between! They are like tiny snap dragons, but with an even stronger show of flowers, growing to around 20 – 24cm in height, they pair beautifully with all the calendula and with poppies and stock! Annual. Cut flower.

Pansy – Swiss Giant. A very large flowered variety of pansy in a mix of beautiful shades of purples, reds, pinks, yellows, oranges, white and even blues! They all have ‘faces’ in much darker, stunning contrasting colours that add variety to the winter garden. They are low growing and are often placed at the front of garden beds, with taller varieties of flowers growing behind, so these look great planted with calendula, cornflowers, stock and even poppies! Annual. Edible.

Silene Pendula – Nodding Catchfly: A pretty pink annual that flowers in loose clusters on upright stems. Grows easily and looks so lovely when it spill over walls and garden edges and in hanging baskets. Plant in full sun to partial shade and in free draining soil to get the most out of this lovely wee flower in the cooler months! Annual.

Snapdragon – Brazilian Carnival. A beautiful snapdragon that will thrive if placed in a more sheltered spot in the garden where it doesn’t get too frosty over winter. Super easy to grow, snapdragons are long lived annuals, sometimes growing and flowering for over 1 year! This variety of snapdragon (aka antirrhinum) are a stunning and eye-catching mix of many different shades and most are bicoloured, each plant producing a different flower, no two are exactly alike. This makes for a wonderful addition to your garden in the cooler months, blooming when a lot of flowers won’t in the cool season. Short lived Perennial. Cut flower. Edible.

Snapdragon – Twilight Mix: A beautiful dwarf snapdragon that grows to just 35 cm tall, a great match with many other flowers in the garden. They come in shades of rose, pink, yellow and white with contrasting yellow ‘lips’ with extremely dark foliage which makes the flowers seem to pop! Snapdragons are very easy to grow, tolerating shade to dappled shade, but requiring regular watering, particularly during hot and windy days. They are very frost hardy and can be grown throughout the Autumn and winter months. Short lived Perennial. Cut flower. Edible.

Stock – Perfumed Giants. These are beautiful flowers growing to be a heavily perfumed ruffled column reaching heights of around 80 – 90cm tall so good to grow towards the back of the winter garden, and good to get in the ground in the next few weeks. These are a mix of stunning reds, pinks, purples, yellows and white, absolutely beautiful! These seedlings are very small, but growing beautifully. Annual. Cut flower. Edible.

Stock – Dwarf. These are a delightful blend of dwarf stock flowers in shades of pinks, purples, blues, red and white!! They grow on strong stalks and ‘plume’ as they mature, with closely gathered flowers that are very striking. Stock has a beautiful sweet and spicy scent and they really stand out in the autumn/winter garden, particularly when planted together in clumps. Many are double ruffled and they grow to around 25cm tall. Annual. Cut flower. Edible.

Stock – Virginian Sparkle: This is a beautiful fast growing small hardy flower in various lovely shades of lilac, white, purple and pink. Virginian stock is a beautifully scented ground cover plant that pairs well with taller varieties that can help shelter them from the heat of the summer sun, they do well in partial shade and will grow in most soil types, they’re not that fussy! Annual.

Sweet pea – Winter Elegance: This is a sweetly scented favourite! A beautiful climbing flower that is heavily scented and puts on an amazing show, with large flowers in a beautiful mix of colours: Blues, pinks, purples, white, rose and burgundy! They need to grow up some sort of support to grow up to thrive, I like expanding trellises. Grow these in semi to full sun and enjoy the blooms and beautiful scent as you walk past them! This variety was bred to bloom in the cold months. Annual. Cut flower.

Viola – Colour Mix. These are a cheerful mix of mini pansies that come in many beautiful shades of blues, purples, whites and crimson, yellows, oranges and many others! They are fully edible flowers, like other violas and pansies and taste amazing with a soft delicate texture. Violas are very winter hardy, growing and blooming even in frosty conditions and are easy to grow with minimal care. Annual. Edible.

