We are excited to announce that there are the beginnings of some harvestable crops in our city centre project, supported by the City Centre Business Improvement District.

In the beds at the Hippodrome, at Colston Hall and at the Bristol Royal Infirmary is red veined sorrel which can be chopped into salads as a leaf and gives a strong lemony flavour-you only need a couple of leaves as it’s an intense flavour.

Also at Colston Hall and the hospital are chives-just snip the individual leaves off-they are delicious chopped up small onto potato salad or with a bean salad. Once they start to flower, the flowers are also edible-as with everything in the allium family they taste like onions, although they are not very strong.

At Colston Hall there are also lots of nasturtiums flowering. Nasturtiums are not just beautiful but are such great givers, as every part of the plant is edible! The leaves add a peppery taste to salads, the flowers are edible and again give a subtle pepperiness to a dish, but also the seeds can be pickled and made into nasturtium capers, a delicious alternative to traditional capers. There are also thymes and marjorams ready to be gently picked.

So please do help yourselves. Only take what you need and if you’re on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook tag us in your posts with what you used your urban harvest for, and use the #bristolsurbanharvest

And look out for the blackcurrants and strawberries as they begin to ripen!!