I’m curious if others also forage for wild edible plants here too?
Also Curious if anyone also Gardens these wild edibles too!
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See thread Foraged and Edible.
Also yes, I am one! They’re awesome!
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Involuntarily
We have Aegopodium podagraria in our garden and have long since abandoned any hope of trying to contain it. But at least the fresh leaves taste great in a salad (or outside of one too).
We have a few other wild things that we occasionally eat in our garden, too, though.
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Mulberry season began a couple days ago.
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Yes. Blueberries, blackberries, sweetfern, dandelion leaves, morel mushrooms.
All of these grow on their own, sometimes in spite of my efforts…
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Hello! I do forage, yes, but gardening for wild foods (specially wild greens, which are the most appropriate wild food to be gardened, unless you consider fruit trees, which are gardened everywhere, and it is a pleasure to take fruits from a tree someone else gardened, since, in fact, I see people don’t care about it! They let their own fruit go to waste!) is difficult in my country. I’ve tried, but rats eat everything and the abundant presence of their feces doesn’t make me feel the gardened greens are safe.
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I won’t link them all here, but there are lots of previous discussions on this topic. Be sure you check them out as well. I also forage occasionally (mostly just berries when I’m out hiking as a trail snack). One of my favorite trails in Point Reyes Nat’l seashore has at least seven different types of edible berries. The thimbleberries are my favorite by far, though.
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I eat some wild plants that grow as weeds in my garden (Lapsana communis, Taraxacum, still trying to learn whether Geum urbanum is as harmless as the internet claims). I’m hesitating to consume plants that grow in my city, as I’m not interested in consuming dog excrements, Diesel soot and tyre grindings (to name a few contaminants). From those I started to collect seeds, grow a few on my window and plan to plant the seeds thereof them next year (Sisymbrium loeseli, Barbarea vulgaris (here I rescued a whole plant from a lawn), Thlaspi arvense).
With Brassicacea the risk of finding poisonous ones is a bit lower than with other families (they are all poisonous for many herbivores by having isothiocyanates (which mostly solve the problem of being eaten for the plant), but those are just tasty for humans and Pieridae, only a few genera recently evolved additional poisons (Herperis, Erysimum)).
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Nice! Have you done any seed saving or selection for Aegopodium podagraria? It’s a species I want to domesticate, I love the flavor a whole lot! Have you tried eating the flowers?
I found some patch from landscaping & tried to transplant the roots in my woods, sadly it didn’t take and they always get mowed by landscapers before they can fully finish ripening their seeds (Another spice I’d like to try).
Oh Thimbleberry is one I have yet to try, did you save any seeds? I’d love to grow it to finnally try them myself.
Awesome! I have the same approach, in the very urban areas I only collect seeds & don’t eat. OOh! You have Thlaspi arvense? That’s a species I wanted to grow & eat, I have the more garlic flavored species Thlaspi alliaceum which has a goldfish aftertaste from cooking.
ooh!? Herperis evolved additional poisons!? I haven’t heard of those 2 genera.
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I’m not a gardener. I collect rocks because they don’t die 
Thimbleberries are like a super-sweet raspberry. They’re very fragile, though, otherwise I’m sure they would be widely cultivated like blackberries or raspberries.
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psst…
psst…
yea, you!
try mushroom foraging
the shrooms are calling
but read a fieldguide first
dont die
:>
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No. I think my family may disown me if I suggested planting more of it and it gets mowed down before it has a chance to flower. Haha
Also, since it mostly spreads (in our garden, at least) via asexual means, I don’t think there is much genetic variety to begin with.
Domesticating it is an interesting Idea though. Which traits are you thinking of selecting for?
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Very little, and what I do is fruit; some blackberries, madronos Arbutus unedo are always great, and wild apricots Ancylobothrys capensis are a big favourite, plus you always need to eat a few of them as they start sweet and end with a tangy taste. That is if you can get them before the baboons do : )
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Cool! What are you planning to improve?
