Tag Archives: Extreme salad man

The year’s first salad photo shoot!

The year’s first multispecies salad made earlier this week on 12th April! The list of plants is below the pictures.

The ingredients:
Rumex patientia (patience dock / hagesyre)
Rumex acetosa “Abundance”(sorrel /engsyre)
Dystaenia takesimana (Ulleung perennial celery)
Allium paradoxum var normale (flower shoots and buds)
Allium paradoxum var paradoxum (flower shoots and buds)
Allium hymenorhizum
Claytonia virginica (spring beauty; flowers and leaves)
Cardamine pentaphyllos (flowers)
Crambe maritima (sea kale / strandkål)
Artemisia dracunculus “German tarragon” (tysk estragon)
Cichorium intybus “Perennial mix” (chicory / sikori)
Cichorium intybus “Red Treviso” (chicory / sikori)
Brassica oleracea (3 varieties of perennial kale which have overwintered well)
Alliaria petiolata (hedge garlic / løkurt)
Viola odorata (flowers)
Scorzonera hispanica shoots (blanched in the dark cellar)
Nasturtium officinale (watercress)
Allium sativum (garlic shoots and bulbs)
Sedum sp.
Houttuynia cordata (Himalayan water creeper)
Begonia heracleifolia var nigricans  (flowers)
Sium sisarum (long shoots from the cellar) (skirret / sukkerrot)
Taraxacum sp. (wild dandelion)
Primula elatior (flowers) (oxlip / hagenøkleblom)
Taraxacum tortilobum (moss-leaved dandelion)
Allium cernuum (nodding onion / prærieløk)
Angelica archangelica “Voss”
Apium nodiflorum (fool’s watercress)
Allium victorialis (victory onion / seiersløk)
Daucus carota (carrot / gulrot)
Helianthus tuberosus (Jerusalem artichoke / jordskokk)
Campanula latifolia (giant bellflower / storklokke)
Allium scorodoprasum (sand leek / bendelløk)
Cirsium sp.
Aegopodium podograria (ground elder / skvallerkål)
Allium nutans
Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde)
Allium oleraceum (wild onion / villøk)

 

 

 

 

 



Edimentals and Perennial Veg in the RHS The Garden magazine

I have some great news to share! My word edimentals, “invented” some 17 years ago to describe those amazing plants that are both edible and ornamental – has just gone mainstream in the UK with an 8 page article written by me and published in the April edition of the RHS magazine The Garden (600,000 circulation) and one of my multi species salads even graces the front page. On the back of various show gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show in London over the last couple of years profiling edimentals and numerous magazine articles featuring one of horticulture’s buzz words. I was contacted by the RHS last November to see if I would be interested in writing an article – who’s better than the word’s inventor to write this feature for the magazine they said!
There’s also a nice interview with Mandy Barber of The Incredible Vegetables nursery on perennial vegetables! I enclose pictures of the article and a picture of the front page. I’ve been a member of the RHS since the early 80s and, although my interest is edible plants, I’ve always enjoyed the magazine for its focus on plants. Although the focus had largely been ornamental, I recognised the edible value! With greatly increased interest in edibles and nature friendly gardening within the RHS, the magazine can only get better, so please consider joining! As I mention in the article and my book Around the World in 80 plants, my first perennial vegetable was sea kale and I bought so-called sea kale thongs (root cuttings) through an advert I read in The Garden when visiting my gardening friend Robin Allan in Hexham in the early 80s! One of those plants is still alive in my garden today.
My other portmanteau words edi-ento-mental and edi-avi-mental are still waiting for adoption! They refer of course to plants that are both edible and ornamental and either insect (e.g., pollinator) or bird friendly and there are even a few quadruple value plants that tick all 4 boxes!
Please buy my book from the publishers Permanent Publications in the UK: https://www.permanentpublications.co.uk/port/around-the-world-in-80-plants-an-edible-perennial-vegetable-adventure-for-temperate-climates-by-stephen-barstow or directly from me in Norway!
Below the pdf higher resolution article and picture below you may find an extended list of favourite edimentals suggested by my 5,000 strong Edimentals and Perennial Vegetables FB group.



