Kitchen Garden

All hail the king

here are some crops that can make you feel the weight of gardening history very keenly indeed and the perennial veg, Good King Henry, which glories in the botanical name of (formerly Chenopodium), is a perfect example. It has been grown as a food and medicinal crop for thousands of years and was popular with the Saxons, Romans and widely grown in the Middle Ages. You only need to see the long list of common names it has accumulated to know that it has been in, a common weed and also a prolific self-seeder, much loved by chickens but also edible for humans), Lincolnshire spinach or Lincolnshire asparagus, the latter confirming its popularity in that county.

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