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

You could always try burr gherkins. Taste like cucumbers, but the pests and wilt seem to stay away. Make pretty good pickles too.

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Shark fin squash. Never heard of it. A friend gave me half a melon. I just got around to use it tonight. Will make spicy soup and use this melon cut in small chunks as veggie.

My friend said when cooked, it has texture of shark fin, hence, the name. If people can eat this veggie and save all the sharks, I will be so happy. More power to the squash.

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This is my first blackberry, Prime Ark Freedom. Disregard the weeds, I’ve been more neglectful than usual of late. I ate it last week, and it may have been a touch underripe, it was a bit sour. It was still shiny, perhaps I should’ve waited for it to get dull.

One of two berries, the other one’s still growing. So few… could it be that it doesn’t like its shady location? Or maybe it dislikes heavy clay soil?

And these are my first Phoenix Oyster Mushrooms. I’m gonna prepare a bigger bucket for the next batch, they’re were tasty! Like seafood.

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Oysters are one of my favorite mushroom! If you cook them with a savory steak in the beef fat they make a great textural juxtaposition and both taste like amazing steak.

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Thanks! I’ll be trying it with my next harvest. What other recipes do you recommend? So far I’ve stir-fried and deep-fried them.

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I also roast them savory style and put them in soups sliced thinly. In general you want to cook them with a bit of fat and just with any dish and they will absorb the flavour and are a good protein that i think pairs with almost everything.

While these are the easiest to grow hands down I also reccomend maitake, enokis and lions mane

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What are you growing them in @Caesar? Looks like a plastic bottle? What substrate are you using? How do you get water in there? Do you need to water often?

I have grown oyster mushrooms on newspaper a few times. Simple, just roll some spawn in damp newspaper and dunk the thing in water from time to time. The yield was low doing it my way, so I am keen to learn of better yet simple ways to grow them.

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I came here to suggest ground cherries too! They reseed in my garden every year and so I don’t always need to start them now. My toddler loves them, and if you can save up enough, they make an incredibly rich compote.

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My parents didn’t know, so I was afraid to eat them as a child…but I think I’d still prefer a tomato.

That’s smart! They are still in the same family as nightshade, so I would only eat the cultivated ones too. Luckily, those are what reseed in our yard and not the more mysterious nightshade varieties.

I tried several times to germinate ground cherry without much success. The seeds are really small and takes forever to germinate. What is the best way to grow it from seeds?

I would directly sow them, barely cover and put under a hoop house since your 2 zones cooler then me. .

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Carroll, thanks for the sowing direction

@IL847
I think for best ground cherry plants.
Start them same time and temperatures as tomatoes.
They are still kind of a wild plant.
All the seeds will not sprout the first year.
Smashing some fruit and scattering around the garden will give late season volunteers for years to come

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I bought a pack of Pineapple. It is a smaller than aunt Molly but from the description, it sounds better taste

I grew pineapple last year and it had a very nice test. Previously I had grown an Amish heirloom which did well but wasn’t nearly as tasty. I grow them the same as I start my tomatoes and have had either great germination or almost non-existent which I chalk up to the seeds themselves. I wonder if they don’t stay viable as well as other things we grow.

@Hillbillyhort is right though that once you get them going you get volunteers coming year after year. Mine started in an area of my front yard above a retaining wall and have now migrated down to the hell strip by the street from being washed down by rain. The dogs “water” those as they pass by during their walks, so I don’t dare harvest from those plants.

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Do you think it is possible to grow it in a large container like half whisky barrel?

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Pineapple where the first I grew. I honestly can not taste them. its like a null void on my taste buds. My family thought they tasted great so I kept growing them. Aunt molly tasted good and the grocery store ones taste good so I can appreciate them now.

They should have no problem any place you can grow peppers and tomatoes.

I would think that would be fine. They are about the size of a large pepper plant, but grow wider instead of taller.

Perfect, thanks for confirm that. I want to save in ground space for tomatoes