Edible perennials with Stephen Barstow

Stephen Barstow workshop on edible perennials was fascinating, Stephen, aka The Extreme Salad Man, author of Around the World in 80 Plants, lives in Norway and grows 2000 species of edible plants in his garden. Hosted by The Land Gardeners, Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy, of Wardington Manor nr Banbury, it was an information-packed day and we foraged an amazing 36 species salad for lunch from the vegetable gardens and flower borders, picking the parts of plants often overlooked, such as oca leaves, bistort, flower heads of parsnip, parsley , scorzonera, salsify, rose petals, alliums, hosta, stems of Crambe and more. Needless to say a lot of ‘weeds’ were picked too, including bittercress, chickweed, and ground elder.