"David (Normandy)" writes
I've gone mad this year and planted seeds for vegetable I've never heard of.
Has anyone else done the same? When browsing the packets of seeds in the
garden centre it is so tempting to get carried away and buy seeds for the
weirdest looking vegetables.

Besides the usual stuff I've planted:

Scorzonera - The seed packet picture shows what look like pen sized black
roots?

Yes they taste much like salsify but are black

Salsify - Picture looks like parsnips but thinner.

Aka 'vegetable oyster'. Nice mild taste, but preparing them is tedious.
They'd be great if they had the same skin to flesh ratio as parsnips.

Florence Fennel - Picture looks like celery with a bulbous base.

Aniseedy taste, lovely on its own or as an accompaniment for fish.

Hamburg parsley I've grown I remember it as being not much different
from parsnip. Celeriac - roots are celery like in taste. Little white
aubergines which really do put the egg in 'egg plant' ;-)
Asparagus peas - tiny pea plant with brilliant red flowers with a black
blotch. Pods are 4-winged and are picked at 1 inch long. Bit of a faff
for a standard crop but fun to try as a change.

Long black radish - tried one of these too last year from the supermarket,
sliced and boiled with a cooked dinner, tasted similar to small radish but
milder and a bit turnip like.

You can get long white ones too.


Also planted some chilli pepper seeds, but don't hold out much hope of them
ripening outdoors as I haven't built a greenhouse here yet for such
sunlovers.

Put one of the plants on the windowsill.
Okra is another you can try on the windowsill, but it's important to
pick before the fruits get too large - they get very fibrous.


--
Kay