Samphire growth stages

Tiny England is surrounded by the sea, and you know nothing about it anywhere in the UK or Cornwall. These miles and miles of largely unspoiled coastline provide rich pickings for the avid hunter. Here are our favorite wild foods from the sea that can be found in spring.

• Sea beet – a hard, waxy, dark green coastal vegetable that grows prolifically around the Cornish shores and coasts. It tastes salty like spinach and packs a ton of iron so go wild! We love to soak these leaves in butter and sprinkle them in Wild Garlic Sea Salt

How to Grow Samphire / Sarcocornia Quinqueflora

Samphire – Photo © The Gourmantic Garden

Samphire is a perennial plant that grows in poor sandy soil to 30cm to 50cm high and just as wide. It prefers full sun, saline water and can be grown in containers or in the ground. After much searching, I was able to source samphire seedlings and am growing them in a raised garden bed dedicated to native Australian eateries. I’m told it can also be propagated from cuttings rooted in a mild salt solution using sea salt (not table salt) but I haven’t tried it.

What are Exotic or Unusual Vegetables to Grow & How to Find Unusual Vegetables to Grow in a UK Garden (Or Anywhere Else)? And Where Can I Buy Unusual Vegetable Seeds? These Questions Are Answered Here.

Table of Contents

• What are Exotic or Unusual Vegetables to Grow & How to Find Unusual Vegetables to Grow in a UK Garden (Or Anywhere Else)? And Where Can I Buy Unusual Vegetable Seeds? These Questions Are Answered Here.
• What Did the Romans Ever Do for Gardeners?
• Discovering Unusual Vegetables to Grow Commercially
• 40+ Unusual Vegetables to Grow
•  
• Oca or New Zealand Yams (Oxalis tuberosa)
• Oca Harvesting in the UK
• Oca Harvesting in the UK
• Caucasian spinach
• Kailan, Wok badger, Kailan kimchi , Chinese kale, Chinese broccoli.
• How to Wok Badger /Kailan Kichi
• The Edible Parts of Kailan Kichi 
• Pest and Disease Problems Associated with Kailan / Wok Badger
• Autumn Kailan
• Cardoon
  • Cardoon Propagation
  •  
  • Cardoon Cultivation
  •  
  • Cooking Cards
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  • Cardoon Growing Ti p
• Sea Kale (Crambe maritima)
  • How to Grow Sea Kale
  • Confused
  • There Are More Unusual Vegetables To Grow Below!
•  
• Quinoa
• How to Grow Quinoa
• Harvest Quinoa 
  • Yes There are more Unusual Vegetables to Grow Below!
•  
• Tea (Camellia sinensis)
  • Growing Tea in England
  • Tea Cultivation in England
  • There Are More Unusual Vegetables To Grow Below!
• Samphire
  • Salt for Samphire
  • More Unusual Vegetables You Grow Down!
• Perennial cabbage (Brassica oleracea var ramosa / var acephala)
  • Cultivating Perennial Cabbage
  • Perennial Kale Propagation
  • More Unusual Vegetables to Grow Below!
• Cucamelon (Melothria scabra)
  • Cucamelon Cultivation in the UK
  • Yes Cucamelons Perrenials 
  • More Unusual Vegetables to Grow Below!
• Passion Fruit (Passiflora caerulea & P. ​​edilus)
  • Sowing the Passion Flower
  • Passion Flower Cultivation
• Lemons
  • Chlorosis
  • Why bother with lemons?
  • More Unusual Vegetables to Grow Below!
• Inca Berry or Cape Thorn (Physalis peruviana) 
  • Confused Names
  • Inca Berry Cultivation
  • More Unusual Vegetables to Grow Below!
  •  
• Lemongrass – One of Your Favorite Unusual Vegetables to Grow
  • Seed Germination
  • Lemon Harvest
  • More Unusual Vegetables To Grow Below!
• Black Salsify (Scorzonera hispanica): More Unusual Vegetables to Grow
  • More Unusual Vegetables to Grow Below!
• Luffas (Loofahs) Are Unusual Vegetables to Grow
  • Luffa: germination. growing and cultivating
  • Luffa: yield and picking
  • Luffas: Loofah Production
• More Unusual Vegetables To Grow To Continue ….
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Where does Marsh Samphire grow?

You’re not going to come back from a foraging mission for Marsh Samphire without risking muddy feet – it grows in the rich mud of estuaries and salt marshes, almost exclusively in the intertidal zone just below the MHW mark. It is found all over the UK coast – although it is rarely seen on rocky, sandy or exposed shores. It is always worth investigating the edges of the trees and the small rivers that flow into gently flowing waves. I found it almost exclusively in the intertidal zone (the beach / shore area exposed at low tide, but covered by water twice a day), although I have sometimes found lonely examples trying to survive well above the waterline. Marsh Samphire is a halophyte, a plant that thrives in saline conditions. The plant’s cells contain a solution of sodium salts that is strong enough to overcome the osmotic pressure of the seawater that surrounds it at high tide. In East Anglia it is highly regarded as a local delicacy, and is often sold alongside fresh fish and other seafood, and has also been used as a source of salt for the glass making industry – hence the other name ‘Glasswort’ ‘. A pile of the plant was burned and then the ash was mixed in with sand to make a soda-based (rather than potassium) glass. It is claimed that there was ‘no English word’ for the plant before Venetian glassmakers arrived in England around 4-500 years ago. In Lancashire Marsh Samphire was traditionally pickled, as it is in the most populated coastal areas of the UK. You’ll find Samphire rounds for sale in supermarkets, over the fish counter or packaged in plastic. These are cultivated species, often grown indoors or in climate-controlled conditions far from the sea.

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