A vegetable garden stalwart for decades, the Dark Green Zucchini – or Summer Squash – is a must. This variety is a very reliable producer of easy-to-grow and delicious zucchini. Harvest at around 6 to 8 inches long.

Open, erect plants are nearly spineless resulting in less damage to fruit during harvest. Dark-skinned zucchinis are popular in the western regions.

The largest-leaved spinach we’ve ever grown! A semi-savoyed variety with great cold-hardiness and bunch-ability. Best in early spring or fall, but can also be overwintered with protection. Giant Winter is not quite as cold-hardy as Winter Bloomsdale, but faster growing and more vigorous.

Giant Winter Spinach is a high yielding semi-savoy variety with dark green, glossy leaves and a great taste.

A really hardy spinach which will shrug off frost, gales and even snow to keep you picking right through the coldest months of the year.

The large, elegantly pointed leaves have a strong, rich flavour that's perfect in winter casseroles or lightly steamed as a delicious side vegetable.

To ensure a continuous supply of leaves try sowing in small lots each month.

The largest-leaved spinach we’ve ever grown! A semi-savoyed variety with great cold-hardiness and bunch-ability. Best in early spring or fall, but can also be overwintered with protection. Giant Winter is not quite as cold-hardy as Winter Bloomsdale, but faster growing and more vigorous

Packet: 9-10 grams of seed

Packet: 9-10 grams of seed

Escarole is usually used cooked, in a pan or blanched . It can be served as a side dish accompanied by aromas or other ingredients or it can be inserted as an ingredient in pizzas and focaccias.

Variety with large, broad and crinkly leaves that curve naturally to form a tall horn-shaped head. Natural blanching. Very resistant to cold. Suitable  for autumn cultivation. SOWING: in rows from July to October. Trasplant when plants have formed 4-5 leaves, at intervals of about 30 cm with about cm between rows.

Upright winter escarole lettuce with very crunchy leaves. A French heirloom escarole, with large, scalloped green leaves and a central leaf core that curls into a horn shape. Cornetto Di Bordeaux Escarole. Mid-Early. Large upright plant with full open head, large dark green external leaves with light green-blond heart. Very early in the formation of the tuft which is large, elongated and typically wrapped . The leaves are a beautiful light green blond color. Late variety.

Endive Escarole is easily grown in cool weather. Sow directly in the garden as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring. Endive Escarole may also be started as transplants 5 to 8 weeks before setting out. Sow thinly using sterilized seed starter mix, cover lightly and water. Provide light, moderate warmth and good ventilation. A second crop may be sown in late summer to early fall. Grow Endive Escarole quickly with plenty of moisture for the most pleasing taste. Most will bolt (go to seed) and taste a bit unpleasant in hot weather. Amend the soil with moderate amounts of compost and a sprinkling of organic fertilizer. To blanch the tender centers (pale hearts) of Endive Escarole, place a clay flower pot over the plant 2 weeks prior to harvesting. Harvest by cutting the entire head at soil level.

Green Curled Ruffec Endive is one of the finest endives for crisp and tasty salad. The leaves are thick, tender, and buttery with a distinctive taste. The cluster of inner leaves blanches to creamy yellow/white. A good producer that can be grown early and later in the season.

Curly or curled endive and escarole are cool-weather vegetables; they are varieties of the same plant. Curly endive has curled, ruffled leaves and escarole has smooth leaves. Curly endive is sometimes called frisee.

Endive and escarole are cool-season biennials grown as annuals. Both are salad greens similar to lettuce but stronger flavored. Both are commonly blanched to give them a paler appearance and milder flavor. Both grow from a large rosette of light-green leaves in the center that gradate to dark-green at the outer edges. Escarole has broader leaves; endive is commonly curled and often toothed. Endive is different from Belgian endive which is the young blanched sprout of the chicory plant.

Packet: 9-10 grams of seed

Produces cucumbers that are typically dark green with white spines and 9 inches in length. A great cucumber for pickling and salads, having a mild flavor with a hint of sweetness. A great choice for market growers and home gardeners. Start in doors a month before the last frost, or direct sow a couple of weeks after the last frost. Plant in hills 5 feet apart. Sow 5 or 6 seeds per hill half an inch deep and at least an inch apart. 

Typical salad variety. Cylindrical fruits, 18-20 cm long, with rounded tip. Dark green skin, firm flesh with few seeds. Central sprouts should be pinched out above first four leaves, repeating operation after side-sprouts have grown. Abundant production from first fruits onwards. SOWING: plant outdoors from March to June, sowing 2-3 seeds per hole, with intervals of 30/40 cm between holes  and 1 metre between rows. Thin out seedlings after germination.

Dark green, smooth, slender fruits grow eight to nine inches long on vigorous vines and are ready to pick after 55 days.

‘Marketer’ is an open-pollinated variety with a sweet, mild flavor. A winner of the All-America Selections award in the edibles category in 1943, it’s ideal for hot, humid Southern climates.

Packet: 9-10 grams of seed

The 'golden' onion of Parma, Italy. A late maturing onion with golden upright top-shaped large bulbs. Excellent storage quality. Compares to any of the top yellow varieties for taste. The shape makes for great slicing. Long Day. Untreated seed.

Golden onions of Parma stand out for their refined simplicity, enclosed in a skin with a sophisticated colour. On the inside, however, it is extremely simple and genuine, so much so that it is appreciated worldwide. It is, in fact, an antique variety famous throughout Europe.

Golden onions of Parma are particularly resistant and easy to preserve. They are large and pyramid in shape and range from straw yellow to intense gold.

This variety takes a long time to develop. It is sown in mid-winter between December and February, but is not harvested until the summer, between mid-July and the end of August. One of the reasons that makes it so successful lies in its storage properties: golden onions of Parma can be perfectly preserved until well after the winter, especially if stored in a cellar or pantry, inside a basket covered with a sheet of newspaper, in a paper bag or cardboard box, where any chance of humidity that might cause the growth of micro-organisms is kept under control.

Which cooking methods bring the best out of the golden onion of Parma? Thanks to its intense taste, it is not very suitable to be consumed raw. On the contrary, its sweet taste can be best savoured in dishes that are cooked slowly, such as soups or braised meats. These qualities have earned it a place of honour on any table in Emilia, but also the Marche region – where it is popular in onion and tomato omelette – and in Umbria, the home of the “cipollata”, or onion stew. Even in simpler preparations, the golden onion of Parma will bowl you over with its sweet taste: try it baked, cut into slices and fried with breadcrumbs, served with anchovy fillets or a few slivers of hard cheese.

From a nutritional viewpoint, the golden onion of Parma is rich in vitamin C and calcium. It also has vermifuge, antiseptic and diuretic properties, being very close to the true rustic onion that are so popular with Emilian farmers.

Dark green head with rosette. In spring, 30 days to baby, 50 days to full size. If grown for fall harvest, initial growth is a somewhat elongated head with large rounded leaves. After cutting, leave the root and crown and you will get the grumolo rosettes in the spring. Alternatively, plant later in summer and you should get rosettes the following spring.

Packet: 9-10 grams of seed