Edible Plant Database

The Edible Plant Database (EPD) is an outcome of the GROW Observatory, a European Citizen Science project on growing food, soil moisture sensing and land monitoring. This dataset was disseminated via a web service hosted by IIASA (Austria) that provides information about suitable plants for locations within Europe, based on climate. The web service was used in the GROW app, this dataset is the base information used for that service. Key growing data, for example, planting and harvesting calendars, suitability of location for growing are either typically dispersed across a plethora of sources or generic and only applicable at large scales. The latter is a significant constraint to the new grower who may be unaware of the impact of local micro-climate on growing. The EPD provides collates key data for one resource, the GROW app, that enables users across Europe to choose what to plant in their location at the time of query. It is a database populated with 15 growing parameters with a supporting database on germination of 146 edible plant species included in EPD. Planting calendars and germination data to all 12 European climate zones are also included with high resolution images purchased under licence. The EPD brings together planting, harvesting and growing requirements for a suite of crops that can be grown in Europe and uses these data to provide locally relevant advice for growers. The Edible Plant Database provides data based on geographical location and growing season to answer questions such as “What can I plant now” and “what can I plant that will yield a crop on some future date”.