Red food stuff is a popular trend at the moment. Good leafy crops add vibrancy to a salad and you are probably eating well if you grow them yourself.

Seeds of fast leafy salad crops can be sown until the end of July and they will be ready to start picking in about 50 days. Loose leaf Lollo Biondi and Lollo Rossa will be ready from about this time and you can pick individual leaves as you need them. Give them some cloche protection in September and you may be picking through October.

Salad seedlings are nutritious and at the peak of flavour so try Red Mustard or Red Chard for early picking but with added colour for your salads. The spring onion North Holland Blood Red is also worth eating as you thin our the crop.

For something with a bit more kick Rocket, Radiches or Nasturtium leaves may suit or try Mizuna or the leaves of Beetroot.