The latest Nordic Permaculture Magazine, out on Friday includes an article about:
“Permakulturhave (Permaculture Garden)
Høj diversitet (High diversity)
Højt mod nord (Far to the North)”
I wonder where that might be ;-)
Visit from Kneiken Felleshage
I still can’t get used to the amazing upsurge in interest in grow your own, particular amongst youngsters! This afternoon, members of the newly formed Kneiken Felleshage (Kneiken Communal Garden in Trondheim) visited my garden and we discussed everything from seaweed as fertiliser to Tromso Palm! You guys are so inspiring and I’m honoured to be part of it….look forward to collaborating more in the future!
Unknown to them, they automatically joined Norwegian Seed Savers (Planteklubben for Grønnsaker) as I gave them a special Jerusalem Artichoke / Jordskokk – North American Stampede, which visually is identical to our earliest variety Dagnøytral (Dayneutral).
Hablitzia moving indoors
Hablitzia is spreading in my garden and sometimes appears in plant pots, here in a large pot grown bay tree that I move inside for the winter in a cold room. It doesn’t seem bothered by lack of freezing temperatures
14th March spring flowers
Record Hablitzia harvest
So far this year the temperature has been over 5 deg C above average, the highest start to the year since records began! Yesterday, 14th March I harvested these Hablitzia shoots outside for a salad!
Lovage sprouts
In recent years, I’ve been experimenting with seed of perennials for winter greens, here the first time I’ve tried lovage / løpstikke sprouts. I sowed in November in a large pot left outside as they may not germinate without cold treatment. I then moved inside to an unheated room at the beginning of March and now there’s been mass germination and the taste is pretty good too :)
Nordic Permaculture Festival workshop
I will hold a 3+ hour workshop on perennial vegetables (in English I think) at the Nordic Permaculture Festival, Stjernsund, Sweden on 8th August!! Looking forward to visiting and meeting the good folks at Stjernsund for the first time!
More information on the festival here:
Svartelistet søtsak (“blacklisted goodies”) article
Norwegian article on sweet cicely published on the following sites / Norsk artikkel om spansk kjørvel er publisert på følgende steder:
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=737 (all my articles from the magazine Sopp og Nyttevekseter er available here / alle mine artikler fra Sopp og Nyttevekster er samlet her)
and
http://www.skogoglandskap.no/temaer/spiselige/subject_view
Sowing Ground Elder seed
I don’t think many people have sowed ground elder seed before :) It won’t be easy to shake off the Mad Salad Man tag now ;)
When I saw seed of ground elder /bishop’s weed / skvallerkål (Aegopodium) on offer on a Polish seed trade list a couple of months ago I just couldn’t resist (I have never – understandably – seen seed offered before….). I thought I would sprout the seed for ground elder shoots….
Russian veggie seed
One of the members of Norwegian Seed Savers emailed me that she was going to Russia and would I like any seed….now, I have genetic defect that leads to me not being able to say no to seed…so I said yes please and if you find any perennials like cutivars of sorrel (Rumex acetosa) I’d be particularly interested. The package arrived today. I had never imagined I was saying yes to 40 packets and there was one packet of Rumex acetosa, a variety called Schavel (Sorrel) “Belvijsky”. I’m wondering if this could possibly be the elusive French cultivar “Belleville” which I mention in my book?