Download (PDF, 1.15MB)

Of all the perennial vegetables out there, which do you think are the tastiest?
This was the question I posed the 5,000 members of my FB group Edimentals and Perennial Vegetables, founded in 2011! This has been the most popular thread ever! These were the answers (comments by members; numbers refer to number of members mentioning the plant) :
Homesteader’s Kaleidoscope Perennial Kale Grex and Taunton Deane kale (4), asparagus (4),  Toona sinensis, yellow daylily (flower buds) (2), skirret (6), sea kale (shoots and broccolis) (4), Aralia elata (in tempura), cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum; young leaves and flower stalks) (2), Hosta shoots and young leaves (4), Japanese bladdernut Staphylea bumalda (leaves and flower buds), hop (shoots), garlic chives, Campanula takesimana (leaves; Korean bellflower) (2), Tilia sp. (young leaves) (2), marshmallow (shoots; Althaea officinalis), Rhus typhina (peeled shoots; staghorn sumac), Typha sp. (bulrush: shoots and rhizomes), groundnut (Apios americana) (4), Babington’s leek and other wild leeks (2), crosnes (Chinese artichokes) (3), Turkish rocket (broccolis), Hablitzia tamnoides (raw or sauteedI “SO much easier than growing spinach”) (3), any Allium, Maximilian Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani), sorrels (4), good king henry (spinach), Jerusalem artichokes (lactofermented or roasted) (3), Mertensia maritima, globe artichokes (3), cardoon (leaf ribs), nettles (5), Rudbeckia laciniata (sochan) (2), Scorzonera hispanica (shoots and flower buds) (3), rhubarb (in dahl) (2), Lilium sp. (bulbs in soups and roasted), Malva moschata (musk mallow; leaves), Allium cepa “Perutile” (everlasting onion, growing on an Edinburgh allotment for 100 years!), Angelica archangelica, ramsons (2), chicory, Allium triquetrum, Valeriana officinalis, Napaea dioica (glade mallow), Phytolacca americana (pokeweed; properly prepared), red valerian (shoots), sea beet (leaves), bladder campion (shoots), ground elder, Taraxacum sp. of course (its rich and complex flavour knows no equal; incl. roots) (4), chayote (2), pignut, greater pignut (Bunium bulbocastanum), Sonchus arvensis (I snack on the bittersweet flower buds all summer, can’t resist them), rock samphire (Crithmum), water lotus and water chestnuts (3), alexanders (young shoots; Smyrnium), Canna edulis (2), taro (Colocasia) (2), yacon, Sagittaria (duck potatoes), Hibiscus, honewort (Cryptotaenia canadensis), fool’s watercress (Apium nodiflorum), Chinese yam (Dioscorea polystachya), Basella, Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed; pods), loroco (Echites panduratus), Cardamine raphanifolia, sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata), Sanguisorba minor, Dystaenia takesimana (seombadi)




Mid-January Salad

In connection with Cathrine Kramer’s (Centre for Genomic Gastronomy) third visit to Malvik from her base in Amsterdam to make an around the year artistic film of The Edible Garden, I made a winter salad to show what is currently available to harvest in the living room, cellar and outside.  
Living rooms: forced Witloof chicories / sikori (my own Væres Venner community garden grex), Allium senescens hybrid perennial onion, forced wild dandelions / løvetann, cress / karse and wild buckwheat / villbokhvete sprouts (in sterlised soil), garlic bulbil sprouts, Begonia flowers, oca (2 varieties), parsley / persille, watercress / engelsk karse, Allium triquetrum shoots, garlic / hvitløk, Plectranthus amboinicus (Cuban oregano) and the last of the tomatoes / tomat!
From the cellar: carrots / gulrot, swede / kålrot, 3 varieties turnip / nepe, Jerusalem artichoke / jordskokk, apple /eple, sea kale / strandkål (roots dug in the autumn that had sprouted in the warmer than normal cellar), 2-3 varieties celery, beetroot / rødbete “Chioggia”, wild chicory / vill sikori (Cichorium intybus), 4 salad chicories and perennial kale shoots.
Outside: Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde (Hablitzia tamnoides), several dandelion species (leaves and flower buds) and Chicago onion / prærieløk (Allium cernuum).

78th Birthday Party Salad

In connection with my daughter Hazel’s birthday yesterday, she wanted me to make a salad for her and her friends she’d invited for dinner, so no birthday cake, it was a birthday salad with candle, and 78 ingredients was the plan! 78? Well, it was a double celebration as this week was also 40 years since the titles to my house were signed over to us by the previous owner Ragnhild Austvik. I told Hazel it would be a 78th birthday party and didn’t reveal all until we were at the dinner table! She didn’t guess why, believing I’d miscalculated as the combined age with her brother (his birthday is on Monday) would be 79, although on her birthday it was still 78, so it could have been that! So, here’s the over-the-top flowery salad I put together with ingredients list below the pictures (yes, I miscalculated and it turned out to be more than 78…40 more in fact ;)) 

