march foraging

[metricben]

hi-

I was wondering what foraging oppurtunities there are in march. Most of my previous expenditions have been in summer and autunm (for mushrooms and nuts), however plants are more abundant and i would like to go foraging for them. I am drilled in the basics, such as chickweed, jack-by-the-hedge, sorrel, and berries, but am not very proficient at the ID of other species. I have the pocket sized edition of "food for free", but the photos are small, and identification is tricky...

So: what wild plants do people like to collect in march and april? a list of common ones in SE england would be appreciated, and mushrooms are welcome too.

thanks in advance
ben

[Millymollymandy]

Lesser Celandine is abundant at the moment, and edible.

[Muddypause]

Oh dear; I read the subject as 'march for aging', and couldn't think why anybody would be marching in favour of that.

[Karen_D]

The nettles are coming up here, young nettle leaves can be cooked like spinach. They are quite easy to identify, if it stings a lot it's probably a nettle!

[metricben]

mmm "Lesser Celandine" I think I've heard of that, but I had better google up some pics.

yeah, marching for aging would be weird

I feel quite insulted being told how to identify a nettle, but then again many people living in cities probably couldn't - a sad state of affairs...

thanks i will be foraging for celandine soon!!!

PS. I went out today and collected some cow parsley, young birch leaves, hawthorn leaves, and sweet violet, which made a nice salad

[Millymollymandy]

Hairy Bittercress is the most tasty of the wild leaves available at the moment. Lesser Celandine doesn't have a great taste on its own; in fact I find that most of wild leaves are a bit dull or bitter unless they are mixed in with a salad containing some lettuce as well!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardamine_hirsuta

The photos aren't very good for ID here, but if you Google I'm sure you'll find some good photos.

You may already know this one of course!

[metricben]

I have never actually found a Hairy Bittercress plant, only read about them in FFF, but I will keep an eye out for it next time I forage. Thanks.

[Millymollymandy]

They are all through my flower beds and veg patch! I find that a lot of these edible weeds seem to like disturbed ground and come up in the veg patch, like Chickweed, Fat Hen and that crunchy salad leaf thing that they like round the Med (it's called Pourpier in French but can't think what it is called in English ). Photo attached