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There is no more honest way to feel the turning of the British year than to eat from it. A hedgerow in March tastes nothing like the same hedgerow in September, and learning that rhythm is half the pleasure of country living. This calendar is a rough guide for lowland Britain — the further north and higher you go, the later everything arrives.

Spring: Wild Garlic, Nettles and the First Green

From late March the woods wake up, and the woodland floor is the place to look.

• Wild garlic (ramsons) — March to May, before the white flowers open. Pick one leaf per plant rather than pulling bulbs, which destroys the colony. The giveaway is the smell: crush a leaf and you get garlic. Lily of the valley looks similar and is poisonous, so never skip the sniff test.
• Stinging nettles — April and May, taking just the top four leaves before the plant flowers. Wear gloves, blanch for a minute and the sting disappears.
• Hawthorn — the young leaves of late April, known as "bread and cheese", are nutty and good in salads.
• Common sorrel and jack-by-the-hedge — sharp, lemony leaves for soups and sauces.

Early Summer: Elderflower and the Hedgerow in Bloom

Late May and June belong to elderflower. Cut the heads on a dry, sunny morning when the scent is strongest, and leave any that have turned brown or smell musty. A dozen heads makes a fine cordial, and the same bushes will give you berries in September. Meadowsweet scents the damp verges, lime flowers hang low for tea, and wild strawberries hide in the grass on sunny banks — small, but worth every scratch.

High Summer: Berries, Bilberries and Brambles

August is the generous month. Brambles fruit from late July, and the sweetest blackberries are always the ones you have to stretch for, just out of reach of the dog walkers' reach. Bilberries prefer the acid soils of heathland and moorland edges; take a shallow container, as deep punnets crush them. Look too for wild raspberries, cherries in July, and rowan berries from late August, though these are bitter until the first cold snap and best left largely for the birds.

Autumn into Winter: Sloes, Nuts and Hardy Greens

Sloes are the classic autumn prize. Pick blackthorn fruit from September, ideally after the first frosts have softened them, and prick each one before steeping in gin for a winter tipple. Hazelnuts ripen in September — check for the neat round hole that means a weevil got there first. Sweet chestnuts follow in October, crab apples and rosehips last well into November, and the hips only sweeten after frost.

Through the lean months you can still eat well: hairy bittercress and chickweed in sheltered corners, wild garlic leaves reappearing as early as January, and the first three-cornered leek in the south-west. Mushrooms are a joy, but treat them as advanced foraging — go out with someone experienced before you take a single one home.

Staying Safe and Picking Sustainably

A few habits keep foragers out of trouble and keep the hedgerows healthy for the next person.

• Never eat anything you cannot identify with absolute certainty. A good illustrated field guide beats a phone app every time.
• Be wary of the umbellifer family — cow parsley, hogweed and their relatives. Hemlock and hemlock water dropwort are deadly and grow in the same places. If in doubt, walk on.
• Avoid busy roadsides, sprayed verges, railway land and anywhere dogs are regularly walked. Wash everything before eating and cook nettles, greens and fungi.
• Know the law. In England and Wales you may pick foliage, fruit, flowers and fungi for personal use, but uprooting any wild plant needs the landowner's permission. Nature reserves and SSSIs often have their own rules, and commercial picking is a different matter entirely.
• Take no more than a third from any patch. Pick single leaves rather than whole plants, cut rather than pull, and leave the first and last berries on every bush for the birds and for next year's seed.
• Ask permission first. Most farmers are happy to say yes if you ask politely and close gates behind you.

Forage little and often, use what you pick the same day where you can, and the hedgerow will keep feeding you for decades.