White Clover

Trifolium repens

NL: Witte klaver / F: Trèfle blanc

White clover is found growing abundantly in various types of environments and soils. In urban areas it can be spotted all over grass fields as it is widely used to improve lawn quality. It is one of the most popular, easy-to-use green manure plants, helping to fix nitrogen into the soil, strengthening the health of the surrounding plants. It is particularly great to be sown together with crops from the grass family, such as rye, barley, rice... Permaculture master Masanobu Fukuoka used it widely in his highly productive rice fields. 

White clover is also an amazing “living mulch”. It makes a great soil cover, keeping it moist, helping to restore soil fertility and preventing erosion. It is thus handy to have it grown for instance on the sides of raised garden beds or as cover for pathways. It also attracts bees and other pollinators.

It is a highly nutritious edible, particularly the young leaves, which can be eaten raw or prepared as spinach.  The young leaves should be harvested before the plant comes into flower. Flowers and seed pods are also edible and can be dried in a shadowy, ventilated place and kept for further use. The flowers can be used in tea infusions and the dried seeds can be powdered and used to enrich the mineral and protein content of cooked meals. Do not eat the seeds raw.

In the history of herbal medicine white clover has been used as a general tonic, to prevent and treat rheumatic conditions, colds, coughs and also as depurative. The flowers can be prepared as infusion to be used in eye lotions or genital wash to treat leucorrhoea. 

Here is an interesting article on why to grow white clover in the garden:

6 reasons why I choose white clover as a living mulch:

And here is a short video with a few tips on how to eat it and use it medicinally:

White Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens) LuminEarth

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