Travel the world with your tastebuds

Let 2019 be the year your veg patch embarks on an overseas adventure! Helen Billiald plans her patch for spring and focuses on her favourite foreign crops

Let 2019 be the year your veg patch embarks on an overseas adventure! Here’s how to plan your crops for next year

Growing your own has always been a cosmopolitan affair as we increase the breadth of flavours coming into our kitchens and onto our plates. Thankfully our mild maritime climate suits this magpie tendency and we’re a whizz at using sheltered corners, polytunnels and greenhouses to stretch our seasons that little bit further. Many crops that seem perfectly at home in the UK hail from a different corner of the globe; for instance potatoes and runner beans came from South America in Tudor times. Can you picture the British garden without them now? Seed catalogues stretch their scope ever wider to offer a flow of cultivars, whether in the expanding range of Oriental greens or catering to our ever-growing appetite for Italian food. So, bring the world to your doorstep by borrowing a little inspiration from overseas cuisines. Ultimately, whatever country you’re borrowing from, cooking with the best ingredients and letting their quality shine through is the key to delicious homegrown harvests.