Ingredients:
FLOWERS
1-3. Dahlia; Georginer (3 varieties)
4-6. Begonia (3 var.)
7. Malva alcea (hollyhock mallow; rosekattost)
8. Althaea officinalis (marshmallow; legestokkrose)
9-11. Raphanus sativus (rasish; reddik) (3 var.)
12. Apium graveolens (celery; seller)
13. Spilanthes oleracea (toothache plant; tannpineplante)
14-17. Lycopersicon esculentus (tomato; tomat) (4 varieties: Tante Cis, Linda Sibirsk, Sjokolade Plummer and German Pink)
18. Oxalis triangularis “Rubra”
19. Impatiens glandulifera (Himalayan balsam; kjempespringfrø)
20. Pelargonium
21. Brassica nigra (black mustard; svart sennep)
22-26. Hemerocallis (day lily; daglilje) (4 varieties / species)
27-28. Allium wallichii (Sherpa onion; Sherpaløk) (2 var.)
29. Sedum
30-32. Hosta (3 var.)
33. Calendula officinalis (marigold; ringblomst)
34. Fedia cornucopiae (African valerian)
35. Fuchsia magellanica
36. Diplotaxis tenuifolia (perennial rocket; flerårig rucola)
37. Oenothera biennis (evening primrose; nattlys)
38-39. Chrysanthemum coronarium (shungiku; kronkrage) (2 var.)
40-41. Mentha sp. (2 var.)
42-45. Allium schoenoprasum (chives; gressløk) (4 var.)
46. Tulbaghia violacea (society garlic)
47. Allium montanostepposum
48. Allium thunbergii
49. Allium cernuum x stellatum “Hammer”
50. Allium fistulosum “Salatniy” (Welsh onion; pipeløk)
51. Allium spirale
52. Allium nutans x senescens
53. Allium suaveolens
54. Allium cyaneum
55. Allium moschatum
56. Allium lusitanicum (German garlic; kantløk)
57. Allium boreale (Arctic chives; sibirgressløk)
58. Taraxacum officinale (dandelion; løvetann)
LEAVES
59. Aegopodium officinale (dandelion; løvetann)
60. Allium x cornutum (St. John’s onion; Johannesløk)
61-62. Allium thunbergia agg. (2 var.)
63. Allium schoenoprasum
64. Allium tuberosum (Chinese chives; kinagressløk)
65. Allium spirale
66. Allium fistulosum “Mysusæter” (roof onion; takløk)
67. Allium nutans x senescens
68. Allium schoenoprasum ssp. sibiricum (Japanese chives; Japangressløk)
69. Allium x proliferum (walking onion; luftløk)
70. Allium fistulosum x pskemense (Wietse’s onion; Wietsesløk)
71. Allium lusitanicum (German garlic; kantløk)
72. Allium hookeri var muliense (yellow Hooker’s onion; Gul Hookersløk)
73. Gynostemma pentaphyllum (sweet tea vine)
74-76. Brassica oleracea (perennial kale; flerårige kål) (3 var.)
77. Oxalis tuberosa (oca; oka)
78. Spilanthes oleracea (toothache plant; tannpineplante)
79. Coriandrum sativum (coriander; coriander)
80. Artemisia dracunculus sativa “German” (German tarragon; tysk estragon)
81. Anethum graveolens (dill)
82. Aegopodium podograria (ground elder; skvallerkål)
83. Stellaria media (chickweed;
84. Lactuca sativa (lettuce; salat)
85-88. Apium graveolens (celery; selleri) (4 var)
89. Oxalis sp.
90. Vitis vinifera (grape vine; drue)
91-94. Pisum sativum (pea; ert) (4 var.)
95. Petroselinum sativum (parsley; persille)
96-97. Cucumis sativus (cucumber; agurk) (2 varieties: Passandra and Epleagurk)
98-99. Brassica rapa (turnip ; nepe) (2 var.)
100. Plectranthus amboinicus (Cuban oregano)
101. Basella rubra
102. Oenanthe javanica (seri)
103. Angelica archangelica “Vossakvann” (Garden angelica; Vossakvann)
104. Brassica oleracea “Ragged Jack kale” (kale; grønnkål)
105. Campanula rapunculoides (creeping bellflower; ugressklokke)
106. Malva moschata (musk mallow; moskuskattost)
107. Sanguisorba minor (salad burnet; pimpernel)
108. Campanula punctata
109. Rumex patientia (patience dock; hagesyre)
110. Rumex scutatus (French sorrel; Fransksyre)
111. Sonchus oleraceus (common sow thistle; haredylle)
112. Nasturtium officinale (watercress; grønn engelskkarse)
113-114. Mentha sp. (mint; mynte)
115. Ribes divaricatum (Worcesterberry; Worcesterbær)
116. Rubus idaeus (raspberry; bringebær)
117. Prunus domestica “Sviskeplomme” (plum; plomme)
118. Ficus carica “Bornholm” (fig; fiken)

