CARROTS
They will produce a crop in mid September to mid October if you sow them late May to early June. They stand a lack of water better than most vegetables.

You need to sow a maincrop variety, I suggest the variety "Autumn King" which is widely available. Click here for more details on carrots.

LETTUCE
Sow a Butterhead variety such as "Tom Thumb" in late March up to late April and you will have lettuce to eat from late June to late July.

They key to growing lettuce is that they have some shade in the hottest part of the day from early summer onwards. Click here for more information on lettuce.

MAINCROP ONIONS
Sow seed or grow from onion sets/bulbs in early April. Onion sets are especially reliable and will introduce the children to growing vegetables not from seed. We recommend the variety Kamal for seed and Centurion for sets.

The onions will be ready for harvest in early and mid aututmn / fall and they keep for a month or two after harvest. Although slow growing the green leaves will appear only two weeks after sowing. Click here for more information on growing onions.

SPRING ONIONS
Sow them over four weeks starting in mid April and you will have edible spring onions for salads in only 10 weeks. The seeds are very small and will need to be thinned out to about 20cm (8 in) apart when the seedlings emerge.

If the seedlings are difficult to handle Suttons sell seed tapes which are much easier to handle and require much less thinning out.

Click here for more information on growing spring onions.

POTATOES
If New potatoes are planted in mid to late March then they will be ready for eating by late June. If Maincrop potatoes are sown in mid April they will be ready for eating in mid September. They will keep in the ground for longer. For new potatoes we recommend Nicola, for maincrop Valor.

An excellent crop for schools, one potato plant will produce maybe 10 potatoes. They also introduce yet another method of growing vegetables because you will be planting a tuber rather than a seed. They require no maintenance after they are established. They are also ideal for growing in large containers and produce an astonishing amount of potatoes when grown this way. Click here for more information on growing potatoes.

SWEDE
Many children have never tasted swede, but cook it, add some butter and salt then mash it and it's delicious. Swede require very little attention and are ideally suited to a cooler climate.

Sow them around mid May and they will be ready for eating in late September but can be left in the ground for two months more. Bora is a good variety. Click here for more information on growing swede.