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
Sea kale Crambe maritima is sometimes referred to as the King of the Vegetables (Queen is perhaps more fitting!) . This is partly due to the fact that it was in the past cultivated in heated greenhouses for nobility in the UK for Christmas! Maybe not the King, it is certainly an aristocrat and the easiest perennial brassica in cold climates (along wtih even hardier Crambe cordifolia) as it is hardier than perennial kales as it resprouts from the roots every spring and can easily be covered by a mulch of leaves or suchlike in colder climates. I do this every autumn just in case we have a very cold winter (I have experienced plants to resprout from deep roots when the surface roots have been killed in winter). I would normally take off the leaf mulch early April, but this winter it’s been so mild I removed it a few days ago and the plant had already put out delicious sprouts…I’ve been snacking on them! My oldest sea kale is approaching 40 years old, but hasn’t appeared yet (oldies sleep longer I guess!). Much more about Sea Kale in my book Around the World in 80 plants or by searching here: https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?s=sea+kale
They are also beautiful. The pictures show the cultivar Lily White which is only about 8 years old.
My youngest seakale Crambe maritima “Lily White” which isn’t that young longer (17 years old), is in full flower a couple of weeks earlier than my other plants and its looking better than ever this year! In the winter, I dug a trench along the “ex-driveway”, now path to the house, to stop tree roots invading and drying up the shallow soiled beds in this part of the garden.
Since I first blogged about an invasion of diamondback moths (kålmøll) two days ago, reports have been coming in across Scandinavia of the enormity of this invasion, even reaching the farthest north parts of the Norwegian mainland in Finnmark, the arctic city of Tromsø and Northern Sweden. In some places, it’s been too cold to start planting out vegetables!
There were more than a thousand moths in my garden yesterday and they were observed swarming over my perennial kales (Brassica oleracea), sea kale (Crambe maritima) and common wintercress (Barbarea vulgaris), none of which are likely to be severely affected.
There’s been a major arrival of diamondback moths (kålmøll) here since yesterday and there are hundreds of this major Brassica pest in the garden today! I am thankfully only growing perennial kales (Brassica oleracea) and resistent sea kale (Crambe maritima) this year, both of which are already close to maximum yield and unlikely to be severely affected by the moth. This also means I don’t need to use any form of protection (horticultural fleece / fiberduk) which is probably a major source of agricultural microplastics. Problem solved!
Diamond back moth (kålmøll)
Diamond back moth (kålmøll) on sea kale (Crambe maritima)
My collection of Perennial Kales which have overwintered well this year!
More or less anything can be used in a pizza, but I wager these have never been used in the same pizza: Oplopanax horridum, Allium scorodoprasum, Crambe maritima (sea kale /strandkål), Ligularia fischeri and Reynoutria japonica (Japanese knotweed).
After 11 days of mostly fast food, it was good to get home this evening to a jungle of slow food….
Ingredients: Hablitzia, Rumex acetosa, Rumex patientia, Myrrhis (young seeds), Hemerocallis middendorfii and H. lilioasphodelus (daylily buds), Crambe maritima (broccolis), Crambe cordifolia (broccolis), Nettle, 2* Origanum, Tragopogon pratensis (flower stems and buds), Allium senescens, Campanula latifolia, Asparagus trichophyllus, Chives (flower buds), Peltaria alliacea, garlic, chili and chicory (2 types)
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I was very pleased to be invited to give a talk organised by the Curtis Museum in Alton, Hampshire, UK, not far from where I grew up in Eastleigh, Hants.
In my book I introduce the Hampshire towns of Alresford (watercress), Selborne (Gilbert White and sea kale) and Alton as the “Hampshire perennial vegetable triangle” or the UK hotspot of perennial vegetable domestication. Alton is included as the home of botanist William Curtis, who was Praefectus Horti at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London in the 1770s. He was also a friend of Gilbert White! He wrote a pamphlet, ‘Directions for the culture of the Crambe maritima or Sea Kale, for the use of the Table’ in 1799 to bolster efforts in introducing it as a market vegetable.
See the album of pictures from a wander around Alton with Sheila John of the Curtis museum, edimentals tour of the Allen Gallery garden and later talk there! See the album below!
Other related posts:
On the bus between Winchester and Alton, a sign pointing towards Gilbert White’s House (and also Jane Austen’s)!
Wandering around Alton with my host Sheila John, a charity shop with a Hosta plant for sale…
On the road where William Curtis the botanist lived, a Wisteria in full flower…had to resist having a taste of the flowers ;)
William Curtis’ house and Sheila John of the Curtis Museum
The chalk River Wey with wild watercress
The next talk after mine was about the Watercress Line!
Watercress had in the past been cultivated on the Flood Meadows near the centre of Alton…
The Flood Meadows in Alton where watercress had been cultivated in the past
The Flood Meadows in Alton where watercress had been cultivated in the past
Brooklime, Veronica beccabunga in the flood meadows
The Curtis Museum
The Curtis Museum
Entrance to the Curtis Museum
The venue for the talk, the Allen Gallery (after artist W. H: Allen); see https://hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk/allen-gallery
I lead an edimentals walk for a half hour in the garden before the talk. Sheila John showed me around beforehand and we found a number of excellent edibles :)
A little herb garden!
Viola spp.
Tulips out!
One of the staff had brought a Hosta plant along to my talk ;)
I was shown the collection of information about William Curtis the Botanist…
I prepared a couple of slides specially as I was at the Curtis Museum, this included this picture I took at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London where Curtis was demonstrator of plants and Praefectus Horti from 1771-1777! The Curtis Border at Chelsea celebrates some of the plants we associate with the man and with reference on the plant label to his Botanical Magazine! It seems that Curtis introduced day lily Hemerocallis fulva (one of the 80 in my book) to the UK :)
Slide showing the front of Curtis’ sea kale pamphlet, some interesting quotes from it and a picture of a sea kale pot and sign telling about the pamphlet at Chelsea!
