There is real pleasure in growing and of course, eating your own produce. Not to mention the health and environmental benefits. Discover how you can grow and eat with the seasons with advice from Hillier Garden Centres.
The popularity of ‘grow your own’ continues to rise and, encouragingly, a younger generation of gardeners are also embracing it, including those with smaller, urban gardens. Whether you are fortunate enough to have an allotment for your produce or you are growing in pots on a patio, a bit of clever planting and planning can help you enjoy your own produce throughout the seasons.
Read our guide to exciting vegetables and salad crops to grow each season plus delicious recipes ideas for your own produce.
Grow and Eat with the Seasons: Spring Greens
Spring is the season for the first of the fresh greens, like pea shoots and spring onions.
Seed Varieties To Try
For an early Broccoli, Early Purple Sprouting provides a succession of tender shoots when vegetables are in short supply. For a Spinach variety that can provide continuous crops through to autumn, try Spinach Apollo. A popular Spring Onion variety is Spring Onion White Lisbon, which is quick to mature with a mild flavour. An easy to grow radish variety is Radish Flamboyant 3, which is suitable for both indoor or outdoor growing. Pea Shoot seeds are extremely quick to crop and can be sown indoors any time of the year. Try the highly nutritious Pea Shoots Twinkle.
Sowing & Harvesting Times
Inspired Recipe
Pea Shoot Salad with Radish and Peas
Bring your spring greens together with a zingy lemon dressing to make a fresh and crunchy side salad.
Download Pea Shoot Salad with Radish and Peas Recipe Card
Grow and Eat with the Seasons: Summer Salads
A huge variety of delicious, fresh produce is ready to harvest in summer so you can prepare nutritious salads – hopefully to be eaten al fresco!
Seed Varieties To Try
Broad Bean Express is a tender, tasty variety with the RHS Award of Garden Merit and extremely quick to harvest. For an early-flowering Cucumber variety, try Cucumber Goblin F1 Hybrid, which produces up to 50 crunchy and juicy fruits per plant. If you enjoy crisp iceberg-style lettuces, try Lettuce Antartica, which should continue through to early autumn. Or, look for Lettuce OutREDgeous – the very first plant grown, harvested and eaten in space! Two new blight-resistant tomato varieties to look out for are Tomato Crimson Blush or Tomato F1 Summerlast, a dwarf patio variety. And, to add tender ‘baby beets’ to your salad try Beetroot Red Ace F1 Hybrid – a superb cropping variety.
Sowing & Harvesting Times 
Inspired Recipe
Mackerel with Potato, Beetroot and Orange Salad
A delightfully light summer dish, full of flavour and perfect for a family barbecue.
Download Mackerel with Potato, Beetroot and Orange Salad Recipe Card
Grow and Eat with the Seasons: Autumn Harvest
In autumn, root vegetables with big earthy flavours are ready for the table.
Seed Varieties To Try
Onion Ailsa Craig is a reliable, award-winning variety. Sow indoors from December to February or outdoors in March. A well-known carrot variety is Chantenay Red Cored. It can be sown as early as April and is sweet and high in Vitamin C. Or, for an attractive and tasty five-colour mix, try Carrot Sweet Imperator Mix F1. A great Swede choice for the home gardener is Swede Tweed F1 Hybrid. Harvest from late autumn. Celery Giant Red is a superb hardy variety with an excellent flavour.
Inspired Recipe
Autumn Vegetable and Cheese Cobbler
Colder weather calls for warming, satisfying, nutritional autumn vegetable packed dishes. Topped with a moreish cheese cobbler, our autumn vegetable casserole is perfect for a weekend supper.
Download Autumn Vegetable and Cheese Cobbler Recipe Card
Grow Your Own Christmas Dinner
Why not challenge yourself to grow your Christmas dinner vegetables this year?
Seed Varieties To Try
Try Dwarf Green Curled Kale for a nutritious winter ‘curly kale’ variety that is popular and reliable in most UK soils. Parsnip F1 Gladiator Hybrid has a sweet, crisp taste and is disease resistant. Sow outdoors from April-May. For a tried and tested leek favourite, try Leek Musselburgh, which is outstandingly winter hardy. Carrot Eskimo F1 Hybrid is an excellent main crop variety that is frost tolerant and can be overwintered in lighter, well-drained soils. And who can forget the brussels sprouts? Brussels Sprout ‘Red Bull’ produces attractive red shaded sprouts that retain their colour when steamed.
Print This Page
Bookmark This Page
