The Italian Gardener

The Italian Gardener Pty Ltd is the Australian distributor of Italian vegetable and herb seed from Franchi Sementi SpA of Bergamo, in northern Italy. Our Mission is to provide you with an exciting vegetable growing experience by making available high quality seed of classic heirloom Italian vegetables renowned for their vigour and flavour.

Vegetable varieties are grouped under type in the "Categories" list on the top left hand side of each page, or search for them in English or Italian using the Search Engine on the top right hand side of each page. 

Cooking suggestions are provided so that your home-grown ingredients can be turned into Italian or other dishes that will make the most of the freshness and flavour of your vegetables and herbs. A recipes and cookbooks section of the website will be developed as time permits. 

The seed held in stock has been selected from the huge range available from Franchi Sementi and will be added to with time, but if there is something in particular that you would like to grow, please let me know by email so that it can be considered for inclusion. We would welcome your comments on your growing and cooking experiences with Franchi seed so please contribute to the "Product Reviews". For the maximum benefit of other growers please indicate growing region.

Packet seed can be purchased online with payment by PayPal, Visa or Mastercard, Electronic Fund Transfer through your bank or by Cheque/Money Order. An email confirming your purchase is sent out immediately, and another when your order has been shipped.  A wide range of seed in bulk is also available but must be ordered and paid for in advance.

The Italian Gardener carries a range of some 200 varieties of herbs and vegetables that are grown successfully by backyard growers, small holders supplying growers markets and commercial growers. The feed back has been very positive and it is very gratifying to hear of the success of growers personally and through the reviews that are entered into the website. A recent review of BASIL bolloso napoletano, a large leafed variety was reviewed on 27 October as follows: "spectacular basil 5 stars: As the description says, a basil of intense flavour. Grows very vigourously in my Bendigo garden. After trying a dozen varieties, this is the one for me. My wife prefers "classico", also a great basil, but "napolitano" is intense with a different, maybe aniseedy aroma. And huge seed packets too."