After my visit to Tim Phillips’ walled garden vineyard (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=10678), I was very happy that Susan Campbell found time in a busy schedule to meet and she drove me to her and husband Mike Kleyn’s home and garden on the Solent… sadly, Mike was travelling on the other side of the world visiting family… :(
Susan is the co-founder, in 2001, of the Walled Kitchen Garden Network and began researching the history of walled kitchen gardens in 1981 (the same year that I moved to Norway, so I know it’s an awful long time!). She has personally visited and photographed over 600 walled kitchen gardens in the UK and abroad, making her a foremost authority on the subject. I met her as she had come across my book and on the strength of it invited me over from Norway to give a couple of talks at the Walled Kitchen Garden Network Forum at Croome (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2554). You can read more about this network here: http://www.walledgardens.net
However, the main reason for my visit was to see first hand Susan’s sea kale yard, the only operation I’m aware of that delivers seakale commercially in the UK, despite sea kale being for me the most English of all vegetables and for some the King of vegetables! See also my blog post about visiting the Curtis Museum in Alton, coming soon!
Susan at the entrance gate to her garden, which is flanked by a large fig tree!
Susan is an author and expert on Garden History and Walled Gardens!
Edimental border with cardoons and day lilies!
Fennel
Salt tolerant edible Atriplex halimus hedge next to the sea!
Lavatera arborea, Tree mallow
Sea beet on the sea wall under Tamarix
Atriplex halimus
Flowering windshaped oak in the background
Susan’s Seakale yard! She has unsuccessfully tried to persuade neighbouring farmers to scale (skale?) up the operation, but none have been willing to take the risk…..and continue to grow rape seed…………
A box of blanched Seakale on the way to London! Photo: Susan Campbell
Showing where the seakale had been cut
The cultivar Lily White is the most popular variety… (with the restaurant Susan delivers to)
Allium triquetrum is invasive, but delicious and edimental!!!
Allium triquetrum is invasive, but delicious and edimental!!!
The watercress in Susan’s pond was gigantic!!
Gigantic were the Caltha palustris leaves too (marsh marigold)
Gunnera…we had a taste…not as sweet as the ones I tasted last autumn in Bergen and Edinburgh
Oak in flower
Phormiums…important food and fibre plants for the Maori!
Hosta ready to harvest!
Cardoons
An Allium I gave to Susan at Croome finally got a scientific name!
Allium barstowii :)
Pelargonium spp.
The traditional kitchen garden
Swiss chards
Susan has a large collection of old and new books…I could have spent the whole day there…including Vilmorin’s The Vegetable Garden. I could have stayed here for a week :)
Susan’s hand written notes on Seakale from her extensive card notes!! It’s been suggested that Pliny (1st century ad) was referring to seakale when he wrote of a kind of cabbage called ‘halmyrides’, which grew on the coast!
The Needles on the Isle of Wight from Susan’s garden
The shoreline at Susan’s house
Waiting for the train at Lymington Harbour, I was fooled by this owl sitting waiting for the Isle of Wight ferry…it’s head moved!
The train home via Brockenhurst and the New Forest…
…and as I left Lymington Pier, this Giant fish head cloud appeared….not sure what that was all about? :)
Having completed my course at Naturplanteskolen and guided walk at Grennessminde in August 2016, I was “rewarded” by being taken on a botanical excursion to the island Langeland. These pictures were taken at the north tip of the island which had a luxurious seaweed fertilised vegetation of some familiar perennial vegetables! Thanks to Aiah Noack of Naturplanteskolen :)
Where is Langeland?
The self-fertilising vegetable garden beach where these pictures are from is right at the far north end of Langeland
Perennial Beta maritima, sea beet, the ancestor of all the modern vegetables in the beetroot family from beetroot to swiss chard to mangelwurzel to sugar beet
Wild carrot, Daucus carota
Sea beet leaves
Sonchus, sow thistle
Seed heads of sea beet over sea kale, Crambe maritima
Crambe maritima, sea kale
Honckenya peploides, sea sandwort, is one of my favourite beach edibles
Rosa rugosa, one of the best roses for rose hips in front of sea kale and sea beet!
White-flowered Rosa rugosa
White-flowered Rosa rugosa
Suaeda maritima, sea blite
View from Langeland towards Storebæltsbroen, the bridge that links the Danish islands of Fyn and Sjælland
Dittander or broad-leaved pepperweed, Lepidium latifolium is a delicious vegetable – young shoots, flowers, seeds and roots, similar to horseradish
Sea rocket, Cakile
Wild chicory, Cichorium intybus
Wild chicory, Cichorium intybus and corn poppy, Papaver rhoeas, both edible
Wild carrot (Daucus carota) rosette
Wild carrot (Daucus carota) has white roots
Stachys
A patch of Jerusalem Artichoke on the edge of a field next to the beach
Perennial Beta maritima, sea beet,
Silverberry, Elaeagnus commutata, colonising a sandy cliff face…thanks to its nitrogen fixing ability
Silverberry, Elaeagnus commutata
Storebæltsbroen, the bridge that links the Danish islands of Fyn and Sjælland
A single plant of Angelica archangelica!
Lepidum latifolium….the roots can be used like horseradish
Lepidum latifolium….the roots can be used like horseradish
Crambe maritima, sea kale
Lathyrus japonicus
Sea radish mound, Cakile
Sea beet, Beta maritima
Sea beet, Beta maritima
Sea kale laden with seeds!
The sea kale was laden with seed
The sea kale was laden with seed
A stunning finale to the day!
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
