If you’re in a garden club, Marshalls Seeds are launching a new discount scheme aimed at groups at ten and more on September 6. If you’re not in a club, it might be time to form one so that you can benefit from 25 to 40 per cent discounts. Postage is free, the discounts are attractive and the varieties are especially selected for taste and proven success. There are also special prices on potatoes, onion sets and accessories. However, everything has to be ordered and paid for online (www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/gardenclub) because this cuts administration time. If the word ‘online’ strikes terror in your heart, make sure you include a computer literate member in your group. If you pre-register (before September 6) you also get the chance to qualify for discount upgrades and to win £500 in cash. (Club help line is 01480 443390.) Marshalls have always specialised in vegetables and fruit, rather than flowers, and the Company won the Garden Catalogue of the Year award in 2008 and 2009. This year they also won a Gold Medal in The Growing Tastes Marquee at The Hampton Palace Court Flower Show for their display of fruit and vegetables.

Martin Harvey, the managing director of the company, started in horticulture in 1973 and was responsible for the launch of the gro-bag. He has steered the company well and they have picked up on major trends through his experience.

This includes the runner bean/French bean hybrid ‘Moonlight’, which was ignored by many major seed companies. This has been the Marshall’s success of the year and it has done well for me. ‘Moonlight’ is self-pollinating and it will crop heavily even in high temperatures owing to its French bean blood.

The pods resemble stringless runner beans and this peachy-flowered bean looks ery decorative too. Another similar hybrid, ‘Stardust’, will be coming along in 2012 as an exclusive from Thompson & Morgan. Marshalls have also done well with a hybrid brassica called ‘Brokali’, a broccoli/kale cross bred by Toser Seeds. My own personal favourites have taken years to evolve by trial and error. Leek ‘Oarsman’ produces tender, thick leeks that are a pleasure to eat and a world away from the cellulose-rich ‘Musselburgh’.

Sweetcorn ‘Lark’ is also streets ahead of the others. It crops well and the cobs are tender and sweet. Beetroot ‘Alto’ (a cylindrical beetroot) is sweet to eat and the long roots push above the ground so that it’s easy to see when it’s harvestable.

When it comes to carrots, it’s hard to beat the traditional varieties like ‘Nantes Early 2’ (a blunt-ended cylindrical orange) and ‘Amsterdam Forcing’ (a tapered orange) for their ability to produce a crop quickly early in the year and when sown in late-July. My favourite early potato, ‘Lady Cristl’, is a first early that produces a good crop of round, tasty cream-skinned potatoes that boil well. ‘Pea ‘Hurst Green Shaft’ (sown in April) always produces a good crop of sweetly-flavoured green peas in normal years and Broad Bean ‘Hurst Greenshaft’ is my preferred broad bean. If you’re starting out, this list could save you years of experimentation.