Viola – Heartsease: These are gorgeous, and the original viola that all pansies and other violas originally come from. There’s so many different wee variations of these that grow and each are charming and delightful, lending their beautiful faces to a winter garden that blend in a contrast with almost any flower you choose as a companion to these. They’re a must-have in any garden bed. They’re also vigorous self-sowing flowers and are completely edible. Annual. Edible.

Wallflower – Cheirianthus. A beautiful flower to start growing now for a lively show even in the coldest months! In beautiful orange, cream, purple, yellow and red and even rose colours, these bloom for a very long period and look stunning in the winter garden, particularly when paired with pansies! (Pansies coming soon!). They also are heavily scented and are definitely worth planting. Sugar rush wallflower plants grow to around 30 to 40 cm tall. Short lived perennial. Cut flower.

The link to the previous post wasn't working, so have made this new comprehensive post on vegetable varieties and their descriptions. Most are available except a few like Hon Tsai Tai which need to be resown and Brussels Sprouts, which is now too late to plant. Almost everything else is available and most are now ready to plant! All of them except the peas and broad beans come in punnets and there are typically loads of plants in the punnets which makes coming to my nursery in Belfast, Christchurch, a very cheap alternative to most other nurseries!

Every punnet and pot are still $3!

My flower varieties and their descriptions can be found on this link:

https://www.facebook.com/TerileeMitchellPlants/posts/1364555545695412

Allium - Leek – Carentan Giant: This is a giant variety, slower to grow like most other alliums (onion family) but produces a delicious leek that has lots of culinary uses! Carentan Giant is an easy to grow variety that performs well under most growing conditions rewarding you with beautiful, sweet tasting leeks once mature!

Allium - Onion - Italian Long Keeper: These produce large, round, golden-brown skinned onions that store exceptionally well. The late maturing bulbs have dense firm white flesh with a sweet pungency and the biggest ones are about twice the size of a Pukekohe Long Keeper! Plant in full sun in fertile free draining soil for the best results and keep your eye out for rust on the leaves, which can be treated if caught early enough.

Allium - Onion – Red Amposta: A stunning red onion with a fabulous superior crisp flavour, perfect for adding a savoury and pungent flavour to your salads, pizza, salsas and other foods that need a fresh zing! Plant in full sun in well-draining, fertile soil. You can use these as red spring onions by planting them close together and regularly cutting the tops.

Asian Green - Komatsuna: A juicy, sweet and mild, easy to grow leafy green that can withstand very cold temperatures. Komatsuna is extremely easy to grow, and is a cut-and-grow, meaning you’ll be harvesting from this for a long period taking leaves as you need them. Komatsuna is a versatile vegetable, whatever you would think to do with spinach, you can do with komatsuna, whether it's for raw eating in salads and sandwiches or wraps, or for stir fries, soups and casseroles, this vegetable is fantastic for all purposes. Keep well-watered and plant in fertile, free-draining soil.

Asian Green – Komatsuna Red: Very similar to traditional Komatsuna, a little richer and more intense in flavour, but keeping its sweetness. It has quite eye-catching, red and green foliage and it is a great variety of vege to grow for your salads, stir fries and even lightly steamed to go with your steak! Komatsuna is very easy to grow and tolerates the dead cold of winter. Keep well-watered and plant in fertile free-draining soil.

Asian Green – Mibuna: This leafy green is delicious! It tastes similar to a cross between mizuna and mustard, but with no peppery kick. It’s leaves are also longer and thin and adds a different texture to any salad you want to build, but it’s not limited to raw uses, but can also be added to stir-fries, soups, or any meal that calls for a leafy green. Mibuna is very easy to grow, as with most other veg, just plant in fertile free draining soil and keep well watered, particularly on warmer days.

