Celosia plumosa (Bag) – Franchi Sementi

Carrot Pariser Market 4. Small, round specialty type carrot. Tender and crunchy. Really pretty carrot and very popular in French markets. Children love these little round carrots as well. Does well anywhere, but really good and quick with heavy clay soil. Fairly early. 6 gram pack. Approximately 400-1200 seeds per gram.

This variety is on the Slow Food Ark of Taste which means it is endangered. By using Franchi seeds you are supporting BioDiversity. https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/paris-round-carrot/

V18 - Featured on BBC Gardeners World 20/04/07. Round French Parisian carrots with good flavour. It's a classic case of the carrot changing to suit it's environment, and is basically a clay carrot. Easy to grow in containers and not as prone to carrot root fly. Sow in the Spring as you can get quite a late sowing. Also great to use in Indoor Farming systems and for Urban gardening in containers.The carrot (Daucus carota) is also called “Pastenade”, probably arrived on French tables in the 14th century, but at the outset it had little in common with the carrot we know today, since it was white, tenderer and mostly more fibrous. It took until the 18th and the middle of the 19th century for the orange varieties – coming from Afghanistan – to be more and more appreciated, probably for its tenderness. In the beginning it was known as a “lower class” vegetable, reserved for the common people, historically a very consumed vegetable, and still the second most eaten vegetable in France today. The Paris market carrot is a small round one (2-4cm in diameter) of the Grelot type that is sought after for its tenderness and sweetness. It is a very early carrot, fast-growing and preserves well; it can be sown all year round, and especially in spring and end of summer. This variety grows on the surface of the soil, and it also prefers sandy to clayey but not compact soil. Some people attribute a honey flavour to it; when used in the kitchen, it is often prized in part for what sets it apart: its unconventional shape. Carrots are inseparable from the popular stew, beef-carrots and also Vichy carrots, created in the 16th and 17th centuries and cooked in Vichy thermal water. Like all ancient vegetable varieties, the Paris round carrot has a low yield, a surprising aspect that can make it difficult to use. Thus it has been replaced by more productive hybrids that often have no heart (or at least a very thin one) like the Nantes or Touchon varieties. There are not many market farmers who grow it. One of them, Laurent Berrurier, tells us he grows on average 500 bunches per year (about 450 kilos).

Approximate seeds quantity:@7000
Sow: from February - July

Cabbage San Michelle (ex. Verza di Verona). Regional savoy type cabbage from Northern Italy. Green crinkly tender leaves with some red in the center. Very striking plant. Large firm heads. For spring or fall, but best for fall. Good storage and will hold well in the ground during cold weather. Taste actually improves with cold weather. 80-90 days. 6 gram packet, approximately 1200 seeds. Approximately 190-300 seeds per gram.

*Heritage Variety*
V58 - A late variety from Verona, Northern Italy which produces tightly wrapped head with erect blistered leaves, green with pink flush. Ideal for winter cultivation.

Approximate seeds quantity:@1800
Sow: from May - end July


Partnership plant: Chard, Cucumber, Bean, Lettuce, Pepper, Pea,
Tomato, Leek, Spinach.

What to sow after: Chicory, Bean, Endive, Lettuce, Pea, Leek,
Spinach, Lamb's lettuce.

Very flat red beet shaped like a cipolla onion. Excellent taste. Very sweet beet; no earthy taste to these. Nice red tops. Beautiful tops become dark bronze/red in cool weather. Ready in 55-60 or so days. 7 gram pack. Approximately 40-60 seeds per gram.

V10 - 'Dark Flat Egyption'. Early round variety. Semi flat of medium dimensions with purple red flesh. Dates to around 1850.


