VAL BOURNE is pleasantly surprised by her first winter salad collection

The great thing about gardening is that it's a learning curve. Every year presents new and exciting opportunities and this year mine is winter salad, something I've never grown before. I was prompted into growing my own after reading that the bleach solution used to clean packeted salad leaves is somewhat stronger than chlorinated swimming pool water. Bleach is full of ageing free radicals and I'm ravaged enough as it is!

My decision coincided with a reprint of a book by Joy Larkcom, Oriental Vegetables - published by Frances Lincoln, £14.99. Joy lived in China as a child and went back on several visits, having polished up her Chinese first. If you love growing vegetables this is a bible. In fact, any vegetable book by Joy Larkcom is always excellent.

The key thing about oriental vegetables is that they thrive in cool climates and there are several that make good winter salads. The only reason British gardeners haven't adopted them in the past is because the seeds weren't available until about 15 years ago.

I scatter sowed ten different leaves into seed trays in mid-September, a little later than ideal. Once they germinated they were planted out into a raised bed in the greenhouse, one previously used for tomatoes, more in hope than certainty. If you haven't a greenhouse, keep them in seed trays and give them a light position. Being organic, slug control consisted of upturned plant saucers, checked every morning, and regular incantations. The plants inside have endured. However, my outdoor winter lettuce have been badly hit, indicating that slugs are the biggest enemy of outdoor winter salad crops.

The biggest indoor surprise is Rocket Apollo' from Thompson & Morgan. Rocket is a disappointing summer crop for me. It always gets flea beetle and races away into flower with barely a leaf gathered. But in winter fresh, tender leaves linger, staying just the right size, and they are delightfully peppery. Also from T & M comes Niche Oriental Mixed' a mixture of golden and red mustards, mizuna, komatsuna and rocket. Mizuna is almost fern-like in leaf and komatsuna resembles small-leaved spinach. Both are subspecies of the turnip and they add great flavour and texture and these are the prettiest leaves on the plate.

Some Italian vegetables are also good in cool climates and I'm growing leafy radicchio (or red chicory) Treviso', the endive Bionda a Cuore Pieno' and chicory Grumolo Verdi' from Franchi Seeds who have a superb range. The endive has grown at the same speed as all-year-round cos lettuce Pinares" (from Johnson's) and I'm harvesting small leaves of both. However, the chicories are very slow, not helped by Grumolo Verdi' being the slugs' preferred nibble. I have hopes though that these will eventually thrive and provide late-winter or early spring leaves.

I feel I've only scratched the surface as far as winter salads go and I wish I'd sown pak choi, another turnip subspecies I've failed to enjoy when sown in summer. But I'm also very taken with red salad crops for summer. This spring I'll be sowing a Reds in the Bed collection from Jekka's Herb Farm (www.jekkasherbfarm.com/01454 418 8780).