Ground Elder

Aegopodium podagaria

NL: Zevenblad / F: 
L'égopode podagraire

Also known as goutweed, ground elder is one of the first abundant edible greens that appear in spring time, together with cow parsley and nettles. It has a long history of being used as medicine-food. It was cultivated as food crop in the middle ages (probably before that too), and that seems to me a very smart thing since it is such a strong plant that does not need much care, growing strongly in harsh conditions, at a time when not many other plant foods are available. 

The young tender leaves are preferred, before the plant is in flower. The flowering point can be postponed however by harvesting the top of the plants regularly. When the leaves are a bit more mature they can get a less appealing taste and they may act as laxative. Choosing only younger leaves before the flowers come out seems to be the way to go! They can be prepared as spinach, in stews, soups, sandwich, pies, you name it.

In old folk medicine ground elder got a good reputation for helping to prevent and treat gout, arthritis and rheumatic complaints. For that purpose, ground elder was particular popular in its external applications, as warm poultice (leaves and roots). A poultice of the leaves can also be employed to help heal burns, bites and wounds. It is also diuretic and has a mild sedative effect. 

Here is a video to help you to identify ground elder:

Ground Elder - Aegopodium podagaria - WildFoodUK

Forget me Nots

Myosotis arvensis

M. sylvatica  / M. scorpioides / M. alpestris

NL: Vergeet-mij-nietje / F: Myosotis

The blue-pinkish flowers of this plant look great in our garden, blooming for up to 5 weeks long. 

Its flowers can be added to decorate salads, but as the plant contain varying levels of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, it should be used in small amounts only. 

The whole plant is astringent and it has been used in herbal medicine as an effective remedy for several eye conditions, including conjunctivitis. It is also a handy first aid herb to help stop bleeds when applied externally, fresh or in powder (dried). 

Garlic Mustard

Alliaria petiolata

NL: Look-zonder-look / F: Herbe à ail

Despite of its name, garlic mustard is not from the family of garlics, but from the mustards (Brassicaceae / Cruciferae). It is a popular edible, used widely in pestos, salad dressings and as a salad ingredient too. Leaves, flowers and seeds are all edible. The leaves are best eaten in early spring, as it may get bitter when the weather turns warmer. Roots can also be eaten, prepared as horseradish, having a similar taste. 

the younger the leaves, the tastier

It contains a lot of advantages from its more known family members, such as being rich in vitamins A, C, magnesium, calcium, omega 3 fatty acids, flavonoids and isothiocyanates - which are thought to help protect our body against various types of cancer. 

In traditional herbalism garlic mustard is used as antiseptic (for wounds, ulcers, cuts...), vulnerary, antiasthmatic, diaphoretic and antiscorbutic. The roots can be processed into a purée or cooked in oil (over low fire in bain-marie) and applied as poultice (or oil) into the chest to help relieve bronchitis. 

Garlic mustard is considered as highly invasive, especially due to its allelochemicals, that keep other plants in the surroundings from germinating. The solution is pretty simple: harvest it and consume it. It can be preserved as pesto, jarred in sterile pots or dried for further culinary or medicinal use. 

This plant is apparently food for more than 60 species of insects and 7 types of fungus, so it surely has an important role to play in nature.

Here is a nice video with several handy tips to use garlic mustard:

Edible Plants: Garlic Mustard 

California poppy

Eschscholzia californica

NL: Slaapmutsje / F: Pavot de Californie

This plant makes its appearance spontaneous in many grounds, but luckily its gorgeousness will prevent most people from removing it from their garden. In fact, many people even plant it as an ornamental in their gardens. 

Its seeds are edible, as are the seeds of other family members of this plant (Papaveracea). In traditional medicine it has been employed as sedative, milder than opium, to treat insomnia, without risks of dependency. It is also known for its antidepressant, antihistaminic, antispasmodic and anxyolitic properties. 

Its leaves before flowering

As a muscle relaxant, it helps to relieve some kind of pains. It is also said to relieve toothache, nervous tension, anxiety, panic attacks and to reduce stress. 

California Poppy has also been studied for its effect in improving certain brain functions such as concentration and memory.

It induces sweating and urination, but at the same time it has also been used to treat incontinence. 