Approximate seeds quantity:@450
Sow: from March - June

*This variety is on the Slow Food 'Ark of Taste' which means it is endangered. By growing it you are supporting Biodiversity. https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/argenteuil-asparagus/

V1 - Early variety with tasty, tender tips. Forms the crowns the first year and starts to produce asparagus the following year. The first year, these should be left, the 2nd year cut half and the third year, cut all. Belle dArgenteuil asparagus is white with tips coloured from pink to purple; it is very aromatic, slightly bitter. Its stem is firm and tender, and its flavour is very delicate. White asparagus had to wait until 1755 before overtaking green asparagus, which grows in the open air. Developed in 1830 by Louis Lhérault, the improved late-growing Argenteuil asparagus variety travelled the world over in the 19th century. This new variety is known for its precociousness, its large size, its productivity, its tenderness (after peeling) and its largely white colour due to the fact it grows entirely underground, in the dark, which prevents it from flowering. Growing sometimes to 25cm in length and 3 to 6cm in diameter, it was highly appreciated by Parisian gourmands, who preferred it meaty. This vegetable has been very successful and a sort of craze: 400,000 were harvested in 1867, more than a million in 1900. They were awarded medals and rewarded in universal shows, most notably in the Paris World Fair in 1878. The “Belle dArgenteuil” as it is called, even appeared on the menu of the first class passengers on the Titanic on 14 April 1912 (in a cold asparagus salad vinaigrette) shortly before it sank. The purple asparagus such as the “Belle de Argenteuil” is planted in a very special way: different from green asparagus in that as it grows, it is covered up to eliminate being exposed to light so it can develop and remain tender instead of flowering. It is picked with a trowel (also used for endives) while still underground, whereas green asparagus is cut with scissors. Asparagus is a plant that grows in the night and must be harvested very early in the morning to keep its freshness. Its season lasts 3 months more or less, usually from 15 March to 15 June. Asparagus was a dish highly appreciated by Louis XIV–who ate them in strips with a soft-boiled egg–and were very frequently on the table at Versailles, especially in winter, obliging his head gardener La Quintaine to grow them in a hothouse with a “hot bed” made from manure. Historically, Argenteuil had been a land of vineyards since ancient times, vines that were highly developed in the 12th century thanks to the Notre Dame abbey monks. If the vines enriched the town – they took up more than 3,000 hectares in the 18th century – the development of the railway transported the competitive, often better quality, wines. Then arrived the diseases, notably phylloxera, and the troop mobilisations of the First World War diminished this culture. Some Argenteuil inhabitants, whose vineyards were decimated, saw their fortunes turn around by planting asparagus instead. Simple recipes were developed to highlight the delicacy, notably poached eggs Argenteuil, or Argenteuil soup made with the shoots while the tips were used in another preparation. For the entire 19th and 20th centuries, asparagus enjoyed a prominent place on the daily menus of the middle classes, and porcelain and ceramic producers of the day made services dedicated to this vegetable, at the same time France was the number one asparagus producer in Europe. After 1900, with the appearance of diseases and especially the spread of industrial activity, the Argenteuil asparagus production diminished. Today the Argenteuil asparagus variety has been “polluted” by cross breeding with other varieties, and often the fat, purple asparagus called “Argenteuil” is no longer grown but is a hybrid of the Argenteuil variety. Growing asparagus is very demanding: five years are needed from planting the seeds to the first harvest, and during the 10 years they produce, 3.5 tons are harvested per hectare. A vegetable typical of Ile-de-France, the sandy soil in the loop of the Seine (Argenteuil, Corbeil) would be particularly beneficial to it. There are not many market farmers who grow the Argenteuil variety. One of them, Laurent Berrurier, tells us he grows on average 1 ton per year.

Approximate seeds quantity:@200
Sow: from March - June

Arparagus Precoce d'Argenteuil. Early. Light green big spears with purplish scales. Asparagus beds produce for 20 or more years. Easy to grow; rust resistance. These are seeds; USDA will not allow import of root stock. Starting from seed means it takes an additional year to get your bed productive. To start plants, sow seed in a small furrow; place seeds 1 inch deep; space rows 12 inches. Thin to 5 inches. The next year, move them to a permanent bed. Make sure you have prepared the area well (dug deep, made any soil amendments). 2.5 gram packet.

Asparagus seed packets have approximately 24-50 seeds per gram.