Asian Green - Mizuna: A delicious salad and stir fry green, a little like rocket but more tender and a lot less peppery. Mizuna is one of my most popular vegetables, this is very easy to grow, requiring little maintenance except regular watering. Pop in mottled shade this time of year. It is a cut-and-grow and they pair well with other leafy greens such as Komatsuna listed above, royal oak and drunken woman lettuce and pak choi greens! This can be eaten both raw and lightly cooked, added to your stir fries at the end of cooking, making your salads and sandwiches a bit livelier and adding a fantastic texture and look with their bright green serrated leaves.

Asian Green - Mizuna – Red Coral: Like other mizuna’s, red coral is a very fast-growing leafy green that is best treated as a cut-and-grow; leave the plant in the ground and harvest off it as needed. It has lovely crunchy slender stems and feathery foliage that is sweet and firm to eat, with a mild bite, like mustard, but less spicy! Red coral becomes a very deep burgundy red when it matures and looks quite ornamental in the winter garden, you could even grow it alongside flowers to help fill out the winter flower garden!

Asian Green – Mustard - Giant red: A gorgeously spicy leafy green that has a beautiful warm and rich flavour and a lovely texture. It is great for cooking in soups and stews, adding to stir fries and to salads. This vege is extremely easy to grow and is quite prolific and is used as a cut-and-grow, meaning you keep harvesting the leaves over a long season rather than taking the whole plant out of the ground.

Asian Green – Mustard – G*i Choy: A pungent and sharp mustard green that has a fresh bite rather than the warmness of Giant Red mustard. They are grown very similarly, keep well-watered and plant in fertile free draining soil for the best results. G*i Choy is a cut-and-grow and can be eaten raw, particularly when the young leaves are used as they are milder and sweeter for salad use when they are little. The best use for G*i Choy is for cooking purposes, and they really shine when used in pickling or added to casseroles or other long-cooked dishes.

Asian Green - Pak Choi – Dark Dragon: A stunning, rosette forming, quick growing pak choi with a marvellous tender flavour and crisp texture. This one has a darker green leaf and green stems and tolerates winter conditions very well. You can either leave pak choi to grow to maturity and harvest the whole plant to use, or you can treat it as a cut-and-grow, taking what you want and leaving the plant to continue producing more delicious leaves for you to harvest.

Asian Green – Pak Choi – Green Ace: Another quick growing veg that forms upward growing rosettes with light green crisp and sweet stems and a grass green leaf. It is very tolerant of winter conditions growing through frosts and remaining sweet and juicy, suitable for both raw and cooked dishes! As with all pak choi, you can use this as a cut and grow or you can wait till the whole plant is mature enough to be dug out whole. Plant in semi shade conditions for the best results, into fertile and free-draining soil.

Asian Green - Pak Choi – Red Choi: A stunning and beautiful looking variety of pak choi that grows in a deep shade of burgundy red on the leaf tops and bright green on the undersides. Pak choi are easy to grow and do very well in winter conditions, growing even in almost full shade! This pak choi is tender and mild and is incredibly versatile, great eaten both raw and cooked. Pak Choi can be treated as either a cut-and-grow, or you can harvest the whole plant once it has reach maturity.

Aloe Vera: These are a must have for any home, helping to heal sunburn and alleviating the pain of burns and cuts, as well as a myriad of other uses, and they look cool!

Arugula/Rocket: This is a hardy perennial green, tolerant of our Christchurch climate and easy to grow! Arugula is a cut-and-grow and most commonly used as a salad green. It has a piquant, peppery flavour, but it’s versatile enough that you are able to add it to stir-fry’s, soups and other cooked dishes to add flavour and variety, which will also reduce the peppery bite that it has when eaten raw.

Beet - Perpetual Spinach: A very long-lasting cut and grow veg that can produce for up to 2 years! Contrary to its name, perpetual spinach is not a spinach at all, it’s actually a beet and tastes like a milder variety of silverbeet. Perpetual Spinach is used as a cut-and-grow and the younger leaves are good for use in salads and the more mature leaves eaten as you would a silverbeet. It is very easy to grow once established and can grow very large, producing greens for meal after meal!

