MANY thanks to several readers who have answered my question about wild garlic and whether it is edible or just decorative.

"Definitely edible and delicious," emails JTS from Dawlish.

"A most under-rated delicacy you can use in salads or just chew.

"But make sure the leaves are thoroughly washed first.

"Much tastier than some of the insipid rabbit food you buy in plastic packets from the supermarkets these days.

"There are all sorts of nourishing, healthy foods to be picked up free from the hedgerows if you know what you are looking for.

"Primroses used to be a regular addition to our salads when I was young. And have you ever tried nettle soup?

"There are several old recipes you can try and well worth the trouble."

Pat from Totnes has sent me an article from the Country Life magazine endorsing this. It reads: "Now is the time to grab the young leaves and cook with them.

"Gloriously versatile the leaves can be chopped into salads, blitzed in a blender with olive oil to make a sort of pesto or simple added to omelettes.

"You can also deep fry the flowers in a deep batter.

"Also called ransomes, this cheeky plant has medicinal properties which are referred to in an ancient proverb: 'Eat leeks in March and ransomes in May and all the year after physicians may play'."

Having been so encouraged I have tried wild garlic leaves in salad and can recommend them.

The flavour is much less strong than the full garlic and lingers in the mouth in a very pleasant way.

Not sure about the nettle soup, but maybe we will give this a try as well.

I feel sure there must be many more old country recipes which are worth reviving in these credit crunch days, when so many more people are taking allotments and turning grass into vegetable beds.

When I was a small child attending infant school we had an elderly teacher who used to chew nasturtium seeds.

She said they were wonderful for indigestion.

Maybe our local farm shops are missing a trick here.

If they can sell bunches of pussy willow at £1 a time, as one of them did last year, why not packets of wild garlic at a similar price.

Buy now while supplies last. It is a very short season.