I personally do not plan on domesticating anything, because I feel a lot of plants are good enough for me, and I’d rather be in the woods than in the garden.
Have you domesticated anything before?
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The Thlaspi arvense was really hard. Near my workplace is a field where they grow various stuff (strawberries, flowers etc. alternatingly) and a tiny shed where they sell products (not only from the field, but also from other places). Last year I was there, found several plants and collected a fruiting branch of T.a. which wasn’t completely ripe yet (it is in my obs somewhere). When I came back later the area was plowed . Of the 50 seeds therefrom only one germinated. It has flowered and is full of green silicles now which I intend to use next year (maybe I plant some of them already in the autumn).
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Both Hesperis and Erysimum have cardenolides, and I’ve read somewhere that one genius of these two split off from harmless Brassicaceae only 3 Mya or so.
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Don’t worry about that, can you save some seeds for me? I’d love to get Thimbleberry seeds as I don’t find any growing near me.
Hoping to explore what is possible! Main focus is of course improving edibility, flavor & yield. I want to explore selecting for good flavored seeds & perhaps increase leaf size to be large like huge Kale or Cabbage Leaves.
WOW! I never heard of * Ancylobothrys capensis*, just looked it up, it’s an edible relative of the Dogbane Milkweed family that makes edible fruits!? How Odd and super facinating. How does it taste? Could you save some seeds? I’d love to grow it!
Also you found Arbutus unedo!? YOO… that’s awesome, how does it taste, nothing like Strawberries despite the common name suggesting right? That’s another species I’d love to grow too, could you save some seeds for me?
I want to Cross Thimbleberries with Wineberries, Yellow Raspberries, Black Raspberries, Dewberries & Karoline Blackberries into 1 crazy Hybrid swarm, then select out of that mix a landrace with Super Huge Delicious Fruits!
I’ve seen some wild species have HUGE fruitlet bubbles and others with smaller but many more fruitlet bubbles. I want to improve flavor & select for exactly what I like, particually cranking that sugar to the max that the genus permits. I enjoy Red Raspberries but they are usally too sour hence why I enjoy Black Raspberries so much more.
I also hope to find the White Blackberry and perhaps cross it into Black Raspberries & create incredible new colors! I did find an Abino Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) once & saved it’s seeds. It was very delicious but the park eventually got destroyed 
.
Rubus is such an incredible genus with so many Amazing Berries with diverse flavors, truly not enough has been explored with it, possibilities are truly endless.
Well somewhat, currently I’m at the research stage since I don’t have any land access to actually do the breeding work so I for now mostly forage & try the garden the spots where I forage for. So far deer mostly ate everything I planted but I did get some Shiso Crossing up nicely, hoping to select for as low astringency as possible with huge Leaves.
oh my… It’s good one seed germinated. Did you get a chance to try it’s flavor? Which part is your favorite? I found a nice spot near the roadside & harvested a whole bunch of seeds.
oh my… That’s shocking cuz Herperis matronalis is another species I ate the flowers of, they were very delicious but sadly I didn’t return to save seeds of it. How toxic are those cardenolides? I’ve never heard of them being in that genus.
Hesperis is a genus I want to domesticate like Broccoli/Cabbage/Kale. The Tribe is Directly sister to Bunias spp. thus I want to explore crossing both genera.
Also I want to cross all of these species together & reselect for better mild flavor, I’ve heard these make Really good Cooked Greens.
I just looked up Erysimum oh my… seems to be causing death to geese. Perhaps cooking destroys these toxins? I also understand too high concentrations of Erucic Acid & Glucosinilates are toxic but cooking destorys all the glucosinolates (The parts that taste Spicy). Eruicic Acid on the other hand is what you want less of from a mustard seed oil, Oileic Acid is much better hence why Canoloa oil is very extremly low in Erucic Acid.
Be careful - I think they’re invasive! (At least where I live.)
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I tried these in California. No, nothing like strawberries. They’re all right, but I don’t think they could ever be one of my favorites.
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Wild muscadines are one of my favorite fruits
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