January and we are all trying to eat healthily but what veg is abundant now (when not much else is) ticks all the boxes but generally gets overlooked?...... Super Kale!

This leafy green, versatile and exceptionally tasty superfood is a nutritional powerhouse containing vitamins K, A and C, as well as a useful amounts of manganese, copper and phytochemicals, which are believed to help against certain types of cancer surely making it a desert island veg.

Kale is descended from the same ancestor as cabbage and is very hardy. You can sow seeds direct from April to September and under cover or cloches later for winter salad.

They can grow in poorer soils than other brassicas but they prefer a sunny or lightly shaded spot, on well-drained soil. Space 30cm apart you can harvest them 4-6 weeks from sowing either removing young leaves from the top of the plant from October or treated as a cut-and-come again crop.

The best thing is you have leaves for 2-3 months – what value! Varieties to try: ‘Rouge de Russie’ (Red Russian) or ‘Nero di Toscana’ (Cavolo Nero).

Try this Kale and Chickpea Curry for a healthy meat free meal: www.sarahraven.com/how-to/seasonal-recipes/kale-and-chickpea-curry

Beautiful Bark

The peeling bark and polished stems of many trees bring beauty to the garden at any time of year but are never more apparent than during the winter.

Birches (Betula) have bark in a variety of textures and shades of colour from dazzling white to coppery-brown whether grown as a specimen tree in a lawn or planted in groups; they are a delight during the winter months.

To grow in your garden they require low to moderately fertile, moist but well-drained soil in full sun or light dappled shade. Birches are adaptable and generally tolerant of exposed and windy sites, dry or wet conditions and even waterlogging (good indeed with this winter!).