Wealden Times | WT182 | April 2017 | Gardens supplement inside

WT Garden Supplement
dandelion
The Forgotten
Harvest
Expert forager Michael White
explains there’s more use
for garden invaders than
just compost fodder as he
explores edible weeds
Freeimages.com/AdrianaHerbut
chickweed
Productivity is everything in the
vegetable garden and to that end
every square inch and no end of
loving labour is employed to conjure
a good yield from the precious loam.
But what of the forgotten harvest,
the unbidden crop which appears
in the absence of work and care?
Weeds are easy to write off with a one
way ticket to the compost, but in fact
many are perfectly edible and can bring
a whole new dimension to cropping
the veg plot. At this time of year the
weed harvest is even more precious,
as it supplies fresh salad leaves and
greens, at a time when many cultivated
crops haven’t even germinated.
At the top of my tasty weed list
is chickweed stellaria media, a great
coloniser of cultivated ground which
forms tangled mats during the winter
months. To me it’s the iceberg lettuce
of the foraging world, mild and
sweet with a superb crunchy texture.
Select the young growth and use it
as a bulk salad ingredient or lightly
steamed for a delicate vegetable dish.
The dandelion taraxacum officinale
needs no introduction and despite
traditional beliefs, will not
29 wealdentimes.co.uk