Not the most exotic sounding lettuce on our list but Maureen is as reliable as they come. Bred to outperform the standard Little Gem type in resistance to downy mildew and seasonality. Bright, fresh green, compact hearts which are equally at home in a crisp Caesar salad as they are braised with bacon and peas.Lettuce is a very ancient crop, originally domesticated by the ancient Egyptians for its seeds and sap which were used as a pain killer and sedative. The Romans went on to cultivate lettuce for its leaves and used it as a braising green.Sow: Feb-May undercover, May-July outside. Stagger sowings for continuous supply.Plant: 4-6 weeks after sowing, plant 20cm apartHarvest: Feb-AprilKitchen: Best used in salads.Notes: To make the most out of your space, you can sow/plant 10cm apart then harvest every other plant leaving the remaining half to head up. Do not let seeds get hot when germinating. 15C is ideal, anything above 18C encourages seed dormancy.~200 seeds/0.025gGerm 87% Nov 24
As far as we're concerned, no productive garden is complete without a few nasturtiums romping around the place. Kaleidoscope is a vigorous mix with flowers in a jolly array of cream, peach, yellow, red and of course orange. Enjoy the peppery flavour of the flowers and leaves all summer long. Don't be afraid to cut the plants back if they stray into neighbouring beds.Nasturtiums are a joy to have in your garden and a hardworking companion plant. Aphids (particularly blackfly) love nasturtiums and will colonize them preferentially - saving your vegetable plants from attack.Sow: March - MayPlant: 4 weeks after sowing at 30cm apartHarvest: 8 weeks after sowing - will continue to produce all summer. Smaller leaves have a milder flavour.Kitchen: Eat fresh in salads or whizz up into a salsa verde or pesto. Pairs well with alliums (garlic, shallots), salty (parmesan, capers), acid (lemon, pickles) fats (pinenuts, parmesan, oily fish), sweet flavours (pear, apple), aromatics (parsley, coriander, basil).~30 seeds
We love 'Bronze Queen' for its unusual deep bronze flowers which dangle daintily from the stem. Nicotiana are stately, long stemmed plant which look like they should be difficult to grow. But they're not. Keep the plants well picked and one sowing will keep you in flowers all summer long. Nicotiana are moth pollinated flower so are a brilliant flower to incorporate into a pollinator friendly garden.Sow: March to April. Needs light to germinate. Broadcast in seed trays and prick out (seeds are very small)Plant: 30cm apartHarvest: For longest vase life harvest when a third of the flowers are open. Expect stems of 80cm which feel sticky to touch.Vase: Expect vase life of a 10 days
~100 seeds
Germ 70% Nov 24
Gorgeous lacy umbels of fresh white flowers which add a touch of romance to your borders. Excellent cut flowers through spring to mid-summer. Blooms are very versatile in the garden and in the vase.
As with all umbellifers, they are very popular with pollinators and autumn sowing provide vital nectar for bees in spring.Sow: September-October for overwintering seedlings. Sow undercover or outside Mar-May, depending on soil conditions. Loves to be sown direct into the soil. Seed needs to be exposed to cold to germinate well.Plant: 30cm apartHarvest: Expect 60cm stem length.Vase: Pick when two thirds of the flowers on umbel are open. Vase life of 7 days.1g (approx 50 seeds)OrGF-00151-VTL-OG
Healthy, vibrant and flavoursome flat leaf parsley. Bred by Bingenheimer Saatgut, this variety has been selected for beautiful uniformity, cold hardiness and year-round leaf quality. The name translates to 'Easy cut' and this variety is as at home in a productive market garden as it is on an allotment. It's shorter than 'Italian Giant' giving a higher ratio of leaf to stem. Sow: March-April undercover, May outside. Early August sowing for overwintering.Plant: 6 weeks after sowingHarvest: 8-10 weeks after sowingKitchen: Parsley is a balancing herb which pairs with nearly anything.Notes: For best quality overwintered leaves, grow in a greenhouse or polytunnel or protect with fleece.0.5g / ~200 seeds
Germ 90% Dec 24
Aromata is a truimph of sensorial plant breeding - intensely selected for flavour and texture, yielding a slim, butter-yellow variety with a firm texture and intense aroma. A brave new world of culinary possibilities has been opened! Say goodbye to bland, spongy parsnips and hello to crisp, tender roots. This variety is well suited to eating raw - think remoulade and coleslaw.Another great variety from Kultursaat breeders in Germany, developed from an accession from the IPK Leibniz gene bank. Read the breeders story below.Sow: April-early May in May. Kitchen: Pairs with savoury (bacon, marmite), fats (blue cheese, hard cheese), spices (nutmeg, cumin, anise), watercress.Notes: Seeds are slow to germinate, keep soil damp. Thin seedlings to 5cm and keep weeded. Roots are sweetest when harvested after the first frost.
