Extreme Salad Man lectures on edible plants

By Rachel Dale

With spring in the air, Centretown residents can expect to see plants blossoming soon along balconies and in front-yard gardens. But many may not realize these plants serve a purpose beyond their appearance.

Centretown United Church welcomed Stephen Barstown — known as the Extreme Salad Man — for a discussion on perennial plants, particularly the ones that look nice, but taste even better.

Barstow is a British gardener living in Norway. He has experimented with more than 6,000 plants in the harsh climate, and created a salad that uses 537 different plants.

Located just outside the Arctic Circle, Barstow’s garden is situated at about the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska.

The Ottawa lecture, held on April 6, was based on Barstow’s book Around the World in 80 Plants. It highlighted Barstow’s 80 favourite perennial plants – meaning plants that grow back on their own annually.

The event was organized by Just Food, a local organization working towards a sustainable and nutritious food system in Ottawa.

Telsing Andrews runs a perennial seed nursery and met Barstow through an online gardening forum.

She works with Just Food and suggested bringing Barstow’s discussion to Centretown.

“His book discusses a lot of interesting plants that a lot of people have forgotten about, or maybe weren’t aware are edible,” she said.

“And a lot of them are actually growing right now in their gardens. There’s a lot of plants people are growing as decorative or ornamentals that could do double value as food crops.”

Andrews means plants like tulips, daylilies, and pansies – flowers that can serve a dual purpose: decoration and dinner.

Barstow has been holding discussions in other Canadian cities, including Victoria and Vancouver, which he described as very successful.

“I talk to a whole range of different people all the way from transitional groups, to local gardening groups, right up to the top restaurants. And they all seem to get it and understand this,” he said.

“They get excited by the fact they already have food in the gardens and they just aren’t aware of it. I think that the majority of gardeners would have an interest in this, even if they’re not interested in actually growing food themselves.”

Barstow uses the example of hostas – a very common decorative plant – as tasty as well as productive. It grows in shady conditions and produces green annually in the spring, making it easy to grow for people living in all types of climate conditions.

And for people who live in Centretown, Barstow’s tips for perennials might spark some interest.

“If you’re travelling a lot, or you don’t have time for gardening, grow perennials because they look after themselves,” Barstow pointed out, referring to vegetables such as asparagus, rhubarb, or horseradish.

“You don’t have to be there to water. Practically anyone can grow perennial vegetables. So in that sense, I talk to people who don’t know they can grow them in their front yard.”

Jordan Bouchard, one of the organizers of the event, also pointed out the benefits of Barstow’s discussion for residents in the area.

“We’re not as far north as we think we are, but definitely suffer from pretty cold winters,” he said.

“And cold winters are the bigger limiting factor with regards to what grows in a region, so what he’s able to bring from the growing climate in Norway definitely has applicability for all types of gardeners and farmers in the Ottawa region.”

Barstow was heading next to Montreal to lead a perennial course for gardeners and farmers.