Eight Edible Plants to Use
in Your Outdoor Cooking This Spring
T
he majority of people simply
don't have time to dedicate to
creating a vegetable garden
every year. However, there
are plenty of ways to still enjoy fresh
produce to add to your barbecues and
outdoor cooking adventures, without
digging over vast areas of garden to
vegetable crops. 2016 called Eat and Shelter, as well as
the RHS Tatton silver-winning garden in
2015, Cloud 9 Garden.
Award-winning garden designer
Michael John McGarr designs incredibly
contemporary gardens, with the modern
hectic lifestyle in mind. Michael, who is based in Wigan in
Greater Manchester, explained, “It's is
simply not good enough that plants
should just 'look good' they should
provide food and shelter for the wildlife
while providing food for the table.”
As head designer for Warnes McGarr
& Co, his gardens include plenty of
socialising areas, outdoor cooking
zones, as well as easy-to-grow edible
planting.
The beauty of his recommendations
for edible planting is that they can be
planted among other plants in borders,
or grown in pots around your eating
area.
Here are Michael's top eight edible
plants to add to your planting schemes:
1. Globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus)
Michael, a double silver winner from
RHS Tatton, selects plants that need
very little attention and maintenance
but can be picked to highlight almost
any meal cooked outdoors.
Many of these edible plants formed the
planting scheme for his gold-awarded
garden at BBC Gardeners' World in
80 Landscape & Urban Design
Globe artichokes grow really well
whatever your soil type and are really
low maintenance. They work brilliantly
as an architectural plant, and then
you can pick the plant heads to lightly
griddle them on a barbecue or fire
pit. Drizzle them with a bit of olive
oil and salt, and you have the perfect
accompaniment to your meal.
These fantastic silver foliage plants work
really well with lime green Euphorbia
and the grass Carex buchannanii to
create a fantastic textural border.
Remember to split the plants every year
when they look a little over-crowded.
Cynara grow well in gravel gardens
where water is drawn away from the
root during the cold winter months.
2. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
We always recommend herb fennel,
rather than Florence fennel (foeniculum
dulce), because it is much easier to
grow. Fennel has a wonderful aniseed
flavour and you can use the whole
of the plant in cooking. Fennel is
traditionally used with fish, but it works
well in salads and also with any meat.
Just experiment!
Bronze fennel is my favourite variety
producing beautiful yellow flowers
above a deep Coca-cola coloured
foliage. This beautiful plant grows
beautifully in a mixed dry border and
looks great inter-planted with the
stunning purple Verbena Bonariensis.