May

'F1 April Cross' is a Minowase type hybrid daikon radish. A market leader for its extra-slow bolting habit, tender mature flesh and reliable harvest. Recommended for late summer to early summer harvest and for early winter harvest, they are an excellent variety for home gardeners. Sow seeds after the last frost in spring or in late summer to early autumn. They have a mild taste that is tender, buttery, and mild. 60 days.

The colourful 'Watermelon Radish' of historic China. The magic is in their bright-magenta interior which is so sweet, crisp, and delicious. A winter radish, for autumn and winter sowing they will tolerate temperatures down to around -3°C. The bright pink and white flesh makes a beautiful accent for any salad. They are also good for pickling. 45 to 55 days.

Relatively unknown to our shores, Rocket ‘Olive Leaf’ is an excellent selection of the traditional Italian olive leaf wild rocket. With a beautiful light green colour and smooth shape similar to an olive leaf, this perennial form has a distinctive aroma and flavour that is more subtle than the usual wild rockets.

Root Parsley Hamburg is an off-beat, dual purpose vegetable that deserves to be better known. The root can be left in the ground all winter and dug up as and when your Sunday roast requires and the luxury of having plenty of leaves to snip from the garden in winter can’t be overstated.

Rosemary can be used for ornamental, culinary and medicinal purposes. The aromatic, evergreen shrub, native to the dry hills of southern Europe and North Africa, can be grown as a clipped hedge, along the edge of a retaining wall, pruned and shaped as topiaries and as a container patio plant.

Salvia officianalis, as the Latin name implies, is the original aromatic foliage used for centuries to flavour stuffing, meats and even make sage tea. Good with cheese and is often combined with thyme and used with beans and in soups, of course, nothing says stuffing like good old Garden Sage.

Salad Burnet is a wonderful old herb that makes a great addition to any garden. It was planted along pathways 'to perfume the air most delightfully, being trodden on and crushed', the delicate leaves have a subtle cucumber flavour and today are used in salads, as a flavouring and to add interest to cold drinks.

Salsify may be a chic new vegetable with the foodie crowd but it just happens to be an old-fashioned heritage root crop. This unprepossessing Mediterranean winter vegetable has a delicate taste, ever so slightly sweet, some say slightly reminiscent of oysters, so much so that it is also known as the 'oyster plant'.

Salsola komarovii, popularly known as Okahijiki is considered to be one of Japan’s oldest vegetables. A gourmet specialty, it is found in the wild growing in salt laden coastal marshes. A first tentative taste of a sprig reveals a surprising texture, the tubular leaves and branched stems are juicy with a crisp texture and salty flavour.

Satureia montana ssp. citriodora is a lemon-scented variety of Winter Savory from the Apennine mountains. The small perennial shrubs are semi-evergreen, they retain their aromatic, lemon scented leaves in all but the coldest gardens and remain useful all year round.

Summer savory 'Midget' is a compact variety, this fast-growing annual provides an abundant supply of leaves, growing quickly to a height of about 25cm. With slender bronze green leaves and rose-white tubular flowers which bloom from July to September.

Winter savory, the perennial savory has the same properties as its summer relative Summer savory, although it has a heavier aroma and a sharper pine type flavour. The small perennial shrubs are semi-evergreen, retaining their leaves in all but the coldest gardens and remain useful all year round.

Anyone who has had the pleasure of traveling to countries such as Japan or China will appreciate the bewildering but totally delicious array of vegetables on offer there. No wonder the Japanese have no problem reaching their official recommended intake of not merely five, but 17 portions of fruit and veg per day!

Mexican Tree Spinach is the latest ‘new’ arrival on the veg-growing scene. With a hundred different names including 'Micro Glitter Spinach' - this is a beautiful plant to have in the garden or allotment. Vivid pink tinged triangular bright green leaves with each new set of leaves blushed a shocking magenta.

'F1 Autumn Crown’ is a new butternut crossed with a Winter squash, Crown Prince F1, which produces the shape of one parent and the buff colour of the other. More importantly, it has inherited early ripening from Crown Prince, setting fruits at least a month before the previously available fastest butternuts.

'Blue Kuri' is a traditional open pollinated Japanese squash that has lovely blue-green skin. This beautiful sweet, versatile squash matures in 95 to 110 days to a convenient 15 to 20cm in diameter. Rich, sweet and nutty, the contrast between blue rind and orange flesh looks great on the plate.