1. KOHLRABI
Kohlrabi is an unusual, but increasingly popular, brassica to grow. It is a fast-growing vegetable that develops a swollen ball-shaped stem, coming in either purple, white, or green varieties. Kohlrabi can be sown regularly throughout the year, with early sowings starting from February onwards providing a harvest in early summer. This can be done in one of two ways, either indoors or outdoors.
2. KALE
Kale is a highly nutritious superfood that is easy to grow and can provide a long and bumper harvest of delicious leaves. If you want to grow kale, there are various leaf shapes and colors to choose from and there is also the option of dwarf varieties suitable for small vegetable gardens or vegetable container gardens. One sowing can provide a large harvest of kale, as you can get repeated pickings from plants over a long period of time.
3. SWISS CHARD
Swiss chard is one of my favorite crops to grow. It comes in a wide range of colors, including bright yellow, red, pink, and white, and is one of the easiest vegetables to grow. Add to that you can harvest swiss chard for so long - and it is definitely a crop that more people should love.
4. TOMATOES
Tomatoes are a crop that can be sown very early, in January or even December, but you do need to provide lots of additional heat and light to get healthy seedlings. Once February comes around, it is much more achievable for many gardeners to get strong tomato plants in a heated propagator or on a sunny windowsill.
5. PEAS
Peas are hugely popular crops that have been grown for centuries and freshly-harvested peas are one of the top delicacies in a vegetable garden. There are different varieties to grow, such as shelling types or the likes of sugar snap peas or mangetout where you eat the pods.
6. CELERIAC
Celeriac is a sweet-tasting root vegetable that requires a long growing season, so there is real benefit in going early with sowing the seeds. Propagation can admittedly be a little bit unpredictable with celeriac, and the seed is surprisingly tiny, so trying to get consistency with the environment does help.
7. CUCUMBER
Cucumbers are a fantastic crop to grow at home and, with just a couple of plants, you can be picking cucumbers all summer long. Cucumbers are a crop that can be started earlier indoors in February - if you have heat to provide the seeds.