@PharmerDrewee: Where did you get the seeds for the crab claw herb? Does it grow/spread readily from seed? I have a very shady spot under my mulberry tree where grass doesn’t grow, and I would love to try this! I was also considering mioga ginger in the shady spot, but I wasn’t sure if it would be too shady.
2 Likes
new Zealand spinach was a raging success all summer with no/little water and over 100F days, full sun.
I must have harvested twenty dinners’ worth from this one patch. I planted two, two more reseeded and volunteered from last year.
futsu squash was prolific and is delicious, 10-12 from each small plant.
my sugar cane experiment gone awry, it’s not humid enough here and it didn’t get enough water and the pot was too small. will be repotting and trying to hold it over winter to see if I can get the canes large enough to eat next year
my bitter melon never fruited, nor my loofah. my celtuce was eaten by slugs.
5 Likes
Anyone ever grown Devil’s Claw for seeds? The American plant not the African one. They supposed make seeds that are something like Sunflower seeds in taste although never eaten one yet. I have the seed and they are a bit smaller than Sunflower seeds, got them started indoors will plant when warm. Incidentally this something I believe grows in deserts so works in dry and hot climates. I am in Texas so we got that. Not sure how many seeds each fruit yields. It is at a minimum a small handful per fruit with several fruits per bush. See how it goes.
2 Likes
I finally get the Caucasian Mountain Spinach growing in my garden. Have not tasted it yet,but it looks interesting.
6 Likes
New Zