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Dear reader, Greetings to you all! Welcome to the new subscribers and thank you to the ongoing support of returning readers of my newsletter. We find ourselves near the end of 2021 and all the changes happening in our lives. It can be very stressful in an uncertain world as we journey into unknown territory. One thing that is always a constant and a comfort is the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening. I also like to ground myself into the present moment by listening to birds singing or walking in the garden admiring the plants and seeing what they are up to. Even plants growing on a balcony offer a connection with nature and are therapeutic friends. There is something new and different happening every day in my garden especially at this time of year in early summer here in New Zealand. Many plants are shooting up to flower and growing very fast. This is always refreshing and exciting to watch as they change. This newsletter is going to show lots of things happening in my garden with the wild edibles. I've just had a new batch of my books printed so if you'd like to order for Christmas presents or to learn more about the plants growing around you now is a good time to order. Go here.
I'm running one more workshop from my home and garden this year:
Sunday 5th December 2021 Chadwick Road. For more information and to register go here.
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Have you ever wondered how many edible leaves and flowers you might have in your garden? We wanted to find out so we set up a challenge. We just picked one leaf or flower of each thing and came up with 99 not red balloons as the song goes, but 99 edibles for a salad. My companion was a lovely young wwoofer (willing worker on organic farms) called Luisa who grew up in England with an Italian father and a NZ mother hence her NZ citizenship. She is a mad keen horticulturalist and excellent gardener and has been a wonderful help in my garden. Luisa wanted to learn more edible wild plants so we decided to do a ‘pickathon’ Here is the amazing list of what we found: |
left to right in clockwise order: mugwort, onion weed, rocket, rusian red kale, fennel, grape leaf, hawksbeard, calendula flower, celery, lovage, dock, cavelo nero, comfrey, wild celery, acrid lettuce, prickly lettuce, lettuce, chicory, chinese cabbage, endive, rodicchio, daylily shoot, radish leaf & flower, pineapple sage leaf and flower, galinsoga, corn salad leaf, hedge mustard, winter cress, cudweed, alpine strawberry, dandelion flower, gotu kola, hydrocotyl, red clover leaf & flower, citrus flower, seakale leaf and flowers, creeping mallow, dwarf mallow. |
Left to right and clockwise: stevia leaf, violet leaf, cudweed underside leaf, primrose flower, herb robert, narrow leaf plantain, buckshorn plantain, rosemary leaf and flower, horse radish leaf, puha flower and leaf, oregano, sweet marjoram, oxalis leaf and flower, yacon leaf, chickweed, onion leaf, magenta spreen, nasturtium leaf and flower, abutilon flower, hawksbeard leaf, catsear, dandelion, hawkbit, coriander, broadbean leaf, ivy leaf toadflax, parsley, heritage parsley, borage leaf and flower, speedwell, self heal, dove's food geranium mint, nipplewort, hollyhock, heartsease pansy flower. |
Purslane is the ultimate summer annual. It only germinates when the weather is really warm and it thrives on heat and dry. It's leaves are succulent and able to retain moisture making them crunchy to eat. They're said to contain the highest amount of Omega 3 in the plant world. Quite a reputation for a humble plant that grows on gravel paths, on hard compacted soil and other inhospitable places. It doesn't like competition from other plants and is easily shaded over. Notice the red stems that also show it's iron content - good for the blood. it came up in this seedling container with the African marigolds I grew from seed. |
My latest blog is about lettuce - the history of cultivated lettuce and the wild ones growing around us that are the ancestors of the lettuces we grow as a fresh vegetable. Read the blog here. |
Galinsoga has made its first appearance in my garden. I'm looking forward to including lots in salads and smoothies and pesto. The feathery plants are fumitory Fumaria parviflora I don't eat this plant as it is incredibly bitter, but an early NZ doctor used it to clear obstructions in the organs and as a liver tonic. But I would consult an herbalist before taking it medicinally just to be sure. The pink leaves are magenta spreen or tree spinach Chenopodium gigantium. Looks innocent as a little plant but this will reach 2m if I let it. There is also milk weed in the photo which you do not eat as it will burn your mouth. It is used externally for worts or surface skin caner. Even skin specialists suggest using it. I cover milk weed or Euphorbia peplus in the blog 'What plants not to eat'. |
Central Hawkes Bay Adventures
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During October from 9th until 17th I was down in Central Hawkes Bay. I was invited to be part of a Spring Garden festival which had two main events. The first was a day of celebrating herbs. I gave a presentation on the history of herbs followed by Bert van de Steeg of Malo restaurant in Havelock North talking us through the incredible Canapes he and his team prepared for us to indulge. The canapes were the most delicious, gourmet, visually intriguing small dishes using herbs and seaweed and many other things. Their names were equally as intriguing e.g Beetroot Clafoutis, Vadouvan, Japanese omelette and purple sage gel.
This event took place at Mangarara regenerative farm. It was a dream come true as I'd wanted to meet Greg and Rachel Hart and visit their farm for a long time. I was privileged to stay two nights in their glorious eco lodge that overlooks Horseshoe lake. It is a wonderful quiet place to stay where all you hear are birds singing from geese to grey warblers and many more.
The event and the following weekend's Foodscapes Open Garden Trail were organised by Breige Rendell and her amazing team. Breige arranged for me a wonderful time staying every two nights at a different home of inspiring, plant loving folk in the towns of Waipawa, Ongaonga and environments. I so loved being down there in smaller towns and countryside where it felt away from everything.
I ran two edible weed hands on workshops midweek from 'The coachhouse garden rooms' created by Amber who has put her heart and soul into transforming an original villa back to its glory. She is in the process of doing the same to the coachhouse. The main focus though are the garden rooms. She says on her website "Our passion is grounded in principles of using more native, heirloom, heritage, vintage and high scented floral and foliage favourites to make gardens a total pleasure of the senses". Seeing it in spring was exactly her description. See one of her gardens in the photo below.
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Magenta spreen or Tree spinach
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I couldn't leave out a mention of Magenta spreen Chenopodium giganteum the summer main stay vegetable. It provides SO much food just from one plant let alone this group. They'd get to 2m if left but they will be eaten so that the onions can grow. Magenta is very high in protein, vitamin C, and E, essential fatty acids, iron, calcium other minerals and antioxidants that can neutralise free radicals.
In the above photo Magenta is growing next to flowering rocket and they look so good together.
Magenta is drought tolerant with strong deep roots resulting in a very strong stem that is like wood at the end of the season. You can use it as a stake or cut up for a carbon contribution to your compost. |
Hollyhocks - soothing quality
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The hollyhocks have just started flowering and look stunning. They're tall, slender and the flowers open up the stem for a long time. The flowers, leaves, and seed pods are all edible. The leaves have a mucilaginous quality which is soothing to irritated mucous membranes. To get the benefit of this pick the leaves chop them up and soak in cold water overnight. In the morning you can warm the strained liquid for a soothing drink. |
The Sea kale is flowering at present producing lovely sprays of pure white flowers that have the scent of honey. They produce one seed per seedpod which is like bulsa wood - light but water tight so that the seeds can be carried on the currents of the ocean to new shores - this happens in its native home of the Baltic Sea in Europe where it grows on beaches. It's a sulphur rich plant and the beauty is that it is perennial so dies down in winter and comes up again in spring time. I have lots of images of it in the blog about it go here. |
Wishing you all a very wonderful, happy, safe, peaceful festive.
I'll leave you with this photo of the variety of fuchsia that to me has the nicest tasting berries that form after the flowers have finished.
Love and health, Julia |
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