I visited Bo “Bosse” Blomquist last year outside of Gothenburg and despite it being a bit late in the day and almost dark at the end, I was really impressed by his collection of edible trees, shrubs and bushes! He works in Gothenburg and is a regular visitor to the gardens! We agreed to meet before my talk and a group of friends also joined us!! It was great to walk in the garden with Bosse as he knew all the interesting edible woody plants! Thanks!! Here are a selection of pictures!
Really nice video showing off the Holma Forest Garden in southern Sweden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVLEC-dtRdk
Link to my post about Holma here: =138
In a special part of the garden, many of the plants in my book Around the World in 80 plants will be planted in the spring :-) =30
Thank you so much Alys Fowler!!!
She has apparently been “trailing round the house with my copy (of ATW), unable to put it down.” :-D
Here’s a few shots from Alys and “hard working” cameraman Simon on assignment in my garden on that wonderful visit in July 2010 when Malvik was showing off its best …I remember Alys saying that this must be paradise….
The garden later featured in Alys’ book The Thrifty Forager:
For the unusual vegetable enthusiast, the place to find seed are the alpine garden clubs’ seed exchanges: Scottish Rock Garden Club (SRGC), Alpine Garden Society (AGS) and the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS) are the main international ones and each puts out a seed list of several thousand varieties donated by the members…by no means just alpine garden plants! I remember reading an article in the North American Herb Companion with a recommendation to source seed of unusual herbs from NARGS.
My SRGC seed arrived today and here they are, a mixed bunch including the yellow form of Kamchatka Lily (Fritillaria camschatensis “Aurea”), one I’ve been looking for for some time! You can probably read some of the names but there are Phyteumas, Ligularias, Alliums, Dahlias, Lilium, Polygonum macrophyllum, Agastache, Zanthoxylum simulans and Boehmeria…
Welcome to my new seed trade list for 2014-15.
12, 13 and 14 in brackets indicates the harvesting year for the seed. Concerning seed quantity: as I don’t have many plants of each species, seed quantity is limited in most cases. Therefore, for some species you may only get a few seeds. Many species are harvested in my garden. Others are surplus from trade and purchase. OUT: Means out of stock.
Sometimes I sell surplus seed (if time allows), although Continue reading The new Edimentals seed trade list for 2014-2015
An Interview with the Extreme Salad Man Stephen Barstow at  on Sunday 18 January at 20:00 UTC
This is an interview I did in London with London Permaculture’s Stefan Geyer when I was in the UK on 12th December!
If you miss the broadcast, you can listen at your leisure by going to 
14 years ago and my seed list had some 1,000 entries and I even added a usage code (from Plants for a Future)………
Edible and Useful Plant Seed Trade List
for November 2000 to October 2001
About the Garden: Most of the seed offered is collected in my own garden here on the edge of the Trondheimsfjord at close to
64 deg. N an area of extreme climatic variability. The grass can be green on 1st January and snow might lie for a short while on
1st June. We talk about having two seasons – the green and the white winter. It is, however, surprisingly mild for the latitude. A
remarkable number of species survive the winter (or should I say summer) and seem to thrive. However, a number of the plants
are grown in pots and are moved in to a cold cellar (temperature just above zero in mid-winter) in the winter without extra
The garden is one of a network of organically run gardens in Norway and can be visited by agreement. We are just at the end of
our 17th season here. We use no input apart from compost, an important ingredient of which is seaweed which we collect every
spring.. We grow a wide range of vegetables many of which are not commonly grown here (e.g., Runner Beans, Broad Beans, Continue reading From the vaults: my Edible and Useful Plant Seed Trade List from 2000!
The first time I made a megasalad in 2001 with 363 different plants (see =206) I approached Guinness to claim a world record. They were not interested and I accidentally found the rejection email today (from 10th October 2001). Their reply: “Unfortunately, we would not be interested in a record for the most diverse salad. I recommend that you choose a salad of some particular variety and attempt the largest salad of its kind.”
After this, I was glad that I’d been refused as the Guinness Records represent greed and an inorganic product. I tried half seriously to find an organic brewery that would be interested in starting a record book of records with a sustainable message…..still looking…
Sunday 24th August 2003, I earned my title Extreme Salad Man :) when I made a salad comprising 538 varieties of edible plant. I’m still looking for the recipe I made, and in the process I found the attached invitation to the garden open day when I made that salad, shown below:
For English speakers, here’s what it says:
“”Open organic herb garden
Bergstua organic garden, Malvikvn. 418, Malvik
Sunday August 24th from kl. 1200
Co-organizer: Malvik Gardening Club
Other Activities: Plant sale and plant swap
(Bring plants for swopping)
World Record Salad attempt (500 varieties of edible plants in a salad)
Garden tour (over 1500 varieties)
Focaccia, herbal tea, coffee, poppy cake
Fungi control (bring fungi to be checked)
Plant Sales and plant swap
Preliminary sales list (NB there are few plants of each cultivar and many are small plants from seed this year).
(There follows a list of 219 plants I had for sale that day!!)””