After yesterday’s video post about the snow onion (Allium humile) I had to make a snow onion lunchtime salad, so here it is; see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mOcQ4aUQVI Ingredients below the pictures.
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)
I used to call it the Hungry Gap (Vårknipen), but transitioning to a large proportion of perennials this is the time I now call the Full Gap! The vegetables were quickly stir-fried in olive oil and added to a 100% whole grain rye, emmer and spelt quiche (eggepai). These were the veggies I harvested for last night’s dinner (names below).Taraxacum sp. dandelion / løvetann Hablitzia tamnoides Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde Cichorium intybus chicory / sikkori (2 cellar forced Witloof type cultivars, one purple leaved, the other green) Allium cernuum nodding onion / prærieløk Allium fistulosum Welsh onion / pipeløk Allium x proliferum walking onion / luftløk Allium paradoxum One flowered leek Dystaenia takesimana Seombadi; giant Korean celery / Ulleung kjempeselleri Allium sativum garlic / hvitløk (shoot from a stand grown as a perennial) Aegopodium podograria ground elder / skvallerkål Hemerocallis middendorfii Campanula latifolia giant bellflower / storklokke Allium ochotense oriental victory onion / orientalsk seiersløk Myrrhis odorata sweet cicely / Spansk kjørvel Allium hymenorrhizum
If I’m asked what my favourite perennial vegetable is, I will struggle to only mention one (I wrote a book about my 80 favourites after all), but the one I will mention most frequently is the Caucasian spinach (Hablitzia tamnoides) as it has an interesting history, it was discovered as an edible plant in Scandinavia and remained a closely kept secret here until the 2000s, it provides the first spring greens together with various Alliums , its productive and probably grows best in cold climates!
This video describes how I discovered this amazing vegetable and its history in Scandinavia and in particular the role Swedish author Lena Israelsson played! The video can be seen here: HABLITZIA BEGINNINGS
We like to give our helpers /wwoofers an experience to remember.
Daniil Titov is with us for two weeks and in between the sleet showers we harvested the wapato/duck potato (Sagittaria latifolia), originally from the Mississippi River :)
I don’t often post here about my other two gardens, the community garden at Væres Venner and the Onion Garden Chicago at the Ringve Botanical Garden in Trondheim. The onion garden is nicely maturing and will be officially opened this summer on 26th August, 6 years since I started work creating a garden to house a national collection of old Norwegian perennial vegetable onions collected throughout the country, some 100 botanical species from around the world and many cultivars too! Here’s a couple of videos showing the garden on 25th June 2023 close to peak flowering, although there will be flowering Alliums all the way from May to the first heavy frosts in October / November! Tasty, beautiful and a great place to study pollinators! Can you smell it? There are now over 500 pictures from the garden in this large Facebook album
What to do with the very last Sarpo Mira potatoes from the cellar? Last night’s dinner was Gnocchi made with Hablitzia leaf, Laportea canadensis (Canadian wood nettle tops) and stinging nettle tops. I must admit that our first attempt turned into a gnocchi soup, so we had a starter with exactly the same ingredients as the main course :) The second attempt was excellent though!
Hablitzia tamnoides leaves:
Canadian wood nettle (Laportea canadensis); the tops of the stems can also be used: Making the gnocchi (potato used instead of grain for pasta):
The rampions (vadderot in Norwegian, Phyteuma in Latin) has been naturalizing in my garden but so far keeping to the cultivated beds. I needed to dig up a few this week as it was outcompeting some other plants I wanted to keep. I cooked the roots and they were delicious and almost fibre-free and used in a salad. Along with other plants in the Campanulaceae this is a very useful root crop for the root hungry gap! And just look at the bumble bees swarming over the flower tops, always the most popular plant for the white-tailed bumblebees (jordhumler), one of the most useful plants to grow, both tasty (I use also spring leaves and flower buds), nice to look at and a pollinator friendly, ticking all 3 boxes required to categorise it as an edi-ento-mental! Thr film shows bumble bees on a white-flowered patch of Phyteuma spicatum (spiked rampion). See also these posts about Phyteuma: https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=21018 (an article I wrote on the ethnobotany of Phyteuma “The perennial rampions: Shade tolerant edientomentals”) https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=18624 (Rampions for dinner) https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=11910 (Rapunsel)
We’ve had a lovely 3 day visit this last weekend from artist Elin Eriksen from Nesodden starting a project based on my perennial vegetables. She sketched and photographed candidate plants in all 3 of my gardens, The Edible Garden, Ringve Botanical Gardens Onion Garden and the World Garden at Væres Venner! We look forward to seeing the results!
Elin has earlier created a poster of birds for Birdlife Norway (also for kids) and recently lead a course in botanical drawing for Sopp og Nyttevekstforbund at Valdres.
Photographing in the Onion Garden Chicago Fotografering i Løkhagen Chicago
Sketching in the Onion Garden Chicago Skissering i Løkhagen Chicago
Wietse’s onion in the Onion Garden Chicago Wietsesløk i Løkhagen Chicago ved Ringve Allium pskemense x fistulosum
Documenting perennial vegetables in the World Garden in the Væres Venner community garden at Ranheim! Dokumentering av flerårige grønnsaker i Verdenshagen hos Væres Venners Felleshagen på Ranheim
Relaxing with a multispecies perennial vegetable quiche in The Edible Garden!
Tonight’s perennial vegetables from the garden, used in a stir-fry: Top right and clockwise: Sochan / Cherokee greens tops (Rudbeckia laciniata); Norsk: Kyss-meg- over-gjerde (picture at the bottom) Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) “Skomvær”; Norsk: engsyre (picture at the bottom) Garlic shoots (Allium sativum) from a clump grown as a perennial; Norsk: hvitløk Perennial chicory tops (Cichorium intybus) Urtica platyphylla (a Japanese nettle species; later than Urtica dioica) Cabbage thistle (Cirsium oleraceum); Norsk: kåltistel From top and down Sherpa onion (Allium wallichii); perfect time for harvesting; Norsk: Sherpaløk Hogweed tops (Heracleum); Norsk: bjørnekjeks Hosta fortunei var. albopicta f. aurea Allium nutans; Norsk: Sibirsk nikkeløkSochan tops are excellent A sorrel I collected at Skomvær, an island outermost in the Lofoten Islands; it is floriferous and has a compact growth form!
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
Taraxacum sp. dandelion / løvetann
Making the gnocchi (potato used instead of grain for pasta):
From top and down
Sochan tops are excellent
A sorrel I collected at Skomvær, an island outermost in the Lofoten Islands; it is floriferous and has a compact growth form!