Long Purple Aubergine is one of the most commonly grown variety. Produces good quality, dark fruits. The calyx is green and can be very prickly. If you grow peppers with success you will not have trouble with aubergines. For best production grow the aubergine seeds and plants under cover. ... Learn More

Produces pure white roots with a round uniform shape and a fantastic sweet flavour. This high yielding white beetroot, perfectly complements fish and poultry dishes whilst retaining its flavour through cooking and is perfect for dishes where you do not wish the normal purple beetroot stain. ... Learn More

A dwarf, compact variety of basil which is perfect for a kitchen herb garden or container box as it is one of the easier varieties to grow but also produces attractive, delicate white flowers. With a slightly sweet milder flavour, it is great to use with vegetables, cheese and in salads. ... Learn More

Beetroot leaves have long been put to both ornamental (in a flower border) and culinary use. Perfect for the production of both baby leaves and slightly larger salad leaves, it is amazingly tasty. Scarletta is an improved selection with a spectacular, deep red leaf colour and uniform growth. ... Learn More

Sweet long cylindrical roots which are perfect for slicing, salads or pickling. With a deliciously tender texture, they have rich red, ring-less inner flesh and this variety will store well over a long period . ... Learn More

Popular and reliable with gardeners since Edwardian times, Black Beauty is an early-medium variety of aubergine. The sturdy plants grow to about 1.2 metres tall and produce good crops of 10-15 centimetre long glossy, purple-black, oval fruit. ... Learn More

One of the favourite fruits of the temperate world, blackcurrants produce numerous clumps of sweet, juicy, black fruits, heavily laden with vitamin C and countless other good vitamins, which are unbeatable for jams and juices. These ready-stratified seeds were harvested from some of the best cultivars in the world. Habits will vary a little but all plants will produce several kilograms of fruit when established. The dried leaves are sometimes used to make tea. These valuable plants are also amazingly hardy, surviving to below minus 40 F (which coincidentally is minus 40 C), with little problem. Their main competitor for vitamin C production, the lemon tree, is long dead at this temperature. Prune very old wood back occasionally and these plants will give fruit for very many years. ... Learn More

This dark green, flat-round, kabocha type winter squash, averages 3-4 lb and has deep orange flesh which is medium dry and sweet. It is popular for its strong yet sweet, moist, fluffy texture, which bears a remarkable resemblance to chestnuts. ... Learn More

This lesser known vegetable delivers heavy yields with outstanding flavour. Strange to look at, the long black-skinned roots have a delicate and subtle taste. It matures as a very long black tapering root rather like a thin parsnip and is grown in a similar way. Keeps well in the ground all winter long (the longer they are left the larger they will grow) - and will still be good to eat right through to March. ... Learn More

A sweet and mild, very hardy winter radish with snowy-white succulent flesh and a near black skin which lacks the fieriness found so often in summer varieties. It has likely been grown since at least the 16th Century. ... Learn More

If you hate being scratched whilst collecting blackberries, this is the one for you. This quite amazing variation bears smooth, shiny, thorn-free stems carrying countless bunches of sweet, juicy black berries. ... Learn More

This drought-resistant gardeners' favourite produces a high yield of string-less full flavoured beans which retain their sweet taste and tender texture when cooked or they may be used in summer salads when used raw. If left on the plant their dried white seeds can be used as haricot beans. ... Learn More

A traditional French winter heirloom that is hardy and cold-resistant as well as being an attractive addition to the cottage garden. The flags are blue-green which turn violet after a cold spell whilst the shanks are thick/medium length. ... Learn More

Boltardy can be sown earlier in the year than all others, then right through to mid summer and is slow to run to seed. Yielding perfect, globe-shaped beets of superb flavour and colour. Young leaves can be used for baby leaf production. RHS Award of Garden Merit winner. ... Learn More

This popular herb has attractive white edged hairy leaves which are tender and juicy and can be used in salads and drinks. Delicate star-shaped blue flowers (perfect in cold drinks!) appear all summer long. An intriguing talking point whether in the herb or flower garden. Also known as "The Starflower", it is an annual herb originating in Syria, but naturalized throughout the Mediterranean region, as well as Asia Minor, Europe, North Africa, and South America. ... Learn More