Seasons: Winter

A long-season crop that rewards a big pot and steady feeding.

Cut-and-come-again greens ready in six weeks from a shallow trough.

Sow thickly in a wide tray and cut the whole crop at three weeks.

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.

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

An intensely bitter Himalayan herb of mid-altitude meadows, slow and particular.

A hill herb of stream banks with aromatic roots and heads of small white flowers.