Even better homegrown!
New varieties have come at the right time, says Peter
EVERY autumn I make the journey to Spalding in Lincolnshire to visit the major international seed companies’ salads and vegetables trials. The first port of call is always Elsoms Seeds, an independent family business founded in 1844, but my goodness they know how to keep up with the times.
Our tastes change, such as the dark-leaved, almost black kale made popular by chef Jamie Oliver, yet it can take 10-15 years, sometimes more, for breeders to reach qualities they forecast will be in demand when their prodigy is fit to go on sale. The dark-leaved kale ‘Sunbor’ is a good introduction. It has better eating qualities, is easy to grow and so decorative that it can be grown in flower borders as well as in containers. Also available next season as plants is purple-sprouting broccoli ‘Burgundy’ — you may already have seen spears of this on sale at supermarkets. What an great new introduction this is. There’s no sowing in May and waiting 12 months to pick this beauty, as it crops in 80 days from planting! It can be cut young, looking like a purple
cauliflower, or left a little longer to produce masses of succulent spears. If you have too many at any one time, it freezes beautifully.
There is also a new ‘spring greens’ cabbage yet to be named (seed will be available next spring) that yields leafy greens pretty well year-round. Sow in August and September to crop through the winter and into April-May, or sow successionally indoors from January onwards to crop from June to Christmas.
There is pretty well every colour of carrot, but if you sow carrot ‘Purple Haze‘ too early, it has a tendency to bolt (run prematurely to flower). Do not worry, as you can cut the pink flowers and use them in vase arrangements!
“Kale ‘Sunbor’ can be grown in flower borders”