Tag Archives: Ranheim

Pot luck salad

On Sunday 26th May we organized a potluck party in Væres Venners Community Garden in Trondheim for the first time! It was a fantastically successful event in glorious summer weather close to 30C (and a record for May) and with 40 participants, both members of the community garden (and supporters) and KVANN Trøndelag members. The participants brought a large variety of food dishes as we had hoped! The highlight was Anders (and Barbro) Nordrum’s introductory lecture on food preparedness!
Thanks to everyone, we will be doing this again!
My contribution was naturally a salad and I had to apologise as there were only 50 plants in it ;)
The white flowers: ramsons (ramsløk), sweet cicely (Spansk kjørvel), Allium zebdanense and sea kale (strandkål).
General pictures by Dan Smith! 




Dandelions in pink, white and yellow

16th May 2024: Dandelions in white, pink and (self-sowed) yellow in the Asian part of the World Garden at the Væres Venner Community Garden in Trondheim. I planted both Taraxacum albidum, Taraxacum leucanthum and Taraxacum pseudoroseum in this part of the garden and suspect these are albidum and pseudoroseum but am not sure. Will post separate albums below showing detailed studies of the pink and white one in case anyone has a key to these (there are several white flowered dandelion species in Asia).

Botanical details of what I’m growing as Taraxacum pseudoroseum in the World Garden at the Væres Venner community garden in Trondheim:

Botanical details of what I’m growing as Taraxacum albidum in the World Garden at the Væres Venner community garden in Trondheim. Anyone have a key to this species?

A video tour of the World Garden

A video tour on my youtube channel showing what’s emerging in The World Garden (Verdenshagen) at the Væres Venner Community Garden in Ranheim, Trondheim, Norway on 7th May 2024. I’ve planted some 160 perennial vegetables here (including mostfrom my book Around the World in 80 plants – signed copies can be ordered from me). The plants are arranged geographically around a 12m diameter circle with the mid-point representing the North Pole and the arctic regions of the world. The garden has been created with support from the KVANN (Norwegian Seed Savers) network Schubelers Hager (see https://kvann.no/schubeler). These are the plants I mention in this video:
Angelica archangelica “Vossakvann” (Voss Angelica)
Urtica (two stingless stinging nettles; brennløs brennesle)
Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern; strutseving)
Allium angulosum x nutans “Norrland Onion” (Norrlandsløk)
Allium victorialis (victory onion; seiersløk) from naturalised populations in the Lofoten Islands)
Rumex patientia (patience dock; hagesyre)
Artemisia dracunculus sativa “German” (German tarragon; Tysk estragon)
Polygonum bistorta (bistort; ormerot)
Cirsium eriophorum (wooly thistle; ulltistel)
Humulus lupulus “Aureus” (golden hops; gullhumle)
Cirsium oleraceum (cabbage thistle; kåltistel)
Levisticum officinale (lovage; løpstikke)
Allium x cornutum (St. Jansuien; Johannesløk)
Phyteuma spicatum and P. nigra (spiked rampion; vadderot)
Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach; stjernemelde)
Rumex acetosa “Champion” (sorrel; engsyre)
Allium stipitatum (Persian shallot; Persisk sjalott)
Allium pskemense x fistulosum “Wietse’s onion” (Wietsesløk)
Rhodiola rosea (roseroot; rosenrot)
Allium fistulosum “Takløk fra Gudbrandsdalen” (roof onion from the Gudbrandsdalen valley; old variety growing on turf roofs)
Arabis alpina (alpine rock cress; fjellskrinneblom)
Hemerocallis (day lilies; dagliljer)
Hosta
Ligularia fischeri “Cheju Charmer” (gomchwi; Koreansk nøkketunge)
Cryptotaenia japonica “Atropurpurea” (purple mitsuba)
Aralia cordata (udo)
Ligularia fischeri “Himalayan accession”
Allium senescens or nutans (or hybrid)
Arctium lappa (greater burdock; storborre)
Taraxacum pseudoroseum (pink flowered dandelion; rosablomstret løvetann)
Hemerocallis middendorfii
Secale cerale x montanum “Mountaineer” (perennial rye; flerårige rug)
Allium douglasii (Douglas’ onion; Douglas-løk)
Allium cernuum “Alan Kapuler” (nodding onion; prærieløk); wild collected by Kapuler on the coast of Oregon
Camassias
Allium cernuum “Major” (nodding onion; prærieløk)
Maianthemum racemosum “Emily Moody” (false spikenard; toppkonvall)
Oenanthe javanica (seri)
Sagittaria latifolia (wapato)
Urtica dioica subsp gracilis (California nettle)
Agastache foeniculum “Aureum” (golden anise hyssop; anisisop)
Hydrophyllum tenuipes (Pacific waterleaf)
Allium x proliferum “Catawissa” (walking onion; etasjeløk)
Rudbeckia laciniata “Hortensia” (cutleaf coneflower; gjerdesolhatt, Kyss-meg-over-gjerde)
Tradescantia occidentalis (prairie spiderwort)
Crambe maritima (sea kale; strandkål)

Organic week in Trøndelag / Økouka i Trøndelag

Last week was National Organic Week (Økouka), a busy week for me as I had two garden tours in my Edible Garden in Malvik (the rain stopped both days just before we started), a walk and talk in the community garden at Væres Venner and a talk at Stammen Cafe & Bar in Trondheim on “Perennial Climate-friendly Food Plants for Urban Areas” talking about 15 advantages of growing perennials! Below you can see pictures from each of the events which were all well attended. I’ve credited the various photographers below. Thanks to all that came along!

