Yesterday, I gave my first talk about my (second) love of onions (alternative title All you wanted to know about Alliums but were afraid to ask!)….fittingly in the nursery with I believe the best selection of Alliums being sold as foodplants in Europe if not the world , my friend Aiah Noack’s Naturplanteskolen just outside of Copenhagen. Aiah is the author of an excellent book Fantasilater (fantasy salads), only in Danish so far which also includes several Alliums. My book Around the World in 80 plants mentions some 45 Allium species!
In a little over 2 hours I covered about 66 of the world’s cold hardy onions and over 80 if we include cultivars and subspecies…
Other onion related topics were also covered, such as “grow your own fireworks and Xmas decorations”, “Allium as a dancing partner”, the Allium microphone (Alliomike) and the garlic scape armband to keep “wild” animals, trolls and mosquitos away (Transylvanian Garlic keeps vampires away too)… It was a fun afternoon with yet another great group of edimentals fans! ;)
The video is of one of my pictures about drying Persian Shallots with a shot of my drying racks over my wood burning stove. Someone noticed that you could actually see heat rising through the racks!!!! (a wood burning stove was on behind the projector) ;)
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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
A good crowd of students at today’s class from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, from permaculturists to nursery owners! Worn out and “empty” after 7 hours talking inside and outside collecting the salad ingredients :-)
Thank you Aiah Noack for organising this weekend at Grennessminde yesterday and at Naturplanteskolen near Copenhagen today ;-)
On the final morning of the Naturplanteskolen visit to Norway, we visited the Ringve botaniske hage in Trondheim. We started with the Renaissance garden, comprising a collection of 123 useful plants mentioned in Norway’s first gardening book, Horticultura, from 1694! We then wandered through the arboretum where mainly coniferous trees are planted geographically around the central pond, representing the Arctic Ocean! We stopped at the pond to talk about one of the world’s most useful plants,known as Supermarket of the Swamps in North America, Bulrush, cattails or dunkjevle! We passed a glade of Mandchurian walnuts (no nuts to be seen this year), then on to a naturalistic planting of Hosta, marvelled at the collection of old perennials, had a quick look at some interesting useful plants in the systematic garden, before finally walking through the “Parken” to the music museum from where we said our goodbyes :( See the picture galelry at the bottom of this page!
In 2002 I made a renaissance salad containing 80 of the plants in this garden at the opening ceremony. Here’s a document showing what was included, more information and the Middle Age recipe used:
The Renaissance Garden at Ringve is a tribute to the first Norwegian book of gardening, published in Trondheim in 1694. Both the geometrical form and the plants in the Renaissance Garden follow guidelines in the book. The division into quarters and symmetrical beds are part of the Renaissance idea that man could master nature. The plants were all useful, and are a mix of vegetables, medicinal plants, herbs, fiber plants, and ornamental plants. The Renaissance Garden holds 123 species or varieties of species. The plant labels give information about the name and the traditional usage of each plant, also in English. A list of the plants´ scientific names is found here: http://www.ntnu.no/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=3c71f8ca-322c-4b20-b403-a28579b587bb&groupId=10476 The first Norwegian book of gardening was called “Horticultura” and was written by Christian Gartner, who was a “city gardener” of Trondheim in the late 1600s. He wrote the book to promote gardening in Mid-Norway at a time when this was considered to be very far north.
Allium x proliferum / / Egyptian onion / luftløk – this was a suprise as my research has only managed to trace these hybrid onions back to 1794, in Germany. Must check if these are mentioned in Horticultura?
Roseroot / rosenrot
Gentiana purpurea / søterot is a rare wild plant in our area and a fantastic plant when in full flower… See http://artskart.artsdatabanken.no/FaneKart.aspx?Date=0,0&LnID=102180&GPND=True&DT=11111&BBOX=-921992,6424201,1960159,7966051&Height=765&Width=1430
Kåre with Gentiana lutea
Cnicus benedictus / Blessed Thistle / Benediktinertistel
Salvia officinalis
Chicory / sikkori
Mustard heavily attacked by diamond back moth (kålmøll)
Garlic / hvitløk
We talked about how the use of the nutritious pollen of bulrush / dunkjevle had been used as a flour to make pollen cakes in all continents!
