Regions: North India

The monsoon green that grows itself — heat-proof, rain-proof, ready in a month.

Peppery leaves in five weeks, and yellow flowers for the bees after.

The winter weed worth sowing — mineral-rich leaves through the cold months.

A deep trough and forty days is all it asks. Thin ruthlessly for straight roots.

Needs depth more than width — a 30 cm trough of loose soil beats a wide bed.

The third triphala fruit, from a broad-crowned tree of dry deciduous forest.

A white-rooted asparagus of the north-western hills, grown on terraces and bunds.

A dry-hill root used to colour oil a deep red; slight above ground, tough below.

Near-indestructible succulent for a bright sill; water only when the soil is dry through.

A prickly low solanum of wasteland, with violet flowers bumblebees buzz-pollinate.