Leeks are a great winter vegetable as well as being grown for summer eating.
Summer leek types are generally smaller than overwintering types; overwintering types are generally more strongly flavored. Varieties include King Richard and Tadorna Blue.

If you love leek and potato soup then they are an essential to get growing.
Grow from seeds in modules and plant out. Easy!
Dib your hole for the leek, put in the hole and water in. That’s it. Don’t trim the leaves and roots as some old books say to as this doesn’t help the plants at all.

Leek soup, leek and potato, use with chinese duck too!

Prizetaker/ Lyon Leek Seeds from Garden Bargains £1.10
Long stemmed leeks of exhibition standard

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What is land cress?
Also known as American cress, bank cress, black wood cress, Belle Isle cress, Bermuda cress, early yellowrocket, early wintercress, scurvy cress, and upland cress, is a biennial herb in the Brassicaceae family.
It can be used in sandwiches, or salads, or cooked like spinach, or used in soup. Anything watercress can do, it can do.

Growing land cress – needs full sun and frequent watering (or grow near but not in a stream or other water source) – might do well as the bottom of water barrels that overflow.

It is a hardy salad crops which will stand outside all winter in pretty much any weather making it perfect for planting for eating over winter. Let it go to seed and you never need buy a packet of seeds again.

Sow from Spring to September.

Cress American Land Seeds from Plant Me Now £1.49
Delicious peppery flavour, an alternative to watercress. Easy and fast growing, it is quick to crop, even in containers. Excellent source of vitamin C.

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Rocket is also known as rocket, roquette, rucola or arugula.
Once you have planted rocket you should find it easy to save seed year after year. When they go to seed leave some flowers on for the bees and other insects and wait til the seed pods dry and then harvest them. Put them in a bag and roughly crush it to get the seeds out. They produce plenty of seed.
It’s definitely a plant for the insects too as the leaves are used as a food by the larvae of some moth species, including the Garden Carpet moth. It is also eaten in salad by us!

It’s quite peppery so serve with a good dressing with a squeeze of lemon in!
It is rich in vitamin C and potassium. You can eat the leaves or the young seed pods or even just the seeds.
I’m off now to go and pick some of the seed pods on my rocket on my allotment!

Easy to grow – try it in pots for over winter in the cold frame or greenhouse.

Rocket (Organic) – 1 packet (750 seeds) from Thompson & Morgan £0.99
Popular, easy-to-grow salad leaf, Rocket is used in salads and sandwiches for its unique aromatic taste. Rocket can also be included in pizza and pasta dishes, or steamed as a spinach substitute. Sow in succession and pick leaves as required. Culinary note: Rocket flowers are edible. For more details about edible flowers click here.

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Chard is worth a try for winter.

Try in pots in the greenhouse or cold frame or try a few out in the garden.

Chard is known by several different names – Swiss chard, silverbeet, perpetual spinach, spinach beet, crab beet, bright lights due to it’s bright colours.

Swiss chard is high in vitamins A, K and C.
Chard is less hardy than perpetual spinach so if you only grow one of them, grow the spinach

Eat young leaves as salad and eat mature leaves steamed as a hot vegetable.

Chard White Silver 2 Seeds from Plant Me Now £1.49
Chard White Silver is a very versatile vegetable with edible stems and leaves. The baby leaves can be used in salads while cooked leaves are like spinach. Excellent source of Vitamin C.

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If you have seeds that are described as ‘early’ then you can try out planting these at the end of the normal season overwintering. There is the odd exception, for example parsnips which like warmer soil in Spring. But if you have spare seeds it’s worth a try. Experiment. Start some in a cold frame and some in an open bed. Take notes maybe and see which does best. Any under cover should be earlier by a few weeks.

Something like Perpetual spinach is worth a try. Sow successively from July.

Spinach Beet Perpetual Spinach Seeds from Plant Me Now £1.75
Delicious spinach substitute, but easier to grow. High yields of nutritious greens, resists bolting in summer. Excellent source of folate and good for potassium.

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In summer you’ll find that your runner beans are available when they’re available
cheaply in the shops!
Doesn’t mean yours won’t be fresher or tastier. Fresh produce
is more expensive in winter. This means that growing winter vegetables will save
you more money than summer veggies.
Finding things that will grow in your garden
or greenhouse in winter will save you money and give you fresh veg. It takes a
little planning to get this sorted though.Parsnips, cabbages and brussel sprouts
spring to mind as outdoor winners!

The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year-round Vegetable Production Using Deep-organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses

As you’ll have gathered by now Jersey plants direct is one of my favourite online gardening shops.
I believe everyone should have a fruit tree in their garden! I think growing fruit is one of the easiest things we can do – and you don’t have to put in hours of effort like you do growing annual vegetables. A tree is a big decision but an easy thing to look after!
Order some of these apple trees now and you’ll be enjoying home grown apples very soon! Think of all those apples you’ll get to eat!

Jersey Plants Direct offers free delivery on all orders. These Apple trees are perfect for small gardens or even if you have virtually no garden and just a patio!

Patio Apple Trees (Gold Del/Gala) 9cm Pot £18.99
Grow your own Apples on your patio Golden Delicious: One of the most popular varieties of apples. Produces a heavy crop of medium sized yellow fruit, with a sweet and tasty flavour. Gala: a crisp and tasty, medium sized dessert apple with a sweet flavour.Imagine the delight of picking your own fruit, fresh from your tree on the patio. Our mini trees are simple to grow, require little training or pruning and will produce an abundance of healthy delicious fruit from a single stem.Varieties included are Golden Delicious and Gala.

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