Beet - Rainbow Silverbeet (aka Rainbow Chard): This is as easy to grow as traditional silverbeet but can include the colours yellow, gold, pink, crimson, white, green, orange, scarlet and purple, these look super amazing in the garden and on the plate! Keep well-watered and plant in good fertile free draining soil for the best results. Chard/silverbeet is easy to grow and has a very long and productive growing season as it is best used as a cut-and-grow. The plants typically remain relatively pest free helping to make it one of the top vegetables to grow throughout the winter.

Beet - Ford hook Silverbeet: a very large and tasty variety of silverbeet with large white stems and a beautiful green leaf. They are easy to maintain; plant in fertile, free draining soil, keep well-watered and pick the outer leaves as needed as a cut-and-grow variety. As with all beets, these like lots of sun, so grow in full sun to semi-shade.

Beetroot – Colour mix. This is a gorgeous mix of the varieties: Bulls Blood, Golden Detroit and Chioggia, a delightful blend of beautifully coloured beetroot! Golden Detroit has a milder flavour with a beautiful orange skin with golden yellow flesh. Chioggia is stunning, with rings of both white and red reminiscent of a candy cane and Bulls Blood is a deep red variety growing to a medium size. Beetroot do best in a full sun area and planted in fertile and free draining loose soil. Beetroot tend to mature at around the 4month mark with the root often showing above the ground, giving a good indication of its maturity.

Beetroot - Bulls blood: A lovely variety of deep red beetroot that grows to around 7.5cm in diameter. Beets like as much sun as you can plant them in! It’s not only the roots that can be eaten but also the leaves too for either salads, picked at a small young stage, or you can cook them like a silverbeet picked at a more mature stage. Beetroot do best in a full sun area and planted in fertile and free draining loose soil. Beetroot tend to mature at around the 4month mark with the root often showing above the ground, giving a good indication of its maturity.

Beetroot – Cylindra. This is a great variety of beetroot to grow if you are planning on pickling or wanting similar sized slices of beetroot in what you are preparing beetroot for as these grow in a cylinder shape and can grow quite large without getting woody. They have a lovely earthy flavour and are easy to grow! Being a member of the beet family, you can eat the leaves while you are waiting for the root to mature. The leaves taste like a cross between silverbeet and beetroot and can be used in similar ways to silverbeet. Beetroot do best in a full sun area and planted in fertile and free draining loose soil. Beetroot tend to mature at around the 4month mark with the root often showing above the ground, giving a good indication of its maturity.

Broad Bean – Coles Prolific: A wonderful variety of bean to grow in the cooling months through to Winter. This variety produces an abundance of beans on a good sturdy plant that grows to around 1mtr tall. If you wanted a more tender bean that you can eat pod and all, pick while still very young, they taste a little like peas at this stage! Otherwise wait until the pods are around 20 to 25cm long. These may need supporting with a stake to help keep the plants falling over. Plant in fertile free draining soil in full sun for the best results.

Broccoli – Dense Green: A medium sized green broccoli that grows a dense head. Broccoli is easy to grow and perfect for Canterbury gardens providing the soil is fertile and free draining and the plants well-watered. The broccoli should be ready to harvest in around 5 months, give or take. I love broccoli because of its versatility in many culinary dishes and we eat this veg both raw and cooked in our household!

Broccoli – Waltham Sprouting: A top seller because you tend to get a lot more broccoli over a longer period than with your standard larger heads. A smaller main head will develop and once that matures cut it but leave the plant in the soil to send out sprouts and sprouts of broccoli florets for you to continue to harvest over a long period of time. Absolutely brilliant!

Cabbage: Chinese/Napa - 1Kilo Slow bolt: A very tasty, lovely and tender medium sized cabbage, growing to around 1kg as the name suggests, with a shorter growing season, producing a head a bit faster than many other cabbage varieties. Napa is the variety of cabbage most often used for making kimchi, but it’s wonderful in stir fries and in other dishes. Grow in fertile free-draining soil in full to partial sun for the best results and keep well-watered.

