6 TO START NOW

Here are my six all-time favourites for sowing now – they’re easy to grow and delicious to eat!

RUNNER BEANS

Sow outdoors this month at the foot of a tall wigwam of canes and they’ll grow away happily. Although if you have mice, it’s better to sow them in small pots of peat-free compost, in a cold frame or greenhouse. Plant them out in late May when the first pair of leaves has expanded.

COURGETTES

Another candidate for sowing under glass now, to plant out at the end of May when the danger of frost has passed. They like very rich soil and a sunny spot. Three or four plants is usually plenty to supply a family with courgettes and – if you forget to pick them – marrows.

PEAS

Sow peas 5cm apart in a flat-bottomed drill that’s about 2cm deep and 10cm wide. They’ll come up as a clustered plantation and can then be supported with twiggy sticks or corralled with metre-tall

canes linked with soft twine. As with beans, beware of hungry mice when sowing outside.

SALADS

Sow lettuces and radishes in batches – a 1m row at a time. Spring onions will stand for longer, so you can sow 2m rows. Young carrots are also delicious – tender and sweet when harvested at finger size.

CABBAGES

Sow summer cabbages on a patch of ground that can act as a seedbed. When the plants are 10cm tall, with four or five young leaves, plant them out with a dibber or a trowel at a suitable spacing, usually about 45cm apart.

BASIL

This tasty herb is more reliably grown as a pot plant indoors on a bright windowsill (it likes warm, Mediterranean weather). Sow thinly in 10cm plastic pots every few weeks for a succession of harvests.