My very first garden in Balerno, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, probably 1978-1979! I was renting a flat and living in with the landlady. She didn’t use the garden, so I asked whether I could :) Organic of course! I had become a member of HDRA, the foremost organic gardening organisation in the UK and their leader/president Lawrence Hills was a great inspiration. I remember, on his encouragement, asking the council if I could gather leaves in the park to make compost!
Edinburgh guided edimentals walk
It’s confirmed that I’ll be doing a guided edimentals (=edible ornamentals) walk at the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh’s Harvest Festival at 2 pm on Saturday 17th September (free)!! Hopefully, I’ll have a few books for sale too!
I actually first grew vegetables when I was a student in Edinburgh in the late 70s when I was a student, inspired by local bicycle campaigner Dave du Feu (Spokes) who I met (both with bikes) on a train on the way up to Edinburgh…I remember him telling me about the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA), the organic gardening association and how to grow vegetables intensively on raised beds by planting diagonally… Just look what he started!
See the Facebook event here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1053863641370121/
Garden plant sale /plantesalg
Plants on sale in my garden during open days during autumn 2016! Many are in my book Around the World in 80 plants and, in this case, the page number is given! Pris kr 30-60.
NB! I don’t have the time to send, sorry!
Species | Page in book | English | Norwegian |
Acanthopanax henryi (not edible) | |||
Aegopodium podograria variegata | 231 | ground elder, bishop’s weed | skvallerkål |
Agastache foeniculum | anise hyssop | anisisop | |
Alliaria petiolata | garlic mustard | løkurt | |
Allium “Norrland Onion” | 125 | Norrland onion | Norrlandsløk |
Allium cernuum (two types) | 191 | nodding onion | prærieløk |
Allium fistulosum | 247 | welsh onion | pipeløk |
Allium macranthum | |||
Allium “Norrland Onion” | 125 | Norrland Onion | Norrlandsløk |
Allium nutans | 122 | Siberian garlic chives | sibirsk nikkeløk |
Allium obliquum | 118 | twistedleaf onion | tvistebladløk |
Allium oleraceum | 214 | field garlic | vill-løk |
Allium ramosum | 130 | fragrant onion | |
Allium sativum | 114 | garlic | hvitløk |
Allium schoenoprasum “Dwarf White” | 226 | Siberian chives | sibirgressløk |
Allium scorodoprasum | 216 | sand leek, rocambole | bendelløk, skogløk |
Allium senescens | 122 | broad-leaved chives | sibirsk kantløk |
Allium splendens | |||
Allium thunbergii | |||
Allium tuberosum | 130 | garlic chives, chinese chives, chinese leek | kinagressløk, kinesisk gressløk |
Allium ursinum | 50 | ramsons | ramsløk |
Allium victorialis | 218 | seiersløk, alpeløk | |
Allium wallichii | 119 | Himalayan onion, Sherpa onion | Himalayaløg, Sherpa-løk |
Allium x proliferum | 255 | Egyptian onion, tree onion | luftløk, etasjeløk |
Apium nodiflorum | 82 | fool’s watercress | vannselleri |
Aquilegia caerulea (edible petals only) | Rocky mountain columbine | himmelakeleie | |
Aralia cordata | 135 | udo, Japanese asparagus | udo |
Aralia elata / spinosa | 133 | Oni’s walking stick, devil’s walking stick, Japanese Aralia, Japanese Angelica tree |
fandens spaserstokk |
Armoracia rusticana | 53 | horseradish | pepperrot |
Barbarea vulgaris variegata | 238 | common wintercress | vinterkarse |
Camassia esculentus | small camas | ||
Campanula latifolia | 229 | giant bellflower | storklokke |
Campanula trachelium | 81 | nettle-leaved bellflower | nesleklokke |
Carum carvi | 250 | caraway | karve |
Chamaenerion angustifolium “Album” | white rosebay willowherb | hvit geitrams | |
Chenopodium bonus-henricus | 91 | good king henry | stolt henrik |
Cirsium oleraceum | 55 | cabbage thistle | kåltistel |
Crambe maritima (Lindesnes) | 5 | sea kale | strandkål |
Cryptotaenia japonica “Atropurpurea” | 146 | mitsuba, Japanese parsley | mitsuba, japansk persille |
Hablitzia tamnoides | 102 | hablitzia, Caucasian spinach | stjernemelde, hablitzia |
Helianthus tuberosus | Jerusalem artichoke | jordskokk | |
Hemerocallis fulva “Kwanso Double” | 153 | orange daylily | brun daglilje |
Hosta sieboldiana | 141 | hosta | hosta, bladlilje |
Hosta “August Moon” | 141 | ||
Hosta “Chinese Sunrise” | 141 | ||
Houttuynia cordata “Cameleon”, “Double” and ordinary | himalayan water creeper | ||
Levisticum officinale | 112 | lovage | løpstikke |
Ligularia fischeri | Fischer’s Ligularia | Fischers-nøkketunge | |
Maianthemum racemosum | 186 | false solomon’s seal, solomon’s plume, false spikenard, treacle berry | toppkonvall |
