Spring Nibbles From Your Garden

🌱 Spring has sprung. Woo-hoo! Finally... And you can see your garden changing in front of your eyes. You are a bit confused whether it's actually spring or still winter. We have some days which look more like summer and then we have throwback of snow. This quote below quite resonate with me.

🌈"Despite the forecast, live like it's spring."

~ Lilly Pulitzer

💐 Are there any treasures in your garden you can use to garnish your plate or make a lovely cuppa with?

👀 I believe there are! Let's have a look at few which I found in my garden.

Picture below:

🌿Lungwort (young leaves and flowers)

Picture below:

🏵️Pansy/Viola (flower)

🌿Lungwort (young leaves and flowers)

🏵️ Primrose (flowers)

🏵️ Weeping Forsythia (flowers)

🍨 Chia seeds pudding with garden decoration.

I love pansy flowers, they look so pretty!

🌻 Primrose

It is usually one of the first flowers of spring. This beautiful flower keep producing masses of flowers. The flowers are refreshing and sweet and the young leaves can be used as a green vegetable or in salads. Apparently they have spicy taste with slight anise aroma. They can be cooked in the pot, added to soup, or mixed with other herbs as a stuffing for meat and poultry.

I haven't tried its leaves yet, but I'm thinking to dry some leaves and use it as seasoning later in the season.

🌻 Forsythia

I think everybody knows this one, right?! It's the sign that spring is here!

In early spring you can collect flowers to use raw, adding colour to salads or use as garnish. It is a great early resource, specially if other salad crops aren’t available yet.

You'll have usually the upright version. In my garden I have both. The picture below is Weeping Forsythia, which is one of the 50 essential herbs in Chinese traditional medicine.

☕ You can also make a cup of tea, however make it with combination with another herbs, otherwise it will have pretty plain taste.

🌳 Magnolia

I'd like to mention if you have mature Magnolia tree in your garden you are extremely lucky and rich person and I'd like to be your friend! 😂

Not only it looks incredibly pretty, you can also make wonders with its flowers. Yep, there are edible!

In picture below, you can see my small Magnolia beauty, which is still sort of baby. I keep checking every day, and I believe I'll have sort of 6-7 flowers in total this year. Therefore, lots of patience is required before I can try new recipes. Last year I dried some magnolia petals, crushed them and used them as seasoning. This year, I'll mix a few raw petals in my salad.

😲 Did you know you can turn magnolia blossom into a pickle???

Magnolia trees are coming into bloom and yes they are edible and delicious and if you haven't tried it already this pickle will blow your mind!!

Pickled magnolia petals have an incredibly potent spiced and gingery flavour. They can be used in place of straight-up pickled ginger; dipped in tempura batter and fried, or chopped and tossed through salads in place of a dressing.

Try the pickle with rice dishes, noodle dishes and cured meats… They bring silky but crunchy and delicate ginger-like flavour to the plate!

👇 Check out Jamie Oliver's video below.

I also came across video on YouTube that Magnolia bark extract is used in a traditional Chinese medicine and known for its neuroprotective and relaxing properties, being used to treat depression and anxiety as well as acting as a slight sedative.

💗 This tree is a little wonder!

💠 Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis)

It belongs to Boraginaceae family, hence the hairy leaves.

It's very attractive spring plant and you can enjoy its pink and blue flowers at the same time. It's worth growing for its attractive foliage and typical dotted leaves. Bees absolutely love this beauty and I can hear them buzzing around every time I walk by.

🥗 You can enjoy fresh young leaves and flowers in salads or you can cook them.

This natural plant that has been used around the world for a variety of respiratory ailments, including coughs, colds, bronchial detoxification, relieve fluid retention and even to treat lung diseases such as tuberculosis.

🌸 Heather

I think this is quite common plant across England. I have about 3 different colours in my garden. I know Heather Honey, but I wasn't aware you can make nice herbal tea from this beauty. I'm going to dry some flowers this year and use it when sniffing season comes.

Heather Flower Tea is the perfect, herbal, hot drink for wintertime or any time of the year when you find yourself in need of restoration. 

🎨 Be your own artist

I love my plate to be colourful and enjoy the change of garnish supply from my garden.

You never know what will be growing next.

🌱 Pea shoots

I have a little obsession with pea shoots this year and they wonderfully fill the hungry gap when there's not much lettuce around. I have my second and third batch just coming through. It's very easy to grow and it's worth mentioning. We can share the same obsession afterwards! 😂

Enjoy spring time. It's a wonderful time of the year.

🧤 Get your green fingers ready! It's going to be another busy season.

🌞 Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you. 

I hope it inspires you.🥰 Happy gardening! 

From my heart ❤️ to your heart.❤️