Despite new year’s resolutions to use up packets of seeds, rather than buy more, I couldn’t resist. Today a little square parcel arrived rattling mutely, containing the beautiful envelopes of Real Seeds. Padrón and zitava, a sweet pepper used for paprika, a dwarf bush tomato, purple green tomatillo, cucamelon and a mystery kale, described only as ‘pink’.
Tomatoes are categorically good for you, with dwarf varieties saving space too, and kale is a super food. Paella and chilli are go-to meals in our house which both require paprika, and who wouldn’t want a perfect little salad of cucamelons, or delicately pickled for winter. And though we eat jalapeños daily and slices of richly dried and almost meaty mulato peppers are going in everything at the moment, padróns are harder to come by round here, tomatillos even more so, and sometimes all you want is salsa verde and pimientos de padrón.
Along with a few other things to bring about a happy and healthy 2026, my resolutions include cooking more and eating well. And with this in mind, I count this purchase as an almost necessity, not invalidating my seed reduction campaign in the least.
a year in the garden 