Green in Snow

I’ve been helping out at a super project - FRESH is part of EcoWorks in the St. Ann’s Allotments. It’s a social enterprise, one arm of which supplies fresh vegetables to discriminating cafés in the city. So what can FRESH provide fresh in winter?

Claytonia (Claytonia perfoliata) (above) is a plant originally from the west coast of North America where the miners used it to prevent scurvy. It’s got lots of vitamin C and is also known as Miner’s Lettuce. It was introduced to Britain and grows wild where it is known as Spring Beauty. It takes to polytunnel life very well, popping up all over the place. I’ve noticed that some has started flowering, despite the cold.

Cornsalad (Valeriana locusta, also known as Lamb’s Lettuce) is also found wild, but with much smaller leaves than the salad variety. Also like Claytonia, it has high vitamin C levels and can even be grown outdoors. It's the dark green rosettes in the middle of the photo (taken before the snow meant more urgent tasks were impossible and we did a lot of weeding!)

American Land Cress (Barbarea verna) tastes like watercress but is easier to grow. Apparently it’ll even grow under Jerusalem artichokes, runner beans, corn, etc. Like the above, it has naturalised in Britain.

You know that mustard you grow to put with cress in an egg sandwich? This is what it looks like if you let it grow:

Each leaf is about 30cm long and wonderfully hot. It’s called ‘Giant Red’, and is a form of Mustard Greens (Brassica juncea). Its Wikipedia entry has interesting information about its role in Soul Food and remediation of contaminated soil. Also nice in salad, and I believe that mustard greens are the ‘methi’ in Indian food and appear in far eastern dishes too.

Green in Snow is Giant Red’s less powerful brother but still packs a punch. We've a whole greenhouse full of it!

FRESH also have Pak Choi, Tatsoi, Mizuna, Mibuna and various other tasty leaves.

Seeds and more info from the nice people at RealSeeds. Cultivation info on all these on the RHS website or BBC Gardening.