1g / ~200 seeds
PnpAro-00023-TMR-OGGerm 80% Nov 24The Story Behind the Variety...Back in the 90s, breeders at Kultursaat noted a big inconsistency in flavour and texture within individual parsnip varieties. Single varieties yield roots which tasted completely different - some were bland, some sweet, some spongy and some bitter. So they embarked on a long journey to create a variety which excelled in flavour and texture. As a root vegetable and biennial seed crop, the challenge was to find a method to taste test each root whilst keeping them in good enough condition to replant and save seed from the following year. Their solution was to remove a small core from each parsnip to taste. Hundreds of parsnips were tested and the roots with the best eating qualities were replanted to save seed from. This was done for years until the variety was just right. The finishing flourish was to test the variety in different soil types, showing it could grow well in clay, loamy, sandy and upland soils.https://www.kultursaat.org/dateien/zuechtung/sorten_englisch/aromata-en.pdf
The best tasting perpetual spinach out there - sweet, tender, verdant green leaves on slim stems. Verde da Taglio is an easy-to-grow Italian heirloom which is perfect for gardeners who want to make the most out of their growing space. A couple of sowings will provide you with year-round greens. This is one of our favourite greens in the catalogue - we grow it every year without fail.Sow: April (undercover) & July (outside or undercover) for continuous supply. Plant: 4 weeks after sowing, or sow direct.Harvest: Baby leaves in 6 weeks, big leaves in 8-10 weeks. Harvest outside leaves.Kitchen: Eat baby leaves raw and cook older leaves - steam, sautee, or braise. Cook stems a little longer than leaves. Pairs with acid (lemon, balsamic vinegar, lime), fats (goats cheese, walnuts, coconut milk, butter), salty (olives, feta, parmesan), aromatics (chilli, nutmeg, dill, fennel, thyme).1.5g / ~75 seedsGerm 83% Dec 24
A productive salad leaf and stalwart cut flower rolled into one. Wrinkle Cress grows quickly and abundantly, adding pep to your salads from autumn through to spring. As the days lengthen, plants throw up shoots full of tiny white flowers which gradually transforming into graceful seed heads. The seed heads can be picked when glaucous green or when dry and silvery. They are super versatile - an easy way to add texture to late summer and autumn arrangements. Use fresh or dried.
Sow: mid March-May & Aug-Sept (undercover or outside)
Plant: direct sow or plant 10-20cm apart
Harvest: Salad leaves 4-8 weeks after sowing. Cut seed heads when the uppermost flowers have faded.
Kitchen: Eat fresh in winter and early spring salads. Pairs with citrus (orange, lemon, lime), aromatics and spices (coriander, ginger, five spice, chilli), alliums (spring onion, garlic), fats (sesame, cashew).
Vase: Expect fresh seed heads to last for a week.
~1g / 400 seeds
Germ 93% Nov 24
Marys Niagra is strictly suited to gardeners with a sweet tooth who welcome a little wildness into their gardens. Also known as cape gooseberries, these berries are all individually wrapped in a papery husk. The orange berries inside taste like the layer of caramelized pineapple you get on a pineapple upside down cake. Totally delicious.Despite having their roots in North America, these grow with wild abandon - the plants are big and the fruits are plentiful. They grow 30cm up and then start to bush outwards to almost 3 foot wide! We think they would look tremendous cascading down the side of a container. Fruits fall off the plant when ripe. You can give them a little shake to encourage them and leave to ripen fully on a window sill. Fruits keep well.Sow: March-April with heat (21-25C)Plant: 50-100cm apartHarvest: July-SeptemberKitchen: Eat straight off the plant or incorporate into fruity desserts - they're particularly good in pavlovaNotes: This variety grows well outside.
~20 seeds
Germ 96% Nov 24
A fruity mix of baby pink, cherry red and deep plum flowers on strong stems. Also known as pincushion flowers, these are some of the sweetest cut flowers you can grow. They are loved by pollinators and make a handsome, naturalistic addition to your garden.Sow: Mar-May or Sept-Oct for overwintering seedlings. Undercover or outside depending on soil conditions. Lightly cover seed - needs light to germinate.Plant: 30cm apartHarvest: Harvest when flowers are just starting to open or harvest seed heads. Expect 60cm stem length.Vase: 5-7 days picked fresh.~50 seedsScaTBM-00105-JNY-CGerm 66% Dec 24
Gorgeous collection of hardy annuals in shades of pink and white, curated by Ellen. Sow in autumn for early spring blooms or sow in early spring for flowers all summer long.