Malva moschata | 157 | musk mallow | moskuskattost |
Matteuccia struthiopteris | 196 | ostrich fern | strutseving |
Myrrhis odorata | 72 | sweet cicely | spansk kjørvel |
Oenothera biennis (biannual) | evening primrose | nattlys | |
Oxyria digyna | 225 | mountain sorrel | fjellsyre |
Patrinia villosa | |||
Persicaria bistorta | 260 | bistort | ormerot |
Podophyllum emodi | fotblad | ||
Polygonum viviparum | 241 | alpine bistort | harerug |
Rheum “Cally Giant” (seed propagated) | 243 | rhubarb | rabarbra |
Rubus occidentalis “Bristol” | black raspberry | svartbringebær | |
Rumex acetosa | 221 | sorrel | engsyre, matsyre, surblad |
Rumex scutatus | 85 | buckler-leaved sorrel, french sorrel, round-leafed sorrel | fransk syre |
Scorzonera hispanica | 63 | scorzonera, black salsify | skorsonerrot; svartrot |
Sideritis syriaca | Greek mountain tea | Gresk fjell-te | |
Sium sisarum | 49 | skirret | sukkerrot, søtkjeks |
Stachys officinalis | betony | legebetonie | |
Taraxacum officinale (various) | 38 | dandelions | løvetann |
Tradescantia ohiensis | 193 | tradescantia, spiderwort; bluejacket | vandrejøder; dagblom |
Trillium erectum | Beth root, Red trillium | ||
Urtica dioica “Fearnvale | 28 | Stinging nettle, nettles | brennesle |
Viola canadensis | Canada violet | kanada-fiol |
Wedding salad
3 years ago, I was at a LETS Trondheim meeting at Manuela Panzacchi’s place. I had forgotten, but we had been asked to bring some food and I took a flowery salad along. One of the other participants, Svanhild Anita Vågsvær, contacted me a few weks back as she was getting married, remembered the salad and wanted something similar at her wedding! Would I sell her some tasty edible flowers? Of course she could have some! Late the evening before the wedding, groom Christian Berg arrived and we picked a good selection! The pictures show the salad put together by their chef with goat cheese, caper vinaigrette and foccacia! Congratulations!
Sunday’s forest tour in Malvik with Naturvernforbundet
As part of Trondheim’s climate festival, which runs all this week, Naturvernforbundet (Friends of the Earth Norway) arranged a tour to experience first-hand a couple of remnants of old forest in Malvik! We learned more about the need to preserve more old forest in Norway, to extend the size of existing reserves and the importance to change the way we manage the forest as soon as possible to bind as much carbon as possible! Today’s clearfelling practices need to be changed to more ecologically sound methods.
We learned how to spot old forest remnants from afar, that about 80% of the carbon is below ground level and that only about 3% of the forest in Norway is over 160 years old, although the amount of old forest is now on the rise. We also visited Storfossen on the Homla river and talked about the spray zone around the waterfall where several rare lichens and mosses can be found. The forest along the river in this dramatic canyon-like landscape was finally protected by law last year: http://malviknytt.no/2015/12/11/homla-naturreservat-vernet-i-dag
It was a very interesting day thanks in particular to biologist Arnodd Håpnes from Naturvernforbundet in Oslo who lectured and asked questions from the well attended tour participants together with Martin Stuevold from the local group who are pushing the plans for protecting the forest locally and also Jan Erik Andersen from Fylkesmannen who also informed about the complicated process of trying to protect more forest…
Tigridia flowering again!
Sour cherry harvest!!
Norway/ Chile / Sweden visit
Thanks for the visit today, Marius Flak and friends from Chile / Sweden!
The Extreme Salad Man at 15!
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=206 Rejection letter from Guinness :)
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=462
Harvesting golpar
Heracleum persicum is a giant umbellifer, very closely related to Giant Hogweed another very closely related invasive of more southerly latitudes. We call it Tromsøpalme here as these giant plants might resemble palm trees from afar where they grow in large quantities in the arctic city of Tromsø. I today harvested seed of one last plant remaining after the kommune had strimmed a small coastline stand of this plant, presumably spreading seed everywhere….
The seed is used as an important spice in Iran, something I learned from my friend Saideh Salamati who I credited in my book (she also made an excellent dish of the young shoots at a gathering of foragers here in June). I nowadays use more golpar in my cooking than any other spice…delicious and free!