Seed Sowing

Agretti seeds are only viable for a few months – they are actually little plants not strictly seeds – so try not to hold onto them for too long before sowing.

Sow in modules under cover in Feb-March or outside in April. Germination can be erratic and patchy, taking 7-21 days, so always sow more than you need to. Ensure a longer harvest window by sowing multiple successions a few weeks apart.

Transplanting

Plant out from modules once seedlings are established, spacing plants 30cm apart.

Agretti can be a great space filler and companion plant grown under taller trellised crops like tomatoes and cucumbers.

Challenges

Once established Agretti is generally free from many pests and diseases but will benefit from being covered with fleece protection if nights are particularly cool.

Agretti can be prone to black fly infestations so be sure to encourage natural predators like ladybirds, ground beetles, hoverflies, parasitic wasps and earwigs to your garden.

Harvest

Start harvesting young, when plants are about 10cm high to encourage the plant to branch. Cut or pinch just above a growth point as you would do for Basil. In a good season you should be able to take a cutting every week until the first frosts.

Culinary Ideas

Agretti can be eaten raw or cooked, working wonderfully as part of a summer salad mix. Steam, boil or saute larger leaves and slather in olive oil, garlic, black pepper and lemon juice, to serve alongside fish or eggs.

Seed Saving

Mark some plants in early summer and don’t harvest from them, leaving them to flower.

Due to the unique nature of Agretti’s ‘seeds’ we find that saving them works best by leaving the plants to mature until around October. The whole plant can then be pulled, spread out on a sheet in a polytunnel before threshing when needed at the beginning of the new season.

Seeds will not store, keep in a cool and humid environment to keep them ‘alive’.