Tasty and sweet variety of colourful red cabbage, with dense, solid, crunchy hearts. Try them raw or cooked or even grow for pickling. Ideal for storing over winter. Height: 40cm (16). Spread: 60cm (24).
One of the most versatile cabbages you can grow, 'Offenham 2' is a favourite old variety that is guaranteed to give you plentiful supplies of super quality, tasty green heads over several months of the year. With two main cropping seasons, it can be picked young and tender as 'spring' greens or left to mature into larger, more compact cabbages, with pointed hearts set on a short, thick stalk. Sowing in the spring will yield young 'greens' from September onwards, maturing to 'hearted' cabbages into November. Summer sowings will produce 'greens' from early spring, leaving others to grow to 'hearted' cabbages that are ready from April to May. At whatever time you choose to harvest, the dark green leaves have a fabulously rich flavour, whether used raw in salads and coleslaw or traditionally steamed, boiled or braised. Hearty and healthy, they are packed full of vitamin C and antioxidants. There is little or no wastage - the outer leaves are as good to eat as those further in, and contain even greater concentrations of nutrients. These hardy cabbages will thrive in a sunny position in well-cultivated, moisture-retentive soil with good drainage, although are best not planted in soil that has been manured in the preceding 12 months. Supplied as a packet of 350 (approx.) seeds ready to sow indoors in a seed tray or outdoors in a seed bed. Grows to 25cm (10in) height and spread.
An exciting mix of all sorts of easy to grow cacti, which are all well suited to window sills, sun rooms or greenhouses. It?s easy to grow a cactus, and this fun mix means that you never know quite what you are going to grow!
Calendula 'Art Shades', otherwise known as English or pot marigold, is an enduring cottage garden favourite that looks equally at home in traditional or contemporary planting schemes, where the richly coloured flowers will add cheerful character to your beds, borders or pots. They make a great cut flower for your vase, too, and the dried flowers are also excellent added to pot pourri. This easy-to-grow hardy annual produces masses of frilly petalled, fully double blooms in shades of creamy peach, orange, gold and yellow. They are hugely attractive to many beneficial insects, so make a great companion plant for your kitchen garden. In fact, the petals are edible, with a slightly peppery taste, and make a colourful garnish or addition to salads. They can also be used instead of saffron for colouring rice dishes, or in soups, stews or curries - or even as a substitute for nutmeg, sprinkled over rice pudding. The ancient Egyptians used calendula as a rejuvenating herb and the flowers have been used for centuries in cosmetics and creams for their therapeutic properties. The seeds can be sown directly into their flowering position or started off in seed trays indoors. Either way, they will flower in the same year as sowing. Calendulas thrive in a sunny spot in well-prepared, fertile soil or compost. Once established, these robust little beauties will do equally well through a wet or dry season, and with regular watering and dead-heading will flower all summer long, well into the first frosts of autumn. Supplied as a packet of 200 (approx.) seeds ready to sow outdoors in their flowering position or indoors into trays of compost. Growing to a height of 60cm (24in) and spread of 30cm (12in), sow or transplant outdoors from March to June and again from August to October, directly where they are to flower. Late summer and autumn sowings will flower the following year. Spring sowings will take 10-12 weeks to flower.
An easy-to-grow annual for bedding and borders. Large frilly blooms in a mix of colours, from deep orange to cream, are long flowering and great for cutting. Height: 60cm (24). Spread: 45cm (18). Culinary information: Some parts of these flowers are edible. Click here for more details about edible flowers.
An easy-to-grow annual for bedding, borders and containers. Plant en masse for a profusion of vivid, silky flowers, that stand up to all weathers and suppress weeds. Height: 23cm (9). Spread: 25cm (10).
Californian Poppy 'Monarch Art Shades' is a compact and wonderfully colourful addition to the summer garden. The plants produces double or semi-double flowers in powerful shades of orange. Perfect in pots and at the front of borders, or scattered amongst your planting to give intense highlights. They thrive in poor, dry soil and will self seed freely in borders, gravel and any cracks in the pavement. These hardy annuals will grow to H30cm (1ft) x W15cm (6in). Flowers from June to August. Dead-head for longer flowering, or if you want to prevent self seeding.
Striking flower for the border or patio pots. Dwarf, bushy plants are packed with blue-lilac blooms with a white centre throughout summer. Ideal for sun or semi-shade locations. Height and spread: 25cm (10).
Excellent plants for borders and bedding. Masses of lightly fragrant flowers in a wide colour range, ideally suited to sunny positions. Height: and spread 23cm (9).
Easy-to-grow and vigorous, these plants bear large clusters of sweetly scented, white blooms, throughout summer. Ideally suited to sunny positions. Height: 40cm (16). Spread: 20cm (8).
Classic cottage garden favourite, these colourful plants bear masses of bell-shaped blooms all summer long. Trouble-free and easy-to-grow in full sun. Height: 120cm (47). Spread: 40cm (16).
Delicious finger carrots are produced from this quick maturing variety. Can be grown under glass for an earlier harvest, or grown outdoors for summer to autumn crops. Height: 30cm (12). Spread: 15cm (6).