Cabbage – Green Express: This is a very tasty and quick to mature variety of cabbage that is easy to grow. Their flavour is excellent and the hearts are dense and juicy. They are more compact in size and are great to grow in smaller gardens as they typically take up less space than the traditional larger green cabbages. Grow in fertile, free draining soil and keep well-watered.

Cabbage – Purple Verona Savoy: A beautiful, large growing cabbage, with lightly savoyed leaves. The colouring is pretty, a combination of contrasting green and purple! This cabbage is excellent for many purposes as the leaves are crunchy and sweet and are great for coleslaws, stir fries, soups, steaming and more! Keep well-watered and plant in good fertile soil and this plant will produce lovely large heads for your enjoyment!

Cabbage – Red Express: A beautiful, very quick to mature cabbage growing dense, tasty and juicy heads of a stunning deep shade of red. These are quite sweet cabbages and are stunning in coleslaws but can be used in a variety of ways. They like rich free draining soil and will easily grow if kept well-watered on drier days.

Cabbage – Sugarloaf: This is an ultra-delicious variety of cabbage! Sugarloaf is easy to grow and retains a dwarf growth habit but produces lovely large conical heads of cabbage. This is one of the sweetest varieties of cabbage you can grow and is beautiful and crunchy, just perfect for coleslaws! It is also relatively disease resistant and easy to grow, plant in fertile, free draining soil in a full to partial sun position and keep well-watered.

Cauliflower - Macerata Cauliflower: A wonderful variety of cauliflower that have lime green heads and have a wonderful mild and sweet flavour and are extremely pleasing to the eye. They are a little faster to grow and develop than traditional white cauliflower, making it awesome to plant together for a longer cauliflower harvest. Plant in a full to partial sun position into free draining fertile soil and keep well-watered.

Cauliflower – Romanesco: This is an amazing cross between Broccoli and Cauliflower, very sweet and tender and very versatile. The coolest feature of Romanesco is that it produces heads that form beautiful symmetrical conical spirals that look like a work of art! These plants are easy to grow but need good fertile free draining soil for the best results, like other brassicas. Plant in a full to partial sun location.

Cauliflower – Violet Sicilian: This is an amazing veg which remains a top seller and a staple in my own garden. A brassica that produces rich, purple-coloured large heads of cauliflower. seedlings that taste sweet and nutty and a little like a cross between cauliflower and broccoli. The colour will retain its beautiful violet shade until cooked, when it will turn bright green. It is sweeter and nuttier in flavour than regular cauliflower. Plant in a full to partial sun position in fertile and free draining soil and keep well-watered.

Cauliflower – White, all year round: This is a relatively easy to grow white type cauli that can be grown all year round, due to its tendency to not bolt in warmer temperatures. When the head starts to form bend it’s leaves over the forming cauli so that it retains It’s white colouring as it can become sunburned if not protected. Plant in a full to partial sun position in fertile and free draining soil and keep well-watered.

Celery – Elne: An efficient and relatively quick grower, this is a popular celery to grow due to its upright growing behaviour. Elne has stalks that have a beautifully crisp texture and is fresh and flavoursome. Celery can be treated as a ‘cut and grow’ meaning you can harvest what you need from the plant and let it keep growing new stalks over a long season. Celery grows best in fertile, well-watered soil. The plants will grow to a medium size of around 45cm. Can tolerate mild frosts, plant in a sheltered place to keep it growing through winter.

Chicory – Palla Rossa: This is an interesting Italian vegetable that resembles a cabbage but is more compact and part of the sunflower family, not the brassica! It is described as zesty, bitter and nutty when eaten raw in salads which mellows substantially when cooked and when roasted turns sweet as the sugars inside it caramelise. It is a vegetable packed full of nutrients and can be harvested as a cut and grow or left to full maturity and the whole head is cut off the plant (you can then leave the plant covered with straw to produce milder white heads known as ‘witloof’). Grow in full sun in well-draining, fertile soil and keep watering regularly.

