Growing Good King Henry


Good King HenryGood King Henry flower

Good King Henry is a perennial herb in the family Chenopodiaceae – the same plant family as some familiar vegetables (including beetroot and chard), some familiar weeds (e.g. Fat Hen) and some other useful but more unusual plants – including quinoa and tree spinach.

Good King Henry forms a clump, about 12-18 inches wide (less than 50 cm), and can grow up to 2 ft tall (60 cm). It’s an easy plant to grow, fully hardy and not fussy about soil or position.

Good King Henry is grown for its edible shoots and leaves. The leaves can be used as a spinach substitute, the flowers are edible and the young shoots are known as ‘poor man’s asparagus’.

If the plant has some shelter it will provide a green crop throughout all but the harshest winter weather; in summer it will appreciate being watered in dry spells.

Seeds can be sown throughout the sprin. They’re tiny and not the easiest things to handle, but seedlings are easily thinned. Collecting seed is simply a matter of collecting ripe seed heads and shaking the seed out into a bag. Cleaning the seed up to remove other plant matter is the most tedious part. If you get a lot of seed you can grind it and add it to flour – see PFAF for more details.

Posted 30 June 2009, 19:49.  

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