Collection includes:
Scabiosa 'Triple Berries'
Snapdragon 'Orange Wonder'
Cornflower 'Black Ball'
Gypsophilia 'Covent Garden'
Orlaya grandiflora
Persian Cress 'Wrinkle Cress'
Smooth, round crimson roots with a good crunch. They look particularly beautiful sliced into rounds, pure white flesh contrasting with the bright red skin. They taste best pulled straight out of the ground, soil rubbed off on a trouser leg. Eat from marble sized, all the way to the size of a ping pong ball. You'll be surprised at how big the roots can get without getting spongy or spicy. This variety has a particularly long harvest window and is resistant to downy mildew. Sow: February (undercover) until May. Sow little and often.Harvest: 4 weeks from sowing, longer if sown early.Kitchen: Raw, pickled or braised. Pairs well with fats (melted butter, aioli, sour cream, yogurt, walnuts), aromatics (rosemary, anise, thyme, dill, mint), citrus (lemon).4g / ~275 seedsGerm: 89% Oct 24
White mignonette is a sweet-smelling wild plant which has found its way into back gardens across the world. In Europe it has been cultivated since ancient times and is foraged as a delectable wild plant in Greece and Italy. We love it for its wispy spires of star shaped flowers which grow up to 1m tall. The flowers have a sweet honey scent - not quite as strong as its cousin Reseda odorata, but enough to add another dimension to summer bouquets.Sow: Sow March-May, broadcast then prick out (seeds are tiny). Plant: 8 weeks after sowingHarvest: July-September. Pick when bottom third of flowers are open, or when seed heads have already formed. Be gentle, stems are delicate. Stems 60-80cm. Vase: Expect vase life of 5 daysNotes: Prefers well drained soil.~0.25g/250 seedsResAlb-00070-TMR-OGGerm 100% Nov 24
Brit Pop is our solution to a very British problem - the late summer runner bean glut. Those few weeks in August when you have runner beans growing out of your ears and your neighbours, fellow allotmenteers and in-laws are trying to sneak their excess runners into your doorstep. Brit Pop is a beautifully diverse mix of varieties which all flower and pod up at slightly different times - giving you an extended harvest, without a massive glut. Each year we allow the plants to freely pollinate and set seed, keeping our Brit Pop population diverse. And if that's not a good enough reason to buy them, just look at the seeds themselves - a stunning mix of purples, pinks, blacks, blues, whites and browns - no two are the same!These are very rare seeds which we have a limited supply of. There is nothing similar on offer in the UK and we continue to bulk these up year-on-year.Sow: May in pots or modulesPlant: 1-2 weeks after sowing, 30cm apart.Harvest: July-SeptemberKitchen: Steam or sautee. Pairs well with alliums (garlic, onions, shallots), citrus (lemon), fruity (tomato), salty (feta, olives, capers), fats (ricotta, butter, bacon, almonds), aromatics (paprika, cumin, parsley, chilli), Notes: Protect emerging seeds from rodents. Plants need a strudy structure to climb up. Plants will have different flower colours - red, white and bicoloured - maybe some apricot shades if you're very lucky.~15 seeds
Germ 80% Nov 24
Mibuna is your answer to home grown greens from autumn to early spring. Gentle peppery flavour that is hotter than Mizuna, milder than Golden Frills. The leaves are elongated and flex backwards, making a small well for salad dressings to sit in. They are a deep, healthy green colour.Mibuna originated from the Mibu region of Kyoto City in Japan, where it was bred from a mizuna hybrid. It's been cultivated from 1804. Use Mibuna as you would Mizuna - a baby leaf salad, a stir fry green or wilted in ramen. In Japan its mixed with kombu (an umami flavour-rich seaweed) and chilli to make a quick salty pickle called asazuke. A crisp, spicy, umami flavoured side dish - exceptionally moreish.Sow: mid March-May & Aug-Sept (undercover or outside)Plant: densely for baby leaves, 20cm for salad leavesHarvest: 4-8 weeks after sowingKitchen: Eat fresh, pickled or stir fried. Pairs with citrus (lemon, lime, ponzu), aromatics and spices (coriander, ginger, five spice, chilli), alliums (spring onion, garlic, garlic chives), fats (sesame, cashew).Notes: Early sowings benefit from fleece. Sowings bolt around the solstice. Long harvest period, particularly over winter - you'll have greens from October into spring.
