Shining and black, tightly packed and full of flavour. Each segment a tiny drupe, like a miniature stone fruit, they line the lanes and roadsides of the Irish countryside. Blackberries are abundant, their prickled stems arch over the hedgerows and back to the soil where each stem can take root at its tip and continueContinue reading “Picking Blackberries and Blackberry Jam Recipe”
Category Archives: Grow Your Own
I fought the root and the root won…. cooking burdock roots
The story goes, George de Mestral took his dog for a walk and then invented Velcro. The Swiss inventor took his canine for a stroll one day sometime in the 1940s and upon arriving home he noticed that his dog has in this fur the spiky seed heads of Actium minus otherwise known as Burdock.Continue reading “I fought the root and the root won…. cooking burdock roots”
Berberis darwinii – Barberry Jelly Recipe
A Chilean native, discovered by the god father of evolution, Charles Darwin in 1835 and introduced by the great plant hunter William Lobb for the legendary Veitch plant nursery Berberis darwinii was brought to Europe in 1849 by legends of the horticultural and scientific worlds. Since then this evergreen barberry has deservedly been a popularContinue reading “Berberis darwinii – Barberry Jelly Recipe”
Eating hogweed shoots- Heracleum sphodylium, collecting and cooking.
Hogweed, not the giant one grows in our garden, close to where the spruce trees tower and cast shade over the dwarf rhododendrons, dwarf Podocarpus and assorted conifers in what we refer to as the office garden. My view from the computer desk looks out on to this area, well part of it, the hogweedsContinue reading “Eating hogweed shoots- Heracleum sphodylium, collecting and cooking.”
Honey Berry, Siberian Blue Berry – Lonicera caerulea var. kamstchatica
This morning before I left to supervise the Royal Horticultural Society examinations taking place in our Galway centre today, I enjoyed a bowl of muesli topped with berries of Lonicera caerulea var. kamtschatica- it is so uncommon in gardens that there has yet to be a common name adopted for it; honey berry, blue honeysuckle and siberian blueberry. WhateverContinue reading “Honey Berry, Siberian Blue Berry – Lonicera caerulea var. kamstchatica”
Growing A Stir-fry part 2 – Chop Suey Greens
Chop suey greens are sometimes called chrysanthemum greens. They have a nice aromatic flavour, the leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. The young stems and leaves are great in a stir fry. Chop suey greens are types of Chrysanthemums, botanists have done a bit of chopping and slicing of the Chrysanthemum genus and theContinue reading “Growing A Stir-fry part 2 – Chop Suey Greens”
Growing a stir fry- Pak-choi
Quick, easy, healthy and tasty, stir frying retains the goodness of your freshly harvested vegetables and with the addition of chili, garlic and spices you have a quickly prepared and flavoursome meal. This year in the garden we have grown pak-choi. It is a cabbage relative, Brassica rapa Chinensis Group with distinct wide white midribsContinue reading “Growing a stir fry- Pak-choi”
Ciaran The Gardener 