profile

Vital Seeds Ltd

'Second Spring' winter veg seed collections available now, and it's time to sow your chicory!

Published over 1 year ago • 6 min read

This is a bit of a long newsletter as there's lots to talk about this week, for a quick summary see the subject line!

Second Spring Seed Collection

It's that time of year again and we are very excited to announce that our 2022 Second Spring seed collection is now available to buy from our website.

This collection is always a massive hit and we are pleased to include our wonderful Beni Houshi mizuna in it this year as we had a really good crop of it in 2021.

We call the second half of the summer the 'Second Spring' as there are so many great crops that can be sown at this time which will provide you with continuous harvests into the autumn and winter.

As ever, this year's Second Spring has a 10% discount on it compared to buying separate packets, click the button below to grab one now and/or read on to find out what's inside.

Beni Houshi mizuna

A striking and unique variety of mizuna with lime green leaves and purple stems. It’s similar in taste to green mizuna and is delicious raw in salads or cooked in stir-fries. With its contrasting colour scheme it’s a real head-turner and is certain to impress.

Grow

For autumn/winter leaves sow from mid August till October. Direct sow in drills 15cm apart or sow in modules and transplant to final spacing. The leaves can be picked individually or treated as cut-and-come-again; spacing can be tighter for the latter option.

Pak Choy

Also known as 'Boo Toy', 'Horse’s Ear', 'Japanese Celery', Pak Choi looks like a squat fat celery with dark green spoon shaped leaves. You can eat all of the plant above ground and it’s delicious with sesame oil, chilli and steamed rice.

Grow

As per mizuna - see above

Ishikrona bunching onion

Ishikrona is definitely one of our favourite varieties. It is beautiful in every way with fresh green coloured leaves and a bright white stem. It is succulent, mild and sweet in flavour, fresh and crispy in texture. It is extremely hardy as well as pest resistant and it stands in the ground for a long time without bulbing up.

Grow

Sow in drills as close as 10cm apart in well prepared, weed-free soil. Seeds can be 2-3cm apart in the row with no need to thin. Can also be multi-sown into modules, up to 10 seeds in each module.

For a autumn / winter harvest sow in early August, for spring harvest sow in September

Valdor winter lettuce

A green winter-hardy butterhead lettuce with great taste and texture. It is simply one of the best winter lettuces we have grown. It forms tight medium-sized heads with the classic look of a butterhead. Sown in September, it can be cultivated outside or undercover for continuous picking or left to mature for an early spring harvest.

Grow

Shallow sow in drills 30cm apart, or sow in modules and transplant to final position. For an autumn/winter crop sow in early August, for late winter/early spring crop sow in September/October.

Claytonia / Winter Purslane

Claytonia has heart-shaped elegant looking leaves which are small, abundant and make a great cut-and-come-again salad green. You will get a productive harvest all winter and early spring and if left to self seed, it will just keep coming back year after year.

It is one of those greens that come up in just the right moment when we're most in need of something fresh and it self-manages very well which is why we like it too.

Grow

Sow seeds from August in well-watered shallow drills or broadcast sparsely; seeds and seedlings should be kept moist. Can also be sown in a seed tray and pricked out into modules. Leave to flower and seed if you want plants to grow again the next season.

Purple Top Milan turnip

A flat white turnip with purple shoulders; it’s easy to grow, quick to mature and excellent fresh or for storage. A classic Italian heritage variety from Milan with a creamy white, firm, crunchy and mildly sweet flesh. Eaten pickled, cooked or raw – it is a very versatile vegetable! The leaves are tasty and nutritious and can be cooked just like other greens.

Grow

Sow from mid-July to late August either direct or in modules

Corn Salad / Lambs Lettuce

An invaluable hardy winter salad for growing outdoors and under cover with a superb nutty flavour. Corn salad or lamb’s lettuce is a small annual plant that forms rosettes of dark green leaves which have a gentle nutty flavour, soft texture, and are extremely popular as salad greens. It provides a valuable source of fresh greens during the autumn and winter months as it is suitable for growing outdoors with little protection or under cover in the cold.

Grow

Sow between July and October for autumn, winter and early spring harvests. Seeds germinate best in cool, moist soil (5-15°C), but be patient – they can take up to 12 days to sprout. Sow in shallow drills or broadcast and cover lightly with soil.

Salad Rocket

The nutritious dark green serrated leaves add their fine spice to salads, pasta, pizza, pesto, other sauces or as garnish. It is quick to crop and easy to grow and definitely one of our favourite leaves. The advantage of growing rocket over the winter is that you get a much longer harvest season, as it should not bolt until spring if kept watered.