Collard Greens: A member of the brassica family that is harvested mostly as a cut and grow that you can keep picking from over a long season. It has a mild taste, a bit like cabbage and is packed full of nutrients. It’s a versatile leafy green and can be eaten raw or cooked in a multitude of ways, really, your imagination is the limit! This veg is very easy to grow, plant in fertile well-draining soil and you’ll be harvesting your first leaves in just a few weeks!

Corn Salad: This is a lovely salad green that is a quick grower and versatile. It is also known as ‘lambs lettuce’ and has a delicate and tender texture and a fresh and mild, buttery flavour. It is mostly used as a salad green, but it can also be cooked and added to a variety of dishes alongside spinach or instead of if you wish. It can be planted in a variety of conditions but prefers fertile soil and to be kept well-watered.

Kale – Red Russian: A very pretty kale that has a lovely green colour with red veins and has a slightly curly serrated leaf. If kale is your thing, then this is the variety for you! The baby leaves can be used in salads and the more mature leaves are wonderful in a casserole, stir fry or soup, or however you want great, rich tasting leafy greens. They can also be made into those lovely, crunchy kale chips you may have heard of! Grow in fertile, free-draining soil for the best results.

Kale – Cavolo Nero: Also known as ‘black cabbage’, this kale is full flavoured, easy to grow and large. You’ll be able to get many harvests from these plants! They are perfect for making kale chips as a tasty healthy alternative to traditional chips, or just for interest at a party or gathering! It is slightly sweeter than traditional kale and has many uses. Cavolo Nero grows in many conditions, tolerating a hard frost or warmer days, so is great to have on hand in the garden.

Kohlrabi – Early Purple Vienna: A lovely, easy to grow member of the brassica family. It translates to ‘cabbage turnip’ in German, and grows a beautiful, sweet tasting white fleshed, purple skinned globe that sits just above the soil level. It is great to note that kohlrabi leaves may also be picked and eaten, as you would with a tender kale. Kohlrabi is often picked very young for a sweet addition to coleslaws, stir fries or wherever you might add cabbage, or even just eaten as you would an apple!

Lettuce – Great Lakes: A beautiful, iceberg style lettuce that forms a nice sweet and crisp heart. Keep out of the warmth in the first stages of growth and keep well-watered. Once established, this plant will grow away happily with lots of water during the warmer days. Lettuce is very hardy and will grow happily through a frost! This one is a perfect lettuce for those beautiful salads and can be eaten in a multitude of ways.

Lettuce – Buttercrunch: A lovely sweet, ‘buttery’ flavour, this is a wonderful, smaller lettuce to grow this Autumn! Buttercrunch will form a loose head if you leave it to grow, but it can also be treated as a cut and grow, take the outer leaves when harvesting. Each punnet has a minimum of 8 seedlings. Lettuce is very easy to grow, but need lots of water, particularly on warmer days. It will grow in cooler conditions, despite its delicate appearance!

Lettuce – Salad Bowl mix: These are wonderful, hardy, cut and grow lettuces, one variety with lovely lime green oak shaped leaves and the other with a very deep burgundy red tone. They are best used as a cut and grow variety and will produce a lot of lovely tasting leaves over a long lifetime. Keep well watered on dryer days and plant in free draining fertile soil. Can be planted in semi shade, and this is preferable in warmer months.

Lettuce – Drunken Woman: A beautiful and very easy lettuce to grow. Drunken Woman produces bright green ruffly leaves with a contrasting red/bronze edging. It is a cut and grow lettuce, you don’t need to wait for the lettuce to form to harvest the whole thing, you can take what you need as it grows, meaning an extended harvest over a much longer season. This is a good lettuce to pair with the other lettuce varieties I have for interest to your salads, or for pairing with other leafy greens for a full flavoured balanced mix!

