Perpetual Spinach
If you're anything like as convinced of the health benefits of green leaves as my wife get some perpetual spinach into your plot.
Once it gets going it's incredibly vigorous so you can get lots of leaves from just a few plants. You can keep chopping away at it for months at a time, and it'll keep coming back with a fresh crop of bright green leaves.
Time from seed to plate: 12 weeks
Sowing Calendar
Sow
Sow anytime from April to July. Lay a narrow piece of wood across your bed and drag a trowel along the edge to create a shallow groove in the soil about 1/2in deep. Sprinkle in the seeds. aiming for one every half inch or so. Repeat to make two rows 12in apart - as in the diagram to the right. Firm the soil back and water well.
Grow
When the seedlings emerge scatter some organic slug killer around them.
Thin your seedlings to leave one plant every 6in or so. There's nothing else to worry about!
Harvest
Once leaves reach 5-6in you can start eating them. Twist off the bigger leaves from around the plant, leaving the growing centre intact so it can go on producing new leaves for you.
Growth will be slow in the winter, but fresh growth will appear as soon as the weather starts to warm up in the Spring, so keep an eye on it.