Five Easy Unusual Edibles

Collaborative post

If you’ve never heard of a bulb lasagne you’re probably raising your eyebrows right now.  It is a real gardening ‘thing’ though!

Philodendrons are adaptive to indirect or filtered sunlight, which makes them a perfect houseplant. The only care required is occasional watering and wiping the leaves with damp clothes to keep off the dust.

Kraft Mac & Cheese

Many of the worst garden weeds can quickly take over your garden during the growing season. Weeds start growing earlier in the year than many garden plants, in early spring – so be sure to get on top of them early before they get out of hand.

Joan Galloway is sharing the most recent phase of her gardening life with us today.

Most vegetable gardeners lucky enough to have the use of a greenhouse use it for raising seeds early in the year, extending the season into the autumn, and of course growing tomatoes and cucumbers in the height of the summer. If you’d like to find something a little more exciting when you open the greenhouse door, these unusual crops will appreciate the extra heat.

The sun has finally made an appearance, and it’s time to start hardening off all of those plants that will soon be living outside. I won’t be growing courgettes this summer, but I bought some the other day on a whim and then had to figure out something to do with them.

I’ve mentioned the TomTato and the Egg & Chips plants before – they’re exclusive to T&M, grafted vegetables that grow two crops – potatoes combined either with tomatoes or aubergines. Now opinion is divided as to whether they’re genius space savers or a novelty that won’t give you your money’s worth on either crop. But if you’d like the opportunity to decide for yourself then they’re on offer today – you can buy a pair of plants (one of each variety) for just £4.99.

Over the last few years there has been increasing interest in unusual edible plants. One of the big advantages in having an allotment or a large garden is that it gives you the space to experiment with new tastes without having to sacrifice any old favourites, but some of the exotic specimens can be very tricky to grow.

Header image: Ella and Nicki at the Mars Desert Research Station. Provided by the author.

Emma White, University of Surrey and Sarah Golding, University of Surrey