Lettuce – Cos, Parris Island. This is a lovely romaine style lettuce, crisp, non-bitter with a sweet flavour and a ‘buttery heart’. This is an excellent lettuce for wraps and salads and can be treated as a cut and grow, making for a longer growing season as you leave the plant in the ground to continue growing. This is a lettuce with a high nutritional value and is easy to grow, tolerating temperatures down to –6 degrees, a fantastic variety for your garden!

Lettuce – Little Caesar. This is a lovely, very small growing lettuce with an excellent flavour and is the miniature of regular Cos. Very easy to grow, but plant in a more sheltered area to protect from the hardest of frosts. This lettuce, being smaller than other varieties will mature quicker and can be left to grow to maturity before harvesting the whole plant, but you can treat it as a cut and grow, harvesting the largest leaves as they grow, making for a prolonged harvest.

Miners Lettuce. A beautifully fresh tasting leafy green that does well in shady cold areas and grows fast! It’s delightful both cooked and raw, with a lovely mild flavour that blends well with all other leafy greens. Very easy to grow in moist but fertile soil and is a prolific self-sower. Miners lettuce is a cut and grow, but best harvest with scissors to avoid pulling the whole plant up, as it is shallow rooted.

Pea – Snow, Goliath: A beautiful and very prolific snow pea that remains flat and in top condition for a remarkably long time without going stringy. It has a lovely texture and is delicious! Snow peas are very versatile and can be used in a variety of ways, both raw and cooked and are very fun to grow! They can tolerate temperatures down to around –2, so if you think you’ll need it, put in a sunny spot that is more sheltered and grow up a trellis or canes as they can reach heights of around 1.5m. Pots of 3. Plant in a full to partial sun position in fertile and free draining soil and keep well-watered.

Pea – Sugar Snap: A lovely pea, able to be eaten pod and all when picked young enough! Sugar snap as the name suggests is a very sweet pea, a prolific producer, growing to around 1.45m tall and will need some support to climb. Easy to grow, plant in an area where there is full sun, but like to have shaded roots when the weather starts warming again, great to plant next to greens like tatsoi, spinach and lettuce that will grow low, but spreading out to shade the soil. Plant in a full to partial sun position in fertile and free draining soil and keep well-watered.

Pea – Alderman: An excellent pea to grow for abundant harvests and beautiful tasting peas! These are easy to grow, preferring full sun, but cooler roots, so make sure that the soil is shaded when the warm season comes around again. They get up to 1mtr tall so should be supported with a trellis/growing frame or some stakes it can grow up. Pots of 3. Plant in a full to partial sun position in fertile and free draining soil and keep well-watered.

Rocket: A quick growing leafy green with a mild peppery bite and an interesting flavour! This is different to arugula in growing habit, though has close similarities in flavour. Arugula is a perennial with a very long period over which it can be harvested, whereas this traditional rocket is very quick to grow, annual in nature and slightly milder in flavour. Keep well watered, plant in fertile free draining soil and this will produce into Spring.

Sorrel: A delicious and tangy leafy green that is gorgeous in salads, adding a lemony kick where you want to add a bit of difference to a meal! I’ve chosen red vein variety for a pretty option over winter! It is very versatile and can also be eaten cooked, often added to soups or to add flavours to sauces and omelettes! It is easy to grow, plant in fertile free draining soil and keep well-watered for a prolonged harvesting season!

Spinach – Santana: This is a lovely spinach with an excellent flavour and beautiful whether you want a green leafy vegetable for either cooking or for raw purposes. Santana spinach is a lovely looking dark green colour, relatively easy to grow and gives a large harvest of leaves. Pick at the baby leaf stage for the most tender salad leaves or leave to grow to full size for a more flavoursome addition to meals. Pair this plant with komatsuna, mizuna, rocket, kale or pak choy for salads and stir fries!