Since leaving the European Union, every seed variety offered for sale commercially in the UK must be included in the UK National List. Previously, all those listed in the European Common Catalogue - which encompassed the National Lists of every European country - could be legally marketed, and although lots of varieties made the transition, many didn’t.

Recently, a number of members have contacted us searching for an open-pollinated White Sprouting broccoli, in particular the early type, which appears to have been replaced in catalogues by the hybrid variety, Burbank F1. We do have Late White Sprouting in the HSL Collection, but this one is eluding us!

Does anyone out there have a half-used packet of Early White Sprouting tucked away in a seed tin just waiting for us to take under our wing – if you do it might be quite a rarity and we’d love to get our hands on it.

Likewise with any variety that you may have grown for years but are finding it hard to get hold of. We don’t want to lose any of these precious vegetable varieties, it’s our duty to pick them up and ensure that they are there for future generations to grow and enjoy, so if you have anything we might be interested in, drop us a line.