It was grown in a cold room in the house all year as previous experience had shown that outside plants managed to survive our winter but that the plants started sprouting very late (June) and hardly grew during the summer. I suspect that although they are relatively hardy they need much warmer summer temperatures than we can offer in this part of Norway. I decided to repot my plant today and also divide so that I can offer to a few members of Norwegian Seed Savers (KVANN) to try mainly in the warmer parts of Norway.
While transplanting I accidentally knocked off a couple of shoots, so I had a little taste at lunch with an olive oil / soy sauce dressing. Crunchy and mild tasting!
Hablitzia roots have an astonishing number of shoots waiting to grow if you cut them down…I like to think that this is an adaptation to human grazing pressure, so that we can repeatedly harvest without killing the plants ;)
Root cuttings work to quickly multiply plants , just ensure you use a sharp knife and have at least one shoot on each root slice! See the pictures!
I germinate seed of perennials naturally in a cold frame in the garden. They then germinate when they are ready. Due to much travelling in May, I hadn’t got round to potting on any of the seedlings that had germinated outside… Luckily it has been very cool all of April and May, so that most of the seedlings were still in good condition. However, there were more seedlings than I had bargained on and I finally finished at 10:45 last night after 10 hours potting on some 160 species in the garden!
The cold germination frame in a normal winter – the top is covered with Enviromesh so that precipitation can pass through and it doesn’t get too hot.
A view in the cold frame before germination starts
160 new pots was the result of yesterday’s work. But, where will they all go when big enough?
Osmorhiza – seed from the woods of Woodstock, Vermont last autumn!
Canadian wood nettle (Laportea canadensis) seedlings from New York
So far so good, excellent germination outside of Persian shallot (Alium altissimum) – they had germinated some time ago and the young bulbs are already clearly visible. Planted out yesterday at different spacings to see how quickly they grow!
I take cuttings of my perennial kales each autumn both to share with others and in case the mother plants die outside (they are marginally hardy here). They are in the loft bedroom where there’s no heat and it can freeze, but this winter it hasn’t. They are all looking good, only a couple haven’t rooted! I keep them isolated up there with the door closed to keep aphids off the plants.
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
