What unusual vegetables should I grow that I've never heard of?

Have you tried smothering it? I would think if you cut down all the tall cane then cover it all with some old sheets of plywood overlapping the edges, then hide the plywood with some topsoil or wood chips. That ought to kill it. If you use topsoil on the plywood you could plant a little garden on top of it.

On one part of my property, I’m trying to smother it out with overlapping sheets of thick landscaping fabric and tons of staples and heavy river rocks weighing it down, and I’ve been aggressively removing any shoots wondering outside of the landscape fabric area. It seems like it’s making a difference with all of the effort, but it’s taken a couple of years to see any change really.

The other part of the property that has knotweed on it I’ve just cut it down over the last week and following the recommendation here will be using glyphosate spray late august to hopefully limit the recurrence of it next year before I try to smother that patch out, too. Apparently, the trick when using glyphosate on knotweed is one of timing - aiming to chop it down early June and have it regrow much shorter so less glyphosate can be used when it’s time to spray it, and at a time the root system is hoarding nutrition back from the herbaceous growth therefore taking glyphosate down with it to the roots, killing the source of the problem. Hopefully I’ll have some success killing this patch back a bit this year and at that point I plan on extending my chicken run over the knotweed area to have them work for me to keep it in check. I’ve read the oxalic acid content should be OK for livestock as long as it’s not their main source of feed. Probably more info than you wanted but in short, it’s been a struggle - I can see why it has the reputation it does as invasive and destructive!

3 Likes

In the last couple of years I have been growing the uncommon leafy greens: katuk, chaya and bele (Abelmoschus manihot). Although moringa is nutrient and protein packed it has a strong flavor. The subtle, pea-like flavor of katuk is much more appealing.

3 Likes

Tomato salad with super-veggies! :yum:

Tomato + cucumber + onion + pansy flowers + cilantro, olive oil, salt and balsamic vinegar
+
leaves of piper sarmentosum, pereskia aculeata, gynura bicolor, gynura procumbens, gynostemma pentaphyllum and pimenton padron…

12 Likes

Savoy cabbage !
I have only been growing the savoy types for 3yrs.
But I am amazed at how they handle the cold of winter.
I have had some mature heads go through single digit temperature , and not even blink . No freeze damage.
Tougher than kale . Stayed in the garden all winter in good shape
Aubervillers and savoy perfection are 2 that I have had good luck with
Many of the" normal “cabbages would be mush at those temps.
Anyone else grow these.?
Have any variety tips ?
I am starting seeds of these now for the " winter crop.”

5 Likes

Ichiban eggplants… very delicious.

9 Likes

My incredibly terrible strategy of forgetting about my galangal and ginger overwintering in the garage, and planting the barely alive husks in the ground in spring has succeeded. I guess the subtropical heat and humidity was good for them.

Thin leaves are ginger, more round ones are galangal.

Bonus: Unprotected Bay Laurel shrub that died back and has started growing from the roots!


My weeding is terrible but I didn’t know it was still alive :smiley:
Climate Zone 7a theoretically, but more 8a over the last few years.

5 Likes

Those make wonderful dumplings. We grow them too.

1 Like

Which do you make dumplings with? That sounds intriguing! D

Chinese chives. No recipe but this link is similar. We are vegetarian so we use fried tofu instead of pork. My favorite.

3 Likes

Sikkim Cucumbers. Great flavor, and handles the heat better than most.


Peter Peppers. “Interesting” shape, productive, and great in salsa. Good flavor, and not too hot.

12 Likes

Neat looking cukes. Any chance they’re immune to the bacterial wilt from cucumber beetles? It takes out the regular cukes I grow every year.

2 Likes

Honestly I don’t know. The cucumber beetles hit them pretty hard this year. Lost a few plants when they were young from being eaten, but have not noticed any wilt.
-Nick

Try H-19 pickling cukes. I didn’t grow and this year, but they’re usually chugging right along as all the other cukes dissolve around them. They’re good for fresh eating, too.

4 Likes

From a friend’s home garden. It is called a Kikinda gourd. It is over 5 feet long.

8 Likes

Lol, I wish there was a variety up to my beetles and wilt! I’ve grown the H-19s, country fair and Diva all of which were supposed to help, but they all get taken down. On another board someone was showing their plants with surround and thought it was helping keep the beetles off so I may try that next year. I actually did better with cukes this year that I didn’t trellis and let sprawl on my wood chip mulch. There was a little cedar in that batch of arborists chips so I was wondering if that helps.

2 Likes

Another thing you may want to try with the cuke beetles is to grow some amaranth several feet away from the cukes as a trap crop. I just let the beetles eat the amaranth leaves (I keep the grain/seeds), but one could spray the amaranth to lessen the overall population.

2 Likes

Same here! Lol

This year we grew Red Kuri squash and Kobucha squash. They are winter squashes, like a slight big acorn squash in size. Very flavorful. Better than acorn or butternut. The Kobucha vine only made one squash. The Red Kuri made about 6 squashes.

I grow a lot of squashes. We like Pink Banana, which is very large. Also Galeux d’Eysines pumpkin. The Galeux is very pumpkiny and smooth flesh.

I grew Picklebush short-vine cucumbers in a raised bed, and mulched with newspaper to keep them clean. Unfortunately I was in the hospital when they were at peak size so they went to waste. Last year they were perfect.

2 Likes

I always grow buttercup/Japanese Kobucha type squash. The cultivar I grow is very productive. One plant can grow over ten+ little squash and the female flowers appear very early

1 Like