I’ve been writing a report about projects I’ve collaborated with this year for the Norwegian Genetic Resource Centre and this one in Oslo reappeared…. It has probably done more than any other this year in showing off our vegetable heritage, due to its originality and location in a populated area!
It’s called “Løk for Strøk” (a play on words meaning literally “Onions for (Urban) Areas”.
See the Norwegian description here with a wonderful set of pictures from the installation: http://www.aprilarkitekter.no/?q=prosjekt/l%C3%B8k-str%C3%B8k
Here is an English translation of the page:
“Edimentals are plants that combines ornamental and edible (Edible ornamentals). Edimentals are particularly important in an urban environment. The project is an installation with plantings of perennial edible plants of the genus Allium. All parts of the plants are edible, both bulbs, leaves and flowers, and the different varieties have a large variation in colour, shape, size and taste. Some types of onions are better known than others; such as common bulb onion including red forms and chives. Only some of the species are hardy in northern climates. It is mainly these we are focussing on here, as they are very robust. Many onions are extremely resistant to drought and require minimal maintenance; they come back year after year once they have established themselves. With proper selection, we can have flowering onions all the way from April / May to October.
We would welcome anyone to participate in the project to set up the installations, to talk about onions, learn about onions, look after the onions, eat onions and be inspired to try to cultivate them yourselves at home, in the communal garden, private garden or on the balcony.
When these perennial plants have established themselves, they will give crops and divisions.
The project is supported by the Bydel Sagene’s Grønne Midler”