Somebody asked me the other day if I use floating mulch (fiberduk / agryl) to be able to harvest all these greens so early. No, no and again no….this is one of the biggest benefits of perennial vegetables….it is totally natural, no microplastics are released into the environment, no oil is needed to plough the fields, significantly less migrant labour is needed and little or no fertiliser and water is needed, it is almost totally free once established and can yield year after year! So, whilst large areas of farmland in the northern hemisphere are being covered by plastic mulches to bring on annual crops for the market earlier, I’d just like to point out that there’s an alternative better way! So, here are the plants that I harvested for yesterday’s delicious green pasta sauce: Armoracia rusticana shoots (horseradish / pepperrot) Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely / spansk kjørvel) Houttuynia cordata “Chinese Market” (shoots and rhizomes from the cellar; this cultivar is significantly larger than other Houttuynia I’ve grown) (Fish herb, Himalayan water creeper) Allium senescens x nutans (hybrid Siberian onions) Laurus nobilis (bay / laurbær) Brassica oleracea (perennial kales) Crambe maritima (sea kale / strandkål) Taraxacum officinale (dandelion / løvetann) Allium x proliferum (walking onion / luftløk) Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde) Dystaenia takesimana (giant Ulleung celery, seombadi) Oenanthe javanica (seri) Polymnia edulis (yacon) (second picture) plus garlic and chili
Greens (and reds) harvested from under the snow in the garden and in the cellar; Houttuynia cordata are the red shoots bottom leftYacon
My trip to Japan in early spring 2016 was perfectly timed to witness one of the wonders of the Japanese spring, the mass flowering of katakuri (Erythronium japonicum; Japanese: 片栗), a pink-flowered species trout lily or dog’s tooth violet. Thanks to Kevin Cameron for inviting us along on a hike with a local walking club out of Nagoya! The bulbs were in the past used as a source of starch, the leaves and flowers also being eaten (but shouldn’t be wild harvested nowadays as some sources consider it as endangered). I’ve never seen so many people out flower watching, so many cameras trained at the flowers…a bit like twitchers watching some rare bird….we could call them flitters perhaps!
We took the train from Nagoya to Kanigawa station in Kani city on the edge of Nagoya’s urban sprawl, then walked to Yunohana hot springs spa and market on the river, popped in to one of the walking group’s friend’s house for tea, snack and a garden wander before walking to the katakuri area in a nature reserve area. Finally, we followed a trail up on to the hill where there was a distant view of Japan’s second highest volcano Mt. Ontake. We followed Kevin and daughter back to the spa for a hot bath, while the rest of the group carried on the trail to take the train back from a different station.
I’ve had a katakuri in my garden for several years but it doesn’t get much larger and seems to be self-sterile (pictures of my plants can be seen in the gallery on this page: http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=9442
First a gallery of pictures of the katakuri woods followed by 4 videos! This is followed by two more galleries of pictures from this wonderful day! Enjoy…
Google image of the area; the spa is top right, the katakuri area low down near the river
Sweet shop near the station
A sweet inspired by katakuri! It would probably have been made with starch from the bulb, but nowadays from potato starch!
..and now 4 videos of the katakuri area:
Next, an album of pictures taken on the way from the station to the market and spa and lunch at a Japanese house.
Familiar edible weeds
A purple Sonchus asper (I presume
Shepherd’s Purse / nazuna (Capsella) is a popular foraged weed
Mona’s book showed how to make a plaything with this!
Rumex spp.
Probably Allium chinense, Rakkyo
Mustard greens
Houttuynia cordata, a plant we found everywhere and in many different habitats from streams to very dry soil under conifers
Onions everywhere!
Garlic
Ramie? Boehmeria nivea in a garden
Cornus officinalis? in a garden
Primula sieboldii in a garden…selected as an ornamental for several centuries in Japan, the Japanese primrose also has edible flowers, see the next picture
A Japanese flowery salad using various Primula, including Primula sieboldii (From http://ameblo.jp/pakoemon/theme-10032322293.html)
Primula sieboldii in my own garden in Malvik
Orychophragmus violaceus in a garden; see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=8361
Rakkyo, Allium chinense on the market
Long-stemmed blanched Allium fistulosum
Bamboo shoots
Soursop? (Annona muricata)
Soursop? (Annona muricata)
Rakkyo, Allium chinense
King of the Rakkyo growers??
Chives, Allium schoenoprasum…such places would be rounduped here….
Visit for tea and a snack at a participant’s friend’s house
The garden!
Vegetable garden and more onions!
…and a little clump of katakuri in the garden was our first glimpse of these beauties!
…and finally a gallery of pictures of other plants including a number of edibles on the walk up to the viewpoint with the walking group!
Corydalis ambigua, a spring flowering woodlander that is used as a green vegetable in Japan, see, for example, https://twitter.com/huntforwildlife/status/725855903606427648
Corydalis tempura from http://img-cdn.jg.jugem.jp/00f/1532200/20100502_1273303.jpg
Taraxacum leaf diversity
Cardamine
Polygonatum?
Acer…maples emerging
Chamaele decumbens is a low growing Japanese endemic growing in woodlands; it seems to be sometimes eaten
A fern…
One of the long-leaved violets
Kevin Cameron
Map of the area
Viewpoint towards Mt. Ontake 御嶽山 60 km away and is the second highest volcano in Japan (after Mount Fuji) at 3,067 m
Mt. Ontake
The walking group at the lunch stop
Mt. Ontake
Dried fruit?? What was this Kevin Cameron?
Lunch courtesy of Kevin1
Looking down on the city and the spa
Kevin Cameron and Mona
Rhododendron?
Rhododendron?
Pieris japonica
Fern
Viola spp.
Aucuba japonica
Onions, probably Allium grayi?
Allium grayi?
Masses of onions
Hemerocallis spp., day lily, edible leaves…
My first wild Japanese Aralia elata, taranome, the young shoots of which were available in all supermarkets!
Aralia elata, taranome
Aralia elata, taranome, almost ready to pick!
Helionopsis orientalis is in the Melanthiaceae, alongside Veratrum, Trillium and Paris!!
Helionopsis orientalis
Eurya japonica
Camellia japonica
Camellia japonica
Yomogi, Artemisia spp., an important flavouring in Japan, added after cooking to glutinous rice dumplings known as mochi to which they give a pleasant colour, aroma and flavour (see the next two pictures). Kevin gathered and sold the leaves!
Mochi on the market in Kyoto
Another variant of mochi with a red bean filling on the market in Kyoto
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