Externally it can be used to speed up wound healing, as it has also contains antimicrobial substances.

It should not be used by lactating mothers as it suppresses milk secretion.

It finds its way even in the harshest environments

Here is a video with more practical information on how to grow this herb:

California Poppy, from HerbMentor

Wild Pansy

Viola tricolor

A.k.a. Heartsease   
NL: Driekleurig viooltje / F: Pensée sauvage

Another spontaneous plant that can beautifully decorate our gardens as well as take part in original salad creations. It is rich in beta carotene and vitamin C.

This plant has been used in traditional herbalism for a long list of conditions, including:

• bronchitis, asthma and other respiratory conditions, for its expectorant properties.
• skin irritations, psoriasis, acne and eczema - as a blood purifying herb.
• rheumatism and cystitis, due to its diuretic properties and salicylic acids.

There is no scientific data on toxicity or risks of overconsumption, even though some herbalists warn that nausea and skin irritation can appear as a result of using too much of it.

Hairy Bittercress

NL: kleine veldkers / F: cardamine hérissée

Cardamine hirsuta

This cute plant from the family of the mustard remains green through the winter months. 

As other plants from this family (Brassicacea), this one is also loaded with vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, beta carotene, antioxidants and sulfur-containing compounds that boost immunity and help in cancer prevention. 

You can find this plant in flower now in most places, particularly in shadowy corners.

In this video you can learn to identify this cress:

Wild Edible Bittercress

Tansy

Tanacetum vulgare

NL: Boerenwormkruid / F: Tanaisie commune

Tansy can already be seen growing with full power all over the fields where we go walk with our dogs, as well as in our own garden. This is one of my favorites! 

Although is not an edible, it is a great plant to have in the garden. It protects other plants from attacks of parasites and undesirable insects while it attracts beneficial insects, such as bees.  It can be dried and stored for further use as “remedy” in the garden. For that purpose, a strong decoction of the entire plant is made, drained and used to spray plants. It also helps to concentrate potassium in the soil, so it is a superb herb to have next to composting piles. 

For its repellent properties, it is a nice plant to have near the kitchen. The dried plant can also be used in sachets to protect the house against flies and it even protects clothes from being eaten by different insects. 

It can also be used to protect dogs from fleas and ticks. Use a strong decoction massaged on their fur after washing them. 

Traditionally this plant used to be prescribed as a good anthelmintic (against worms), hence its Dutch name “boerenwormkruid” (literally= the farm’s herb for worms). Some herbalists still prescribe this plant to treat migraines, painful menstruation, fevers, rheumatism, meteorism (when gas is stuck in the intestines and needs to get out). 

Before the invention of pesticides, tansy was widely used to repel flies. For that it had its oil distilled and then diluted in alcohol, alone or together with other plant oils such as fleabane and pennyroyal. 

It was also used as a food spice wish pulses dishes, such as lentils, in order to prevent gas formation, helping digestion. 

A strong decoction of the plant can be used in the bathwater as tonic and to help treat skin infections. 

Its toxicity is mostly attributed to a substance called thujone, which can be found in varied amounts in different plants, at different stages of its growth. Before using it internally you better get informed about safety on dosage or use a herb that has had its thujone content safely measured. 

Many organic farmers have started to plant this precious plant in their gardens, in order to offer protection to other cultivated plants. 

The video below will help you to identify tansy:

Identifying Common Tansy

Click in the link below for a nice and extensive article on tansy:

Tansy - Tanacetum vulgare - Common Sense Homesteading

Cat’s Ear

Hypochoeris radicata

Also called flatweed or false dandelion. NL: Biggenkruid / F: Porcelle enracinée

This plant is usually mistaken by dandelion, perhaps because of its bright yellow flower, which also ends up releasing its seeds as windborne “parachutes”. There are a few major differences: cat’s ear has hairy leaves and its leaves have round-dented lobes, while dandelion leaves have sharply toothed angles. 

detail of the hairy leaves

 
Now we are busy comparing both anyway, cat’s ear leaves are not so bitter as dandelion leaves and can be more easily accepted in salads, stews, soups. The root of this plant can be roasted and used to make a coffee, the same way as it is done with dandelion roots.

This is one of the plants that can be harvested as food almost the whole year through. Its leaves can be sometimes found healthily green even under a heavy layer of snow.

