Onion sets - can be planted out from mid-Feb but if you can't face gloomy weather and cold, wet soil I plant out into cell trays, kept indoors until the onions sprout then popped outsde until I'm ready to plant. Red onions have a more delicate flavour but don't thrive in a cold, wet summer - Red Baron is, however, fairly reliable. Yellow onions are a safer choice and come in a wider range of varieties - Sturon and Stuttgarter Giant are tradional and reliable.

Shallots - should be planted out now as they are traditionally planted on the shortest day and harvested on the longest. Can be started off indoors as above, but in 3" pots. French "long" shallots can now be bought as sets - try French Longor or Vigarmor.

Garlic - If you missed planting in Autumn you can plant in Spring. Spring garlic should go in now, then water and weed occasionally and otherwise forget until harvest. Wight Cristo or Marco are reliable cultivars or you could try Elephant garlic - needs a hot Summer to do well but produces enormous cloves for roasting.

Asparagus - really a vegetable for the experienced grower with plenty of patience and space.

Rhubarb - one of the easiest, most reliable and longlived plants. Plant roots out now, allowing 1 sq. m./plant. Dig in manure before planting and topdress with manure or compost every February. The RHS considers Fultons Strawberry Surprise to be the best flavoured rhubarb.

Horse-radish - the idea is alluring but horse-radish is a thug, incredibly deep-rooted, spreading relentlessly and impossible to eradicate. Grow it in a very large tub but never in the ground.

Happy planting!

New varieties are also coming onstream and to my mind the most exciting are the "Mayan" potatoes - Mayan Gold, Mayan Queen and Mayan Twilight. These have been bred from the original Andean potatoes and the flavour is exceptional. I have grown Mayan Gold in my Muswell Hill allotment for the past 3 years and they are delicious. The simplest way to cook them is to brush with olive oil and roast for 20 minutes at Gas Mark 6, for a creamy, smoky, delicate flavour.

If you plant only one cultivar I would recommend " Charlotte" - widely available, very reliable and keeps that new potato taste all season. " Pink Fir Apple" also has fantastic flavour - it is an old variety with long, knobbly pink-skinned tubers, looks strange but tastes great. " Mimi" is a little sweetie - literally - bred specifically for container growing it is a true dwarf potato and produces marble sized red tubers that can go straight into the pot. My final choice would be " Lady Christl", very early with round white tubers and a very delicate taste.

If space is a problem you can always use potato growing bags which come in two sizes and are ideal for patio crops.