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Asparagus "sparrow grass" can grow six inches in a day and is part of the lily family. Purple asparagus comes from the Albenga region of Italy and white asparagus is produced by heaping up the soil over the growing tip. English asparagus has a six week season from late April. It needs the most space of any vegetable in the kitchen garden and likes sandy soil and sunshine. Asparagus should be eaten as fresh as possible but if you have to keep it, stand it in water like flowers

Salins plate with reservoir for sauce on left

Hollandise Sauce 2 egg yolks 2 tsp lemon juice 90gms unsalted butter Put egg yolks and lemon juice in pan over low heat Whisk continuously adding butter cube by cube until the sauce is thick. Season. Pour a little sauce into reservoir of each asparagus plate.

To prepare large artichokes for cooking: Wear rubber gloves to avoid staining fingers Wash atichokes under cold tap Pull off lower petals Cut off stem Cut 1.5cm off across the top Sissor off thorn tips of leaves Dip in lemon juice to preserve colour Boil for 40 minutes

Luneville plate with sauce reservoir in artichoke head

Sauces "Very fresh butter, vinegar, nutmeg and the yolk of an egg" La Varenne 1653 Two tablespoons mayonaise with a teaspoon of mustard

Choose artichokes that are heavy for their size and ones that squeek when squeezed. To store sprinkle with water and refrigerate in an airtight plastic bag. Do not wash before storing, should then last a week

In the Garden Globe Artichokes need lots of space but If you leave the globes on the plant they open to stupendous purple flowers so you can include them in the Herbaceous border. This is the first year I have tried to grow them, some will go into pots and others at the back of the flower bed. I ordered my plants from marshalls-seeds.co.uk who also supply seeds. It seems that to have really good artichokes you should lop off all the buds in the first year so that the plant tries harder to protect them by growing bigger fleshier buds.