There is some risk of toxicity for horses, so you might want to remove it from meadows where horses are supposed to eat from. 

it has multiple flowers per stem

There are other edibles that look like dandelions. Some of them are briefly described in the following blog:

False Dandelions for Lunch - Eat the Weeds


In the link below you can see a nice video from Wild Plant Forager where you can get extra tips on how to use this plant and how to distinguish them from dandelions:

Cat's Ear - Hypochaeris radicata - Wild Plant Forager 

Spring time! - Baby Weeds

It’s still too cold to actually celebrate spring, but you have probably already started your seedlings in nurseries or indoors and some baby plants are anxiously waiting to get to the real ground. If only it would get a little warmer. In the meantime you have already spotted lots of little plants coming up spontaneously all over your garden. But you had other plans for your garden than to grant it entirely to these “opportunistic” plants. Wondering what to do with these “weeds”? Perhaps it is a good moment to learn to identify them. Getting to know the true value of each of these plants may help you to make better decisions concerning their “destiny”. 

Many of the plants considered weeds contain in fact higher nutritional value than our cultivated leafy vegetables. Some of these opportunistic plants can also improve the health of the soil where we want to grow our vegetables while others can speed up and enrich composting piles. Some can even be used in natural preparations to strengthen cultivated plants, protecting them from diseases and from plague attacks.

Here are some garden jewels that you might want to keep or use in one or another way (salads, juices, soups, liquid compost, fertilizer or natural plant spray). This is how they look in their early days:
(read more below the pictures...)

Malva sylvestris - Common Mallow

Aegopodium podagaria - Ground Elder

Alliaria petiolata - Garlic Mustard

Hypochoeris radicata - Cat's Ear

Anthriscus sylvestris - Wild Chervil / Cow Parsley

Bellis perennis - Daisy

Stellaria media - Chickweed

Taraxacum officinale - Dandelion

Bellis perennis - Daisy

Equisetum arvense - Horsetail

Cardamine spp - Bittercress

Cardamine spp - Bittercress

Glechoma hederacea - Ground Ivy

Plantago lanceolata - Plantain

Veronica filiformis - Speedwell

Urtica dioica - Nettles

Achillea millefolium - Yarrow

But there are also a few poisonous plants that pop up spontaneously in your garden which you might not want to see growing together with your vegetables, in particular plants that can pass on toxic substances to other plants through their roots. It is thus pretty handy to learn about those too, since many of them are easier to be removed in their early stage.

This site is filled with useful information on the various common weeds that can be found pretty much all over Europe. It offers nature-friendly solutions to deal with any plant that is not “desirable” on your garden:

Organic Weed Management - A-Z listing of weeds

For those living in non-English speaking countries, you may want to search them by their latin names, if you are not familiar with their common name in English:

Organic Weed Management - A-Z listing by latin name

Winter Survival Food

With the chilling winds and freezing temperatures forecast for the next couple of days (at least), I feel like sharing two great articles on winter edibles I came across on a great blog:

Winter Survival Food - part 1
Winter Survival Food - part 2

Sow Thistle

Sonchus oleraceus

NL: Melkdistel / F: Laiteron

This plant has powerful medicinal properties, with some toxicity, but at the same time it is also highly nutritious. It contains, per 100g, around 30mg of vitamin C, 1500 mg of Calcium and 45 mg of Iron. The dried leaves contain up to 28g of protein per 100g - a great nutritional supplement. Use only young leaves as edibles, raw, in salads or cooked, as spinach.

In the garden, they perform great function as a “sacrificial plants”, helping to control some fly, moths and aphids that attack some plants.

This strong plant grabs every little chance to grow.

Its applications in traditional folk medicine around the world are numerous: blood purifier, hepatic, sedative, febrifuge, tonic, pectoral, and there are even mentions of its use to treat cancer and to help people to quit opium addiction. Its white “milk” can be used to get rid of warts (like other milky plants).






Here is a video to help you to properly identify Sow Thistle:
Spiny-Leaved Sow Thistle, by the New Survivalist


More information on the medicinal properties of this plant:
Earth Medicine Institute: Sonchus oleraceus


Here you can get a thorough course on this plant:
Sonchus oleraceaus - Survival Plants Memory Course