1. Garden tour on Wednesday 27th September 

Making the Ø letter for Økouka (picture: Margaret Anderson)

2. Talk at Stammen 

Picture by Margaret Anderson
 

2. Garden tour on Sunday 1st October

Picture by Margaret Anderson

Pictures by Markus Tacker (click on the album pictures for more information):


Pictures by Marit By (click on the album pictures for more information)::

4. Walk and talk in the Væres Venner Community Garden
Pictures by Marit By (the World Garden looking good in its autumn colours with the backdrop of the old ash trees):


 

 

KVANN’s World Garden

At the Væres Venner community garden on the outskirts of Trondheim at Ranheim in an area we hope will remain a green belt, I have been working to create what we call Verdenshagen (The World Garden) in collaboration with KVANN (Norwegian Seed Savers) and Schübelers nettverk. This is a network of gardens throughout Norway which is being launched in June 2021 in honour of Fredrik Christian Schübeler (1815-1892) was a botanist and professor at the University in Christiania (now Oslo) and director of the Botanical Gardens for nearly 30 years from 1863. He established a network of gardens throughout Norway, often in collaboration with prestegård (rectory gardens) to test out new plants of economical importance (both ornamentals and edibles). Our new network is also planned centred around rectory gardens and other gardens to demonstrate and inspire to grow new plants but also to conserve old varieties of food plants and ornamentals. See more at https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=no&u=https://kvann.no/schubeler
The World Garden is basically a 12 m diameter circle where the centre represents the North Pole and houses a garden of Arctic food plants. Largely perennial vegetables are being planted geographically around the circle, currently some 80 plants, many of which can be read about inspired by my own book Around the World in 80 plants (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=30). The garden is surrounded by over 100 old and new fruit, berry and nut trees and another demonstration garden for annual crops.
The intention is to add pictures to the album below throughout the year from the World Garden. Our focus is also in creating and improving the habitat at Være for other wildlife, so there will also be pictures of insects, birds and other creatures. 

KVANN treff Day 1 at Væres Venner and Presthus Gård

The first evening of KVANN (Norwegian Seed Savers) weekend event in Trondheim and Malvik, we visited KVANN’s first “nyttevekstreservat” (inspired by Lawrence Hills’ proposal for vegetable sanctuaries across Europe as a reaction to the loss of our vegetable diverity in 1979!) at Væres Venner Felleshage (a new communiy garden in Trondheim). KVANN have already started work on a Verdenshage (World Garden) and another area currently being used as a holding bed for a future diversity garden, including walnut, hazel, sea buckthorn and other fruit trees to be planted elsewhere..
Afterwards, Sølvi Kvam took us to nearby Presthus Gård, a farm which has until recently been threatened by nearby housing developments. It will now be developed with many activities and KVANN are also welcome to make suggestions!
 
See also

Verdenshage and Væres Venner

It was the first time I cycled to my office at the Ringve Botanical Garden today and I took the opportunity to see how the new Væres Venner community garden was looking (starting this year east of Ranheim at Være) . The snow had gone! At the entrance to the garden (Væres Venner) we will plant our World Edible Garden (Verdenshage) – large circular bed with the centre representing the north pole and mainly edible perennials distributed according to where they grow or are used in the Northern Hemisphere (see the first video below, where you can see an inner circle where we planted temporarily some 60 different plants in the autumn…and some are still ALIVE)!!
We have also purchased a couple of hardy walnuts and various hazel cultivars which will be planted along with many other fruit and berry bushes! I’m helping to design and develop the garden with a great group of enthusiasts and I hope that it will be formally adopted as one of KVANNs Vegetable Sanctuaries (KVANN=Norwegian Seed Savers)

Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasus!) has survived!

Moon garden?

Hedgehog crossing

In all the 35 years I’ve been cycling to work from Malvik to Trondheim, I’d never seen a living hedgehog (pinnsvin)…until yesterday when this little one decided to cross the road at Ranheim….it was sadly visibly limping.. :(
Ironically, 100m further up the road from where I’m standing is a much safer “pedestrian” crossing known as “Pinnsvin Crossing” (Hedgehog crossing)…. ;)
NB! Hedgehogs can’t be nocturnal here as it doesn’t get dark, so not that unusual to see them in the daytime!

P1080116
The cars had stopped!

P1080117
Limping hedgehog :(

P1080118
Pinnsvinn crossing

artsobs
I routinely report all interesting observations of birds, mammals, plants, insects etc. on our Species observation web site! Here’s the hedgehog observation being registered..