Also available in our 'Cool Greens' winter salad seed collection. Download our Winter Salads Growing Guide to learn more about growing winter greens.
~1g/450 seedsGerm 96% July 25
Stridolo (A.K.A. Sculpit) is the cultivated form of wild plant Bladder Campion. It's a beautiful Italian heirloom which we love to grow as a delicate addition to salad mixes. The glaucous green foliage is very elegant. Leaves are succulent with a mild flavour - a little aromatic with a mild, pleasant bitterness. One sowing will last you the year. We also love the dainty white flowers for cutting.Sow: April-MayPlant: 4 weeks after sowing once soil has warmedHarvest: 8-10 weeks after sowingKitchen: Use fresh or just wilted. Used in Italy as part of a bitter greens mix, in pasta and egg dishes.~0.25g/400 seedsSaLStr-00120-CNS-CGerm 93% Dec 24
A tasty Chinese mustard with brightly coloured stems ranging from purple to fuchsia to baby pink. Leaves are shiny with serrated edges, coloured vivid green or deep burgundy. A colourful addition to baby salad mixes but also tastes great cooked.Vivid choi is slow to bolt, cold hardy and versatile in the kitchen. A good choice for home gardeners looking to grow delicious greens you can't buy in the shops.Sow: mid March-May & Aug-Sept (undercover or outside)Plant: densely for baby leaves, 20cm for salad leavesHarvest: 4-8 weeks after sowingKitchen: Eat fresh, braised or stir fried. Pairs with citrus (lemon, lime), aromatics and spices (coriander, ginger, five spice, chilli), alliums (spring onion, garlic, garlic chives), fats (sesame, cashew).Notes: Early sowings benefit from fleece. Sowings bolt around the solstice. Long harvest period, particularly over winter - you'll have greens from October into spring. Cool weather and plant maturity bring out the purple and pink colouring.
Also available in our 'Cool Greens' winter salad seed collection. Download our Winter Salads Growing Guide to learn more about growing winter greens.~1g/450 seeds
Germ: 97% July 25
Golden Frills is a vigorous variety, producing an abundance of lacy, golden-green leaves. A stalwart mustard for cut-and-come again winter salads. The young leaves are mild, becoming more peppery as the plant ages. I find slugs and snails tend to leave this variety alone - perhaps because of its unique leaf shape. Harvest the yellow flowering tips too - they're spicy and sweet.Golden Frills, along with a lot of the popular Asian greens, was popularised in the UK by the godmother of Grow Your Own, Joy Larkcom. Her book 'The Salad Garden' originally published in 1987 is seminal. Her careful recommendations are both tasty and decorative to 'feed the body and the spirit'.Sow: mid March-May & Aug-Sept (undercover or outside)Plant: densely for baby leaves, 20cm for salad leavesHarvest: 4-8 weeks after sowingKitchen: Eat fresh or stir fried. Pairs with citrus (lemon, lime, ponzu), aromatics and spices (turmeric, ginger, five spice, chilli), alliums (spring onion, garlic, garlic chives), fats (sesame, cashew).Notes: Early sowings benefit from fleece. Sowings bolt around the solstice. Long harvest period, particularly over winter - you'll have greens from October into spring.
~1g/450 seedsGerm 91% Oct 24
Mizuna is one of the most popular winter salad leaves out there. It produces succulent, green winter leaves with a mild, peppery flavour. It is more vigorous than the other winter salad leaves we offer and very frost tolerant. A brilliant bulker for winter and early spring salad mixes. Sow: mid March-May & Aug-Sept (undercover or outside)Plant: densely for baby leaves, 20cm for salad leavesHarvest: 4-8 weeks after sowingKitchen: Eat fresh, pickled or stir fried. Pairs with citrus (lemon, lime, ponzu), aromatics and spices (coriander, ginger, five spice, chilli), alliums (spring onion, garlic, garlic chives), fats (sesame, cashew).Notes: Early sowings benefit from fleece. Sowings bolt around the solstice. Long harvest period, particularly over winter - you'll have greens from October into spring.1g / ~450 seedsSaLMz-00092-MOL-OGGerm 92% Nov 24
Pizzo is a lovely broad-leaved salad mustard with squiggly serrated edges. It adds verdant volume to winter salad pickings. Its visually similar to 'Green in Snow' but much milder. Definitely our preference for a productive winter salad leaf.Sow: mid March-May & Aug-Sept (undercover or outside)Plant: densely for baby leaves, 20cm for salad leavesHarvest: 4-8 weeks after sowingKitchen: Eat fresh or stir fried. Pairs with citrus (lemon, lime, ponzu), aromatics and spices (turmeric, ginger, five spice, chilli), alliums (spring onion, garlic, garlic chives), fats (sesame, cashew).Notes: Early sowings benefit from fleece. Sowings bolt around the solstice. Long harvest period, particularly over winter - you'll have greens from October into spring.