Grow

Sow direct into drills 15cm apart, or sow into modules in August and September

Giant Winter spinach

A winter variety with large, savoyed, pointy leaves especially selected for winter hardiness. This productive spinach is particularly recommended for autumn and winter cultivation. The dark green characteristically pointy leaves are very aromatic and perfect eaten raw in salads, or delicious cooked.

Grow

Sow in August either in drills 30cm apart and thin to 15cm in the row, or sow in modules and transplant to final spacing.

Coriander

A refreshing herb typically used in South Asian and South American cooking. This high-yielding variety is excellent for flavouring curries, stews, rice dishes and as a garnish for soup and in salsa. All parts of the soft, light stems and leaves can be used. The flowers grow in pretty umbels, and if left to seed, the small seed heads can be used fresh or dried and used in cooking for added flavour and texture.

Grow

For an autumn/winter crop sow in September directly in the soil. Always keep coriander well-watered to avoid premature bolting. Prefers to be under cover in winter or with at least some protection such as a cloche.

Time to sow your chicories and radicchio

The other equally exciting news this week is that now is the optimum time to sow your chicory and radicchio seeds.

As we mentioned in our last bulletin they can be sown mid-June to mid-July, but this week (1st week of July) is optimal.

This year we are trialling 18 different varieties and we can't wait to see how they all do. We will keep you posted.

Ideally sow your chicory seeds in module trays 5mm deep in compost and keep out of direct sunlight to germinate as they don't like to get too hot.

Read on to find out about our wonderful varieties....

Castelfranco radicchio

1. Castelfranco - This queen of radicchios is one of the best autumn/winter salad leaves. Castelfranco is best eaten raw to preserve its beautiful delicate variegated appearance.

Rosso di Treviso Precoce

2. Rosso di Treviso Precoce (Early) - Treviso is one of the epicentres of radicchio production Italy and this type is excellent both raw and cooked. The tight elongated heads form in late autumn and develop a striking deep red and white colouring bringing a flash of colour and bitter-sweetness to salads.

Rosso di Treviso Tardivo

3. Rosso di Treviso Tardivo (Late) - this is a forcing type of radicchio. Forcing is the process of digging up entire plants in the late autumn and winter and growing them indoors in complete darkness. What happens next is a kind of alchemy - as the outside leaves rot and turn into a ball of slime, new deliciously mild and crunchy leaves grow in the centre of the plant, which are elongated and curled.

Puntarelle

4. Puntarelle - Unlike most other chicories puntarelle is grown for its flowering shoots rather than its leaves. The shoots are julienned into thin ribbons which are soaked in cold water to remove some of their bitterness. Generally served with a punchy dressing as a delicious winter salad.

Catalogna Gigante

5. Catalogna Gigante - Sometimes referred to as ‘Dandelion Greens’ this chicory is most similar to wild chicory with an open leafy growth habit. Blanched in salty water, drained and then chucked in a frying pan with plenty of olive oil chilli and garlic - it is truly delicious.

Radicchio Chioggia 506TT

6. Chioggia (506TT) is a classic Palla Rossa (red ball) type radicchio forming a dense round head of red and white leaves. Chioggia is the most common type of radicchio although developed fairly recently. It is just as at home on the grill covered in olive and balsamic as it is chopped raw into a winter salad. A firm favourite among gardeners and growers.

Well done if you've made it all the way the end of this mega newsletter, we are impressed!

Happy Second Spring!

Fred, Ronja, and the rest of the team

P.S. Check out Alys Fowlers latest article in the Guardian on radicchio here

Vital Seeds Ltd

Read more from Vital Seeds Ltd

On Wednesday it was the spring equinox, which means that now the days are officially longer the nights. This feels like cause for celebration! (despite the fact that here in Devon it has not stopped raining for what feels like months, and we cannot get on our land to plant our seedlings). The second half of March is when we sow most of our annual flower seeds, so we are going full power on this right now. It's also the time to sow many other seeds - to see the full list click the button...

6 days ago • 1 min read

March is arguably the most exciting time of year for gardeners and growers. It's the time to sow many seeds and dream of the bountiful harvests they will produce in a few months' time. Every day feels (and is) a little bit longer than the last, and on warm days it can feel like winter is well and truly over. BUT... don't forget that we can have very cold snaps even in March - remember the Beast from the East?! So make sure you keep your seedlings warm and safe. To get busy in the seed shop...

20 days ago • 2 min read

Spring is on the way :) The days are getting noticably longer and the blackthorn in the hedges around us is starting to flower. The peak time for seed sowing for most gardeners is March, which is only a week away now, although the keen beans will have already sown quite a few things. What you can sow and when depends a lot on what kind of infrastructure you have for propagation. If you sow mainly directly into the soil then you want to wait till the soil warms a bit, but if you are lucky...

about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Share this post