More or less anything can be used in a pizza, but I wager these have never been used in the same pizza: Oplopanax horridum, Allium scorodoprasum, Crambe maritima (sea kale /strandkål), Ligularia fischeri and Reynoutria japonica (Japanese knotweed).
After 3-4 weeks of snow cover, the weather this week changed dramatically and we had the second warmest February day over the last 100 years with over 10C! Together with rain and wind, almost all of what was close to 50 cm of snow has disappeared. For plants, this has been a very mild winter and the ground has hardly been frozen. As soon as the snow had disappeared I could dig the soil. Some edibles such as nettles and chickweed haven’t been killed by frost. Here are some pictures of (apart from the snowdrops) edibles in the garden today.
Nettles (nesle)
Dandelion (løvetann)
Chickweed (vassarve)
Allium cernuum (Chicago onion / Prærieløk)
It looks like it would be a good year for overwintering of my perennial kales (flerårige kål/ staudekål)
A perennial leek (Allium ampeloprasum) will not normally overwinter here
Lesser celandine (vårkål)
Allium scorodoprasum (bendelløk)
Rumex patientia
Sideritis syriaca (Greek mountain tea /Gresk fjellte emerging from one of the last snow patches
Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde); my oldest 17 year old plant
Alliaria petiolata (hedge garlic / løkurt)
Alliaria petiolata (hedge garlic / løkurt)
Norwegian accession of Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde) from Hadsel vicarage
Toasted diverse Alliums, Hablitzia and dandelion for lunch
Toasted diverse Alliums, Hablitzia and dandelion for lunch
Snowdrops should be open in the open garden in a few days!
Not garlic scapes as they’re not ready yet, but Chicago onion (Allium cernuum) scapes with Allium scorodoprasum scapes and Scorzonera scapes in tonight’s stir fry!
Scorzonera at top, Allium cernuum (bottom left) and Allium scorodoprasum (bottom right) scapes
Scorzonera at top, Allium cernuum (bottom left) and Allium scorodoprasum (bottom right) scapes
Sand leek (rocambole) or Allium scorodoprasum gives bigger yields here than leeks, so it’s not surprising to learn that this perennial onion was probably cultivated by the Vikings (it is found naturalised near many old Viking settlements in Scandinavia) and I believe it is the original “geirlauk” (meaning spear onion) and the root of the word garlic in English… See also pages 215-217 in my book!
I hadn’t noticed the red base to the stems seen in these pictures before…
I used it in a quick scrambled egg dish together with Amish onion (Allium x proliferum), sorrel flower shoots, ground elder (Aegopodium), nettle (Urtica dioica), Hydrophyllum virginianum (water leaf) with golpar spice.
These pictures can also be seen on my 700 plus album of Allium pictures on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150966880345860The scapes of Allium scorodoprasum could certainly be described as spear-like
What an amazing group of people who had assembled in Jevnaker at the weekend to learn more about perennial vegetables, edible weeds and edimentals! It was sad to leave…
Thanks to Trude Skåre Johansen of Jevnaker Hage and Mr. Permaculture Norway himself, Jan Bang for arranging the weekend!
The Hablitzia salad, mostly Hablitzia shoots plus ground elder (skvallerkål), dandelion (løvetann), wild hop (humle), chicago onion (Allium cernuum), Allium scorodoparasum (bendelløk), primrose x oxlip hybrid (kusymre x hagenøkleblom), Primula elatior (oxlip / hagenøkleblom), Allium triquetrum, Allium paradoxum, Arabis alpina (flowers), Cardamine pentaphyllos (flowers), Primula denticulata (Kuleprimula; flowers)Great to finally stay with Jan Bang…who has a fantastic sunset…I admit that I did have a little slice of this cake at the weekend…
Ostrich fern pie was the culinary high this week…made with cooked ostrich fern, Allium scorodoprasum, garlic, chili and standard quiche ingredients and a 100% whole grain barley / rye crust and home grown poppy seeds on top! It was delicious :)
April 2014 and Yngvil (aka Ms. Saladdy) was helping out in my garden, her practical experience for her education to become a gardener! I’ll let her tell her own story of the wonderful diverse tempura we made together on that day using perennial veggies!
Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) flowering stems