EDIMENTALS VISITS RHS WISLEY

On a short visit to England to visit my mum, I visited RHS Wisley yesterday to do a 2 hour walk and talk for the Edibles Team (and a few others who were interested!). I hopefully added a new dimension to their work by pointing out all the wonderful perennial veg and other edibles hidden incognito in the ornamental collections, everything from Hostas to Rudbeckia to Gunnera!
Still getting my head around the fact that there is such a thing as an Edibles Team across the RHS gardens! Next week I’m following this up with a webinar about Edimentals for all the gardens!
…and I’d just like to congratulate the team for the World Food Garden! It’s very impressive with quite a few perennial veg already and looks and I imagine tastes fantastic!
Thanks for the warm enthusiastic welcome to leaderSheila Das and the rest of the team!
Wisley is a garden I’ve visited many times over the years to do a spot of edible spotting, so great to be able to pass on some of the knowledge!
#edimentals #edientomentals #edientoavimentals #hiddenedibles #RHSEdiblesTeam #worldfoodgarden #extremesaladman

Hagevandring med Malvik Hagelag

Dette var kanskje den 10. gangen Malvik Hagelag hadde vært på hagevandring hos meg, over en snart 40 års periode! Jeg meldte meg inn i hagelaget og var med på møtene fra midten av 80-tallet. Den gangen var jeg den yngste (de fleste medlemmer var pensjonister). Det var derfor interessant å reflektere over at nå hadde jeg kanskje blitt eldst!
Det var en flott sommerkveld og 30C og noen meldte avbud pga temperaturen! Men, det var en fin gjeng som var med og hørte på mine bortforklaringer for hvorfor hagen hadde blitt så vill….hadde jeg mistet kontroll i mine gamle dager? Neida…..bare sluppet kontroll bevisst og overført kontrollen til mine to andre hagene på Væres Venners felleshagen og Løkhagen Chicago!
Og denne gangen hadde de bestilt en salat, og det ble ca 130 forskjellige spiselige planter. Årets første jordbær og rips ble ofret og blomsterstander av gulblomstret Allium hookeri var muliense, Allium cernuum mfl. Vi avsluttet med plante- og boksalg!

RINGVE OPEN DAY 2024

There were some 1,500 people who came along to Sunday’s Open Day at the Ringve Botanical Garden and as usual KVANN Trøndelag (Norwegian Seed Savers; kvann.no) had a stand where a wide selection of perennial vegetables could be bought and a 130 variety salad could be sampled, mostly perennials! It was non-stop for us 3 on the stand from the start at 11 am and many plants found new homes in the course of the day. Many members of KVANN joined us in the course of the day.
Thanks to Meg and Elizabeth for helping on the stand once again! 

I’d previously agreed to lead a group around the Onion Garden Chicago from the Regionalt Nytteveksttreff i Trondheim which was organised that weekend. I’d never seen so many people in the onion garden before as there was also a large group of people, many with insect nets, on a Humlevandring (walk around the garden learning about bumble bees organised by La Humla Suse). It turned out that the Alliums were attracting the largest concentrations and number of species, so we had to events together in the garden! FUN!!
Nyttevekst Treff

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! 




Snow onion salad

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.



Allium humile
(snow onion; snøløk)Crambe maritima (sea kale; strandkål)
Primula veris (cowslip; marianøkleblom); 2 varieties
Allium paradoxum var paradoxum (few-flowered leek); bulbils (NB! DON’T PLANT AS IT IS VERY INVASIVE!)
Ligularia fischeri (gomchwi; Koreansk nøkketunge)
Taraxacum “Vert de Montmagny Ameliore”
Oenanthe javanica (seri)
Allium ovalifolium var. leuconervum
Allium schoenoprasum “Black Isle Blush” (chives; gressløk)
Rumex acetosa (sorrel; engsyre)
Hosta “Urui”
Allium ursinum (ramsons; ramsløk)
Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely; Spansk kjørvel)
Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach; stjernemelde)
Claytonia virginiana (spring beauty)
Taraxacum tortilobum (moss-leaved dandelion; mosebladet løvetann)
Anethum graveolens (dill)
Coriandrum sativum (coriander; coriander)
Allium victorialis (victory onion; seiersløk)
Begonia heracleifolia
Brassica oleracea (perennial kale; flerårig kål)
Allium sativum (garlic; hvitløk) shoots of garlic grown as a perennial.