You can learn more about forest gardening, permaculture, and why we grow the plants we grow in our Forest Gardening article here.
Not everything on this list is available all the time, but everything (edible) that's available in the gardens is on this list. Listings indicate the main harvest time for each crop.
As a rule, greens are best picked before flowering, while the new season's growth is still fresh. If cut back after flowering, most will then produce new fresh growth to eat.
WARNING: It is impossible to completely eradicate non-edible plants from the gardens, and hazards exist if you pick the wrong plant. Please note in particular that daffodils, foxgloves and many types of fungi are common in the gardens and should not be eaten. Please positively identify anything you plan to eat from the gardens using this guide or another reliable source.
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Alexanders (aka Wild Celery, Black Lovage)
Care: None. Remove dead material at end of season.
Harvest: Young fresh leaves, stems, flower buds. Tastes similar to celery, but sharper.
Eat: In salads or steamed/wilted. Use flower buds like broccoli, or pickle them. This wild green was once much used in Roman and British cooking.
SPRING
Angelica
Care: None. Remove dead material at end of season.
Harvest: Leaves and stems.
Eat: This herb is used to flavour martini! Use the leaves for tea or seasoning, in salads or in steamed/wilted greens, or candy the chopped stems in sugar.
SUMMER
Apple Mint
The mint for cocktails. Snip tops when harvesting, to promote new growth. Cut back after flowering. Do not allow to invade – limit runners regularly.
SPRING, SUMMER
Basil
Care: Pick regularly to encourage bushy growth.
Harvest: Leaves, all summer. Snip tops of stems rather than picking individual leaves.
Eat: Raw or added ad the end of cooking (fresh or dried). Pairs particularly well with tomatoes, and in Italian dishes.
SUMMER
Bay
Harvest: Pick individual leaves, at any time of year
Care: Trim after flowering, to create an even shape and encourage new growth.
Eat: Use whole to flavour soups, stocks and stews. Remove leaf before serving.
ALL YEAR ROUND
Beetroot
Care: None. Resow in April.
Harvest: When roots are golf-ball size or bigger. Leaves can also be picked in moderation.
Eat: Grated raw in salads, boiled or baked, or in pickles/chutneys.
SUMMER, AUTUMN
Blackberry
Care: Prune in winter, when dormant: cut out fruited canes. Feed and mulch in early spring.
Harvest: When berries are black.
Eat: Raw or cooked into pies, jams and crumbles.
SUMMER
Blackcurrant
Care: Prune in winter, when dormant: remove weak, wispy shoots and any very old branches to the base, retaining 6-10 healthy main shoots. Feed and mulch in early spring.
Harvest: When berries are fully black.
Eat: In cordial, cooked into sauces or desserts, or mixed with other raw berries and sweetened with a little sugar.
DONATED BY CARPENTER'S NURSERY - THANK YOU!
SUMMER
Borage
EDIBLE FLOWERS: We mostly grow borage for the bees, but the leaves and flowers are edible with a mild cucumber flavour. The leaves are best cooked, with stems removed, in pastas or soups. The flowers look great in salads and cocktails. Try freezing them into ice cubes for a posh do!
SUMMER
Broadleaf Thyme
Care: Trim lightly after flowering, to encourage fresh growth and good shape.
Harvest: Leaves, any time. Snip stems rather than picking individual leaves, to encourage new growth.
Eat: As flavouring in a wide variety of dishes!
SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN
Calendula
EDIBLE FLOWERS: Calendula petals are edible and have long been used for skin-soothing and healing ointments too. Try sprinkling them into salad or soup, baking into breads and cakes, or make a tea by steeping in hot water – some say this can help sore throats and infections! Calendula is great in the garden for attracting beneficial insects such as hoverflies.
SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN
Carrot
Care: Thin to 5cm to allow roots to develop, removing all thinnings from the area. Resow next year.
Harvest: When roots are a useful size – use fingers to check size below the soil before pulling up.
SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER
Caucasian Vining Spinach
Care: None required. Remove dead material in autumn.
Harvest: Individual leaves, or pick new shoots (leaving some to develop) and use whole.
Eat: Use leaves as spinach, or treat shoots similar to asparagus.
SPRING (pick in March and April only)
Chard (aka Swiss Chard - stems may be white, red, pink, yellow, orange)
Care: Sow April-September and plant out when plants are a few inches high. Water well in dry periods. Pick regularly to encourage fresh leaves. Remove flower stalks if they appear.
Harvest: Pick individual leaves, all year round.
Eat: As spinach. Steam for a side dish or add to egg dishes, pasta dishes, curries, bakes, soups etc. Stems may take longer to cook – many people prefer to chop them separately and add them to the pan 2-3 minutes ahead of the leaves.
AUTUMN, WINTER, SPRING
Chervil
Care: Allow to self-sow before cutting back, or resow annually.
Harvest: Leaves, in spring (flavour may turn bitter upon flowering).
Eat: Use as flavouring, especially with fish or eggs or in salads.
CAUTION: In the wild there are plants which look similar to chervil but are very poisonous – do not pick from the wild unless you have done your research.
AUTUMN, WINTER, SPRING
Chilean Guava
Care: Trim lightly in spring.
Harvest: When berries are dark pink and soft. Berries taste like strawberry and pine, and were reputedly Queen Victoria’s favourite fruit!
Eat: Raw, in dessert recipes instead of blueberries, or in jams or ‘murta con membrillo’.
WINTER (usually late November/December only)
Chilli
Harvest chillies when bright red.
SUMMER, AUTUMN
Chinese Violet CressCare: None required. Allow plants to set and release seed before removing at end of season.
Harvest: Individual leaves, during winter and spring. Flowers are also edible.
Eat: In salads and sandwiches, or lightly cooked. Has a very mild cabbage flavour. Use flowers as decoration/garnish.
WINTER, SPRING
Chives
Care: Cut back after flowering. Keep weed-free.
Harvest: Snip or pinch out at base. Leaves and flowers are edible.
Eat: Adds mild onion flavour to salads, sandwiches, potato salad.
SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN
Comfrey
Though comfrey has some traditional medicinal uses, it is no longer recommended due to high levels of certain alkaloids.
We grow comfrey in the garden due to its benefits to the garden itself: pollinators love it, and it is known as a ‘bioaccumulator’, meaning it draws up a huge amount of soil nutrition with its very deep roots, which can then be added to the topsoil by ‘chopping and dropping’ the leaves, adding them to our compost, or rotting them in water to make a liquid plant feed.
Harvest leaves regularly and add them to our compost heap!
SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN
Common Brighteyes (aka French Scorzonera)
Care: Pick regularly. Remove flower stalks after flowers have faded.
Harvest: Leaves, virtually all year round but especially in the cooler months.
Eat: Leaves have a mild flavour and can be used in place of lettuce, or cooked like spinach.
AUTUMN, WINTER, SPRING
Coriander
Harvest leaves at any time.
After flowering, allow to seed.
AUTUMN, SPRING
Courgette
Care: Water well, keeping foliage dry as much as possible. Feed monthly.
Harvest: At any size from 15cm upwards. Twist off gently or use scissors/snips.
SUMMER, AUTUMN
Cow Parsley
Care: None. Remove dead material at end of season.
Harvest: Leaves and stems, before flowering.
Eat: Leaves as parsley. Stems can be peeled and eaten raw, simply steamed and served with butter, or pickled.
WARNING: Cow parsley can easily be confused with deadly hemlock - please do further research if intending to forage this plant in another location.
SPRING
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WARNING: It is impossible to completely eradicate non-edible plants from the gardens, and hazards exist if you pick the wrong plant. Please note in particular that daffodils, foxgloves and many types of fungi are common in the gardens and can be dangerously toxic. Please positively identify anything you plan to eat from the gardens using this guide or another reliable source.