Smokey (or Bronze) fennel is an ornamental herb known for its fine, feathery foliage that transitions from coppery rose to deep bronzy-purple, giving it a "smoky" appearance. It has an anise or licorice flavor, making its leaves and seeds valuable for seasoning seafood, salads, and vegetables, as well as for making tea. Growing up to five feet tall, it produces yellow flower umbels that attract butterflies and beneficial insects, adding both culinary and ecological value to gardens.  

Diamond Eggplant is a high-yielding, Ukrainian heirloom variety known for its slender, dark purple, 6-8 inch long fruits that grow in clusters. It's an early-maturing, open-pollinated plant with excellent disease resistance, making it suitable for climates with short, cool, or northern growing seasons. The firm, non-bitter, and sweet flesh is versatile for grilling, roasting, and other culinary uses.  

Yield: High-yielding and prolific, producing a steady stream of fruits. 

Fruit: Slender, dark purple, and oblong, typically 6-8 inches long and smooth-skinned. 

Flavor: Firm flesh with a sweet flavor and no bitterness. 

Maturity: Early maturing, making it well-suited for regions with short growing seasons. 

Plant: Reaches about 2 feet in height and is known for good disease resistance and overall hardiness. 

Danish heirloom variety. Small heads 6-8". Harvest in summer.

Copenhagen Market Cabbage is a classic early-maturing variety known for its compact, round heads and dense, tightly packed leaves. The heads are medium-sized, typically 1.5–2.5 kg, with smooth, light green outer leaves and a crisp, pale interior. It’s prized for its reliability, uniform growth, and sweet, mild flavor.

Excellent raw in coleslaw and fresh salads due to its crisp texture

Great for steaming or boiling as a simple side dish

Ideal for stir-fries and sautéing with garlic or butter

Can be used for light fermentation (though better suited for fresh use than storage types)

Works well in soups, cabbage rolls, and braised dishes

Its tender leaves and mild taste make it especially versatile for everyday cooking.

Imperator Carrots

Imperator carrots are a widely grown, market-standard variety recognized for their long, slender, and uniform roots. Their smooth, tapered shape, crisp texture, and rich orange color make them both visually appealing and flavorful. Typically reaching 7–10 inches in length, they are prized for their sweetness and versatility, whether eaten fresh or cooked. Best grown in deep, loose, well-drained soil under full sun, Imperator carrots mature in about 65–80 days.

Appearance: Long, slim, and tapered with straight, smooth roots

Color: Deep, vibrant orange

Texture: Crisp and tender

Flavor: Sweet and full-bodied

Size: Commonly 7–10 inches, with some varieties growing longer

Uses

Fresh: Excellent for salads, snacking, and raw dishes

Cooked: Versatile for soups, stews, and side dishes

Commercial: Ideal for bunching and packaged sales thanks to their uniform shape

Golden Cal Wonder Bell Pepper Seeds – An American heirloom since 1920. This prolific trouble-free pepper is one of the best open-pollinated yellow bells available. It has a very sweet flavor making it a wonderful addition to salads, stir-fries, and any dish where great color and sweet taste are desired.

Late variety, very productive, also known as broccoli or top of turnip

It is a type of turnip whose inflorescences and the tender part of the stem with the leaves are used

The plants are cut 5-10 cm from the ground so that it can drive other numerous axillary jets from the base of the stem

Sowing: from September to the end of October in rows 30 cm apart

Harvest: about 120 days from sowing

A medium  to early variety. The hearts are round, medium-sized and compact. the sheaths are thick, fleshy and entirely  white with very little fibre. They are crunchy and tender white  with  a  sweet, aromatic flavour. SOWING: can be sown  in several stages from july until the beginning September for harvesting from November until February. 

Fennel is easy to grow. They prefer full sun and a well drained soil. They will do best in rich soils.Water them during dry periods, once or twice per week. Add a general purpose fertilizer once or twice a season. While classified as a herb, Fennel is a popular European vegetable too. Native to Mediterranean region, the bulbous base and stalk is popular eaten raw like celery, cooked, or boiled. Closely related to Parsley, Fennel is popular in Italian and other Mediterranean recipes. Also called Florence Fennel or Finuccio, it is easy to grow and very hardy, lasting well after the first frost. With bright green, fern-like leaves and aromatic yellow flowers, this plant will grow three to four feet tall. Plant it in the back of the herb garden or in your vegetable garden. Foliage and seeds have an anise-like flavor.

Traditional Italian herb with a wonderful anise taste. Romanesco Fennel is also called Roman or Florence Fennel. Very sweet and aromatic late maturing variety produces a large head with thick white tightly wrapped stalks.

Florence fennel or Finocchio

Perhaps the most indulgent vegetable to start off at this time of year is Florence fennel, otherwise known as finocchio or, more commonly, bulb fennel. The handsome feathery foliage of this crop is matched only by its exquisite aniseed flavour that makes a fine pairing with fish (try baking parcels of mackerel with slices of fennel and lemon for a sublime dinner). But fennel has more strings to its bow than this – pop chunks into a stew to freshen things up, or finely slice a bulb over a garden-gathered salad using a chef’s mandolin. The leaves can be used in place of herb fennel.

Bulb fennel is perhaps a slightly misleading name, as the ‘bulb’ is in fact the swollen stem base of the plant. But this is nitpicking as all you really need to know is that this is a vegetable to luxuriate in – a gourmet kitchen gardener’s treat!

Big Max pumpkins are large, round, pale to bright orange pumpkins known for their thick, yellow-orange flesh and ability to grow over 100 pounds. They are named for their impressive size, making them suitable for carving into large Jack-o'-lanterns, use in competitions, or for canning and pie fillings. Big Max pumpkins require full sun, fertile soil, and a long growing season of approximately 120 days to reach their full potential.  

Asparagus has grown in the wild in France since the time of Louis XIV. Originally only three different types were available, they were distinguished mostly by their thickness, ‘la grosse’, ‘la commune’ and ‘la sauvage’.

Cultivation become widespread in the mid-19th century, with populations often identified according to countries and towns where they were grown. Arguably the best known asparagus was cultivated at Argenteuil, situated just 14 kilometres northwest of Paris. For centuries Argenteuil was an important asparagus-growing district: at one time several thousand persons were employed in cultivating the crop.

Asparagus 'Precoce D'Argentuil’ or ‘Early Argenteuil‘ was listed by Vilmorin-Andrieux in 1885 as a selection from 'Giant Dutch Purple'. It is one of three subvarieties of Argenteuil (early, mid, and late) and is highly esteemed for its thick, rose-purple spears with tender tips and an excellent flavour.

It is an excellent choice for the impatient gardener. Earlier and hardier than most asparagus varieties, the spears are usually produced from seed struck plants in the second year and it will shoot earlier in the season than other varieties.

In France, Asparagus D'Argentuil is the traditional variety used to create the popular white asparagus by blanching the plants. White asparagus, nicknamed ‘edible ivory’ and ‘white gold’ typically sells for two to three times as much as the green-skinned variety due to the high cost of production and the short season. However, it is simply created by mounding earth over the spears as they begin to push out of the ground, thus keeping them from sunlight and the photosynthesis that would turn them green.

This noble stalk may cost a king's ransom for much of the year but when cultivated in the garden it is affordable for even us commoners and is uncommonly delicious.