THE GARDEN STORY

This week, as I am sitting in my writing hut nestled at the back of my garden with the door open, sun warming the air and spring birdsong filling my ears, I am going to share another passion with you.

My forest garden project.

A few years ago, we wanted to move to a smaller house with land so I could grow more fruit trees. While we were searching and waiting for finances to work out, I researched growing fruit trees and somehow along the way I stumbled into Martin Crawford’s Forest Garden. Not literally but on youtube. 

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OUR EDIBLE PLANTS

GARLIC MUSTARD

I’d like to introduce you to a plant we didn’t sow into our garden and in fact for many years we it pulled up and dumped in the compost not knowing how nutritious and tasty it was. We called it a weed in our ignorance, now it has a name and a place in our diet.

This plant is Garlic Mustard – Alliaria petiolate.

It is native to Europe, western and central Asia, north-western Africa, Morocco, Iberia, the British Isles, Scandinavia, northern Pakistan and Xinjiang in western China. In these countries it does no harm to other plants.

However, in The US the chemicals from its roots harm the fungi which are beneficial to US trees.

It is happy in many different soils and living conditions, but this does effect it’s potency. The dryer the soil the more bitter it is.

Identifying



It is easy to identify as there are no other plants similar once it has grown a stem.

It has three leaf shapes. The lower leaves are rounded, the middle less so and the top leaves are triangular. The leaves are alternate up the stem and near the top of the plant new shoots grow between the stem and leaf. These produce flower and then seeds.

The flowers are tiny and white with four petals in a star shaped pattern.

Crush the leaves and they have a garlic tang, again this varies in strength.

Nutritional value –

Garlic mustard contains fiber, Vitamin A, E, C, B-carotene, Calcium, Zinc, Mangonese and Iron, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, copper as well as cancer preventing chemicals – isothiocyanates and allyl sulfides.

Wow, what a lot of goodness in a tiny package.

Eating Garlic Mustard

Leaves –

If it is not bitter add the leaves raw to salad

If too bitter for your liking cook for a few minutes in butter – yum. Or put in boiling water for about 5 minutes.

Add to soups, stews, use as a leaf green like kale.

Roots –

Tastes like horseradish – strength varies.

Seeds –

Collect on a dry day, store and use as a pepper substitute.

A Recipe to try -

Garlic Mustard Pesto

USEFUL BOOKS