Edible bulrush /dunkjevle rhizomes…
Juglans mandscurica / Manchurian walnut glade
Mini kiwis with fruit! (Actinidia kolomikta) :)
Ground cover of edible Hostas in the Far East forest area
Oplopanax horridus…a bit dry here for this moisture loving forest plant that can be 3m tall!
The collection of old perennials
Admiring a double sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica)
A double Martagon lily
I was surprised to see Mertensia ciliata here… I hadn’t noticed this before in the old perennials garden…a good perennial vegetable from North America :)
There is also a collection of old perennial herbs…here an old chive / gressløk
An old turnip from mid-Norway
Søren Holt’s favourite herb tea is from this plant, Bergenia cordifolia!
Several people commented on Inula royleana in full flower. This plant is from the Himalaya, is not edible but has been used medicinally.
Platycodon grandiflorus / balloon flower is cultivated in the far east for its edible roots. It seems to grow very well at Ringve. I’ve struggled to overwinter it in Malvik.
A well deserved rest after 4 energetic days!
Rheum alexandrae in seed… do the leaf bracts protect the seed from rain?
Rheum alexandrae in seed… do the leaf bracts protect the seed from rain?
NævrahøletOstrich fern / strutsevingSaxifraga cotyledon / Mountain Queen / Flelldronning racemes hanging from the rocks to the right of the waterfall…An island of ostrich fern / strutseving in the riverAlys Fowler in Nævrahølet
Almost exactly 6 years ago (is it really that long ago?) I was delighted to have a visit from BBC gardening presenter and Guardian writer Alys Fowler. After we finished photographing the garden I took her on a tour to Vennafjellet, the closest mountain to home and we also stopped at Nævrahølet, a local swimming “hole” under a small waterfall! It was a glorious hot day in “paradise”. It’s now known as Alys’ Pool and a picture of her swimming here features in her book the Thrifty Forager!
6 years on I did the same trip with the group of Danes who have been learning about permaveggies in my garden! It was a much colder day, but two of us did venture into the water. It wasn’t as bad as feared! One thing I hadn’t noticed on Alys’ visit was that there were several plants of Mountain Queen (Saxifraga cotyledon) hanging in full flower around the waterfall!
See the video of Ostrich Fern Island below:
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On Sunday of the Danish Malvik permaveggies course, we drove to near the top of the closest mountain from home to see the views and the rich flora: Vennafjellet (Faseknippen) and walked over to Baklifjellet
Please feel free to add names to plants and people!
See the whole album here: http://www.edimentals.com/pictures/index.php?/category/114
On 13th August I’ll be doing an edible wander at Grennessminde, the organic nursery just outside of Copenhagen. A large number of edible flowers are also produced here for Michelin restaurant NOMA. I popped in for a quick look on Tuesday with project leader Aiah Noack who is also (together with Naturplanteskolen) organising a trip from Denmark and Southern Sweden to my garden around 15th – 19th July! There are still some places available!
Red mitsuba (Cryptotaenia japonica)WatercressEdible flowers, MalvaEdible flowers, OxalisEdible flowers, FuchsiaEdible flowers, OxalisAllium fistulosumRumex acetosa “Abundance” (non-flowering form)Lepidium latifolium – Nordic wasabi :)Cochlearia (scurvy grass)Variegated ground elder (Aegopodium podograria variegata)Aster scaber, Korea asterAster scaber, Korea asterPink-flowered dandelion, Taraxacum pseudoroseumAllium cernuum, Chicago onionAllium hookeri, Hooker’s onionCanada violet, Viola canadensisAtriplex hortensis “Aurea” / Golden orachAllium “Summer Beauty”Rumex patientia, patience dockAllium fistulosumFragaria “Lipstick”Fragaria “Lipstick”Grennessminde fantasy lunch!Grennessminde fantasy lunch!
I’ve had a couple of meetings in Copenhagen over the last couple of days and I visited Naturplanteskolen again. The nursery was looking really good and plants had grown dramatically since I gave the course there only 3 weeks ago!
In the latest edition of Danish magazine Praktisk Økologi, there’s an article “En fantastisk februarsalat” (“a fantastic february salad”) written by Naturplanteskolen’s Aiah Noack after a visit to my place in February 2015 :)
