Beginner's Guide to Heirloom Vegetables

Asparagus ‘Mary Washington’ is the sweetest, most tender. Needs fertilizer in early spring.

Beets ‘Bull’s Blood’ very tasty tops. ‘Golden’ are sweeter and yellow so no bleeding.

Broccoli

- spouts grow in the axels between the stems. The more you harvest, the more the plants will sprout. Leaving sprouts too long - less sweet as time passes.

Try ‘Early Purple Sprouting’ can overwinter, ‘Green Goliath’, ‘Waltham’ or ‘White Sprouting’

‘Romanesco’ needs steady water. Will not resprout like broccoli. Fussy as it prefers partial shade and slightly alkaline soil. Can grow 3feet before forming a head. No two heads will look alike and few will turn out perfect.

Cabbage: ‘Perfection Drumhead Savoy’ very wrinkly leaves

Kohlrabi - Early Purple Vienna is a German turnip. We eat the swollen stem (or bulb). Harvest long when the bulb is only 2-3 inches in diameter. Matures in 55-65 days so you can have a fall harvest (start in late summer).

Carrots - Parisian Market ‘Tonde de Paris’ cute little dumpling carrots.

‘Early Scarlet Horn’ - full sized, red shoulders, sweet when young. It is the oldest cultivated carrot.

‘Little Finder’ great for pickles

Fennel - ‘Zefa Fino’ more complex and mellow flavour. Can eat the bulbs, best when roasted.

Amaranth ‘Red Leaf’ is Chinese spinach. Direct sow seeds in garden 2-3 weeks after last frost. Heavy feeder, prefer to be kept watered.

Collards - ‘Vates’ similar to cabbage but milder & sweeter (enhanced after a frost). Seedlings handle a light frost.