Planning the vegetable garden involves deciding which vegetables to grow, and then choosing an appropriate variety of seed.

There are many varieties of each vegetable.

Carrots, for example have different characters depending on variety, such as:

• size - mini carrots or long carrots
• shape - stumpy or pointed
• taste - sweet of bland
• colour - orange, yellow, purple etc
• disease-resistance - to carrot fly

A variety is simply a botanical change in the original plant.

Different varieties are being produced each year - so it is well worth searching seed catalogues to find the latest releases. Then the correct variety for the specific objective has to be chosen, such as a late growing carrot which is resistant to carrot fly.

Choosing seed from the appropriate variety may be the key to success.