It’s cool to like kohlrabi!

Not everyone might have grown kohlrabi, but its unorthodox appearance and name shouldn’t put anyone off giving it a try. It’s a useful and delicious vegetable, unsurpassed when grown to perfection, and isn't difficult to achieve success, and sown now you'll have a crop ready by late summer.

With a flavour a little bit like cabbage and turnip, peel the swollen stems, cut into chunks, steam or boil and serve with butter and pepper with the Sunday roast. The flavour is also delicate enough for fish. Many people may have tried traditional kohlrabi varieties when they've grown too large and become fibrous and woody.

Traditional varieties, such as creamy green 'Vienna White' or violet-toned 'Vienna Purple' should be harvested when stems are somewhere between a golf or cricket ball in size, but remarkably, although large-growing varieties ‘Kossak’ or ‘Superschmelz’ can ultimately weigh in at over 8kg (17½lb) or more, they don’t become stringy or woody, and retain their flavour and texture. Large roots can be kept for up to four months if stored in a cool, airy place, making them useful for autumn cropping. You can, of course, eat them when young like all the others, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t harvest them in time!

Sow kohlrabi thinly in rows 30cm (1ft) apart, progressively thinning seedlings to 15cm (6in) apart. You can also eat thinnings as you do kale or cabbage. Keep them moist when growing, before the onset of drought, which may cause them to bolt without the stems swelling. Growing bolt-resistant varieties such as ‘Kolibri’ helps avoid this. Mulching the ground also helps retain moisture. You may have to grow them under fleece or fine netting to prevent flea beetle and cabbage root fly, particularly on young plantlets, and avoid soils where cabbage club root is a problem.