IT’S easy to be dazzled by summer’s colourful supply of scrambling courgettes, runner beans, tomatoes and cucumbers. You’d be far wiser, however, to develop a winter pantry of vegetables that you can use for months on end: winter crops stand still and can be picked and dug a little at a time all the way from October until late March. They’re handsome beasts, too, and rows of Tuscan kale, leeks and cabbages, steaming slightly on a bright winter’s morning, will please the eye just as much as the stomach.
‘Tuscan kale is hardy, despite the Italianate connection’
It’s a much longer and slower process altogether and you need to start planning now if you’re to get the seeds of your choice. Order from a vegetable specialist (), because they’ll stock the best varieties and give you more seeds per packet. Kings Seeds, an independent, Essex-based company established 137 years ago, always offers the best quality and range of vegetable seeds. Its horticultural director Andrew Tokely is a dedicated vegetable grower with 40 years’ experience. He visits the seed trials every year and shares his expertise on the following pages.