Also available in our 'Cool Greens' winter salad seed collection. Download our Winter Salads Growing Guide to learn more about growing winter greens.~1g/450 seedsSaLPiz-00111-CNS-CGerm 91% Nov 24
Lacey, magenta leaves which are more refined than similar varieties available such as 'Purple Frills' and 'Ruby Streaks'. A stalwart salad mustard for cut-and-come again winter salads. The young leaves are mild, becoming more peppery as the plant ages. Slugs and snails tend to leave this variety alone - perhaps because of its unique leaf shape. The young leaves are mild and become more spicy as they age and spring approaches.
As with most of the salad greens in this catalogue, their use in the UK can all be traced back to the godmother of Grow Your Own, Joy Larkcom. Her book 'The Salad Garden' originally published in 1987 is a seminal work on the subject. Her careful recommendations are both tasty and decorative, as she puts it, salad vegetables which 'feed the body and the spirit'.Sow: mid March-May & Aug-Sept (undercover or outside)
Plant: densely for baby leaves, 20cm for salad leaves
Harvest: 4-8 weeks after sowing
Kitchen: Eat fresh or stir fried. Pairs with citrus (lemon, lime, ponzu), aromatics and spices (turmeric, ginger, five spice, chilli), alliums (spring onion, garlic, garlic chives), fats (sesame, cashew).
Notes: Early sowings benefit from fleece. Sowings bolt around the solstice.
Also available in our 'Cool Greens' winter salad seed collection. Download our Winter Salads Growing Guide to learn more about growing winter greens.
~1g/450 seeds
81% July 25
An unusual rocket variety with deep green, broad leaves which aren't lobed like standard rocket varieties. It is slower growing and slower to bolt than more vigorous alternatives such as 'Victoria'. A substantial, peppery leaf for salads harvested between autumn and spring.Sow: mid March-May & Aug-Sept (undercover or outside)Plant: densely for baby leaves, 20cm for salad leavesHarvest: 4-8 weeks after sowingKitchen: Eat fresh or just wilted. Pairs with citrus (lemon, balsamic vinegar), aromatics (basil, dill, mint) and spices (chilli), salty (capers, olives, feta), fats (blue cheese, goats cheese, pine nuts).Notes: Early sowings benefit from fleece.
Also available in our 'Cool Greens' winter salad seed collection. Download our Winter Salads Growing Guide to learn more about growing winter greens.~0.5g/250 seedsRocAst-00145-WNO-CGerm 92% Jul 25
Our pick for a classic salad rocket - green, lobed leaves with strong peppery flavour. A fast growing, vigorous variety which works well as a cut-and-come-again salad leaf. It bolts faster than our other salad rocket variety 'Astro' which is slower growing. Ideally, you'll sow this variety thickly in successions. The flowers are a delicious salad ingredient too. It makes a flavoursome addition to salads from autumn until early spring. Sow: mid March-May & Aug-Sept (undercover or outside)Plant: densely for baby leaves, 20cm for salad leavesHarvest: 4-8 weeks after sowingKitchen: Eat fresh or just wilted. Pairs with citrus (lemon, balsamic vinegar), aromatics (basil, dill, mint) and spices (chilli), salty (capers, olives, feta), fats (blue cheese, goats cheese, pine nuts).Notes: Early sowings benefit from fleece. Sowings bolt around the solstice.~1g/500 seedsRocVic-00112-CNS-CGerm 100% Nov 24
A bullet-proof cut flower with a strong 'cocktails-on-the-beach' vibe. Salmon pink, bright orange and soft yellow all on one stem - sounds OTT but somehow it's just right. Our selection of 'Orange Wonder' has a mix of bright colours as well as plants with more muted colouring. This joyous plant has become a firm farm favourite, brightening up our summer with flowers from June to September. It's fantastically easy to grow and is short-lived perennial so one sowing will give you flowers for a good few years. Bumblebees love snapdragons so it's a must-grow if you'd like to attract more to your garden.Sow: Valentines day to end of March or Sept-Oct for overwintering. Broadcast in seed trays and prick out (seeds are very small)Plant: 20-30cm apartHarvest: For longest vase life harvest when only 2 or 3 flowers have opened.Vase: Expect vase life of a week or longer.Notes: Overwinters best in free-draining soils. ~50 seedsGerm 72% Dec 24
