Edible plants by month

[bulrush]

Could someone help out and list wild edible plants by the months they are available? Wild fruit included. I know the dates will vary some by zone, but it will at least give us an idea of when each plant/fruit comes into season.

I'm in zone 4b.

- Leeks: when snow is all gone and ground thaws, they appear.
- Straweberries, Blackberries, Raspberries: Early june.

[Rick]

bulrush - The best I can tell you is pick up a copy of Edible Wild Plants of Easter/Central North America. It's a Peterson Field Guide and runs about $20.00. It lists hundreds of plants by season and in 14 different eco-systems. For example, it tells you what you will find in open fields in Spring, Summer and Fall.

[canid]

if prepared right, blackberries offer leaves and/or shoots nearly all year round, as do cat-tails. the black/raspberries themselves should be good for a longer season than just early june in your area, as should the strawberries.

your area should have wild grape, who's berries and leaves are edible. you should have several thistles, such as burdock and bullthistle which offer roots much of the year, and which are fuller in the first year before the flower stalk emerges. burdock also offers good leaf-greens when young. you should have chickory and dandelion most of the year, which is also best when young.

you have poke, which can be edible with much caution, during the spring and parts of the summer. you have chickweeds most of the year, excepting parts of the winter and the same for wild mustards. you will of course have clover mostly year round, though i've heard that red clovers [those who's leaves discolor reddish/purplish] should not be eaten once they have discolored.

there are a great many more.

[canid]

oh, let me not forget northern wild rice, since you are lucky enough to live where it grows. seed should be established by the height of summer, though you may want to ask somebody local.

[bulrush]

Hey Rick, I think I have that Peterson's guide. Thanks for reminding me.

[Rick]

Look in the back of the book. The last section is by ecosystem and it's broken down into seasons.