Monday 26 May 2014

Nasturtiums - edible and beautiful

In this post, my first under the new blog name, I'll be discussing the edible flowers and leaves of the nasturtium, tropaeolum majus, amongst other edible plants and garden related themes. This one has survived the winter, crawling along the ground, curling around other plants and exploding in a show of colour. Planted in a big pot with some rocket, long harvested and now bolted, it has provided endless interest for the past few months, when my 20ft high, 20 year old Ceanothus arboreus 'Trewithen Blue' broke in three and crashed into the garden, in the St Valentine's Day storm of 14th February 2014.

I've been trying to get rid of a very invasive ground cover bamboo Pleioblastus Pygmaeus so there hasn't been much else to look at, apart from dead branches, except the curious nasturtium.
The year before I grew a beautiful deep blood red nasturtium, but this one has many colours on the same plant from cream flushed apricot/orange, to vermilion contrasting with the blue-green circular leaves. It is the same plant, I've checked!

Native to South and Central America and sometimes called Indian Cress, the leaves and flowers are edible with a peppery taste not unlike the true Nasturtium (watercress) which is a member of the Brassica family. They aren't related! You can use them in a number of ways like these ones


It goes without saying that these flowers and leaves should be pesticide free, so it's better to grow them yourself than buy them from a nursery or shop. You can make nasturtium butters and infuse vinegar with the leaves and flowers, nasturtium pesto, and use the unripe seed pods as a substitute for capers. For more nasturtium recipes and ideas visit Tastespotting. Or how about some marigold tortillas? Or Egg and Tomato Salad with Marigold and Chive Flowers? There are many flowers you can use, from courgettes to herbs, to lavender and rose petals, to borage flowers in your Pimm's to flavoured sugars. Apart from adding a wonderful splash of colour, they provide interesting and unusual tastes.
Why not try a Tactile Dinner, from La Cucina Futurista (the Futurist Cookbook)? Diabolical Roses: Red roses, battered and deep-fried, or Taste Buds Take Off: A soup of concentrated meat stock, champagne, and grappa, garnished with rose petals — “a masterpiece of brothy lyricism.” Heston Blumenthal, eat your heart out! This bonkers manifesto has been tainted by association with Mussolini who adopted it, but it contains some delightful and challenging concepts and ideas about food. The Futurists were concerned with, among other things, abolishing pasta and the knife and fork. 

A good source of information is the Edible Flower Shop, where you can also buy seeds, plants and dried petals - at a premium - so you might want to take the ideas and buy the seeds somewhere else. If you are catering, try Maddox Farm Organics. A list of edible flowers with links to photographs, and a companion list of toxic plants, is on About.com
Big mess o'branches!

Brie, studded with violas (from the Edible Flower Shop blog)
Glorious painterly nasturtium flowers all on the same plant
 
Big basil leaf - last year these grew hand-sized
Last but not least, a species daylily that has been in my garden for some years and has decided to produce flowers again this year. It is Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus, a plant grown since the 16th century and has sweetly scented flowers.

The beautiful and scented Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus (bought as H. flava) - they last more than a day, too


Tuesday 13 May 2014

The last post!

Beautiful and abundant

This is the final post for Goldsmiths Community Garden, which was reclaimed just over two years' ago in a neglected corner of the community centre grounds. I no longer maintain the garden but appreciate the initial work, donations of time, resources and plants by volunteers and local community organisations and groups, and the regular maintenance of the garden every Sunday by the Community Payback Team. The garden has been transformed but more importantly kept under control and ownership, and this has spread to the rest of the grounds which now look wonderful, open and inviting.

These photographs were taken on 13 May 2014 and the one of the bulb display in April.    

Thanks go to all the supporters of the community garden with special mention to Elwood Amey for his horticultural advice, experience and persistence; to Anne Marie at Lewisham Gardens for her enthusiasm, friendship and contacts; to Ruth Webber, Downham Nutrition Partnership, for her encouragement and friendship in making the garden accessible; to Delicious most Nutritious, for their enthusiasm and participation in making use of the  garden plants; to Goldsmiths centre users and groups for their voluntary work and donations; to Ruth and Suriya for their inspiration and enthusiasm for creating the herb spiral and introducing me to permaculture; to Katy Delaney at Lewisham Council Green Scene Community Garden Grants and compost/love food hate waste workshops; and to Capital Growth, the RHS/Groundwork Re-Use scheme and Grow Wild, and the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association for grants and donations.