Comments on: Alexanders: a forgotten vegetable

By: Diana

Diana — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:42:30 +0000

This plant is more than a menace it’s a plague taking over all the banks and verges where I live and is impossible to get rid of. My garden is full of it despite regular control of it and my lawn is full of it sprouting everywhere and the roots go down into the ground for miles, it would seem. I would love to know how to rid of this rampant, self seeding nuisance that is taking over my garden!!!

By: margaret

margaret — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:50:57 +0000

I am sure that all of this is wonderful…..in the right place but if you travel to the north cornish coast Alexander has taken over large amounts of the beautiful cornish hedgerows and is making its way inland. It is difficult to eradicate as the only weedkiller that works is only available to farmers. It grows feet high so blocks out views and coastal footpaths.
Maybe plant some in your back garden for your dinner but please help us to remove it from our wonderful wild spaces.

By: jacqueline elwin

jacqueline elwin — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:34:02 +0000

They certainly do take over after the daffodils, and they kill all the spring and summer flowering wild plants. They are a menace especially in Cornwall !

By: jacqueline elwin

jacqueline elwin — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:32:45 +0000

There are enough seeds in Cornwall to feed the world !!!! Here it is a WEED !!

By: jacqueline elwin

jacqueline elwin — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:28:43 +0000

I have never heard such rubbish !!! This WEED is taking over Cornwall – the once beautiful hedgerows which were once alive with primroses, campions, bluebells, garlic flowers, cornflowers etc. are now thick with this VEGETABLE as you call it. This means the wild flowers cannot grow, and this vegetable takes a lot of getting rid of when it gets a hold in your garden, and the seeds are prolific – if you don’t get rid of them all in one year, they will be back in abundance the following year. There is a spray which will kill them, and not kill the wild flowers – which I use. PLEASE DO NOT ENCOURAGE GROWTH OF WHAT YOU CALL “a vegetable”, or we may lose our countryside hedgerows for ever.

By: Ruth Jennings

Ruth Jennings — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:17:54 +0000

If you’re up north we’re running two courses on foraging in Cumbria:
Spring Wild Food on May 14th in Staveley in the Lake District
Coastal Wild Food on 27th August in Arnside near Kendal.
See http://www.skillsforsustainableliving.co.uk for more details

Thanks

By: Paulie L

Paulie L — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:21:30 +0000

Love this article!! Love Wild Food! You can create loas of amazing recipes from flavours forgotten from ingredients like Alexanders. It definitley has a place in modern British Cooking. Wild food is organic, its not genetically modified, the food miles are zero, it tastes great and is free!!!! Enjoy!

By: Naomi

Naomi — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:35:48 +0000

Interesting article.
We have these growing everywhere in our garden (south east Kent).
I did try cooking some of the stalks but I think they taste terrible, they smell delicious when freshly cut however.

By: Michael Tebbutt

Michael Tebbutt — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:11:27 +0000

Somewhere I am sure I recall having read in Shakespeare a reference to Alexanders. I thought it was in Henry V’s rallying speech before Agincourt, but it seems not.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:02:57 +0000

The roots look a bit like stunted parsnips and can also be eaten – they’re quite tasty roasted. I’m not sure how long they take to grow to a decent size thobut.