Good King Henry

Introduced to England by the Romans, it is native in central and southern Europe. A hardy vegetable like spinach with spring shoots that taste similar to asparagus.

Good King Henry has been in continue use from the medieval times, gradually dying out of use in the last century with perennials take a stronger hold on cultivation.

Good King Henry has been in steady use from Medieval times or earlier.

Pollen was found at Neolithic/Bronze Age and Roman sites however it’s presence could be just weeds on people’s feet there is no clear indication that they were part of a person’s diet.

I love these snippets from The BackYard Larder https://backyardlarder.co.uk/2015/02/loving-good-king-henry/

I want to tell you about mercury – Lincolnshire spinach – or in some parts of the country Good King Henry. Mercury is pronounced marcury in Lincolnshire and used to be very common in gardens. My family have always grown and eaten it and I have quite a large bed in my garden; being perennial it needs little attention and no matter the weather it comes up. This year particularly after all the rain in the summer vegetables will be late and mercury will fill the gap when we’ve finished the brocolli, kale, etc., until the peas, beans, etc. are ready. We eat it like spinach – boiled – and then I like it hot or cold – also I love the flowerheads and sometimes strip the leaves off and eat as ‘poor man’s asparagus’. My grandmother used to tell me because it was so deep rooted it was full of iron and minerals. For many years I’ve thought it was probably responsible for my good resistance to colds and infection. I do enjoy it and eat a lot – more than the rest of the family.” Washingborough, Lincolnshire, March 1994.

From plantlore.com website

“I have been growing and eating mercury for the last eighty-six years and cannot understand why it isn’t grown more often. It is the only vegetable I know that is completely pest free.” Stanley Scarman, Theddlethorpe

From Lincolnshire Life Nov. 2002

‘My plants came from my grandmother. She lived near Louth. She also use to pick field mushrooms for our breakfast and took some to be sold in louth market. She knew where they grew in the village fields. I remember helping her in the 1960s. The leaves are silvery underneath like Mercury. The smaller leaves are the best. Large ones can be bitter. Cut and come again plant. I just go in my garden, pick leaves only, rinse, drain and cook gently in pan with lid on it takes only 2 minutes to cook. I do not add any water at all.’ Carolynne Winter, Lincolnshire

“A perennial spinach, however, whether from the Beta maritima, or Chenopodium Bonus Henricus, is very desirable in every garden, as a resource in case of neglect or accident, and because the plants being in perpetual maturity, and abundantly furnished with proper sap, are, as it were, ever on the alert to take advantage of any circumstances favourable to vegetation.”
The Gardener’s Magazine, Volume 2 1827

Other plant names

Good King Henry

The name came from an Anglicisation of German Guter Henrich a German elf of legend.

English Mercury, Lincolnshire spinach, poor-man’s asparagus, perennial goosefoot, and mercury goosefoot.

Named in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus as Chenopodium bonus-henricus

Family genus until 2012 as Chenopodium

However until 2012 molecular genetics has revealed that it closer to spinach genus Spinacia,

Hence the new genus Blitum. Its current botanical name is Blitum bonus-henricus.

Growing Guide

Easy to grow in sun or shade. Cold aids germination. Not self seeding. Plants can be divided when dormant.

It you protect roots they can grow up to zone 3.

Harvest Guide

best harvested in spring and early summer, older leaves becoming bitter.

Little Details

Perennial

height 60cm

Width 30cm

Flowers May to July.

Hardy to -20

Edible Uses

Young shoots can be cooked in spring. Peel them and cook like asparagus.

According to Ken Fern you can cook the flower buds he describes them as “gourmet food”.

My growing notes

I planted them outside in September in a pot with fine compost and vermiculate mix, slightly damp.

Growth

Lots of growing advice is that these are difficult to germinate. I planted about 5 seeds outside in a pot in September 4 of which germinated. I was expecting a long time before I’d see some growth but the little seedlings appeared after 14 days in the damp soil.

I then put them in a netted bed as the white butterflies where flying all over the allotment. They have stayed, three survived, they’ve been growing rather slowly thoughout the Autumn. I’ve harvested a few leaves out of curiosity but have largely left them to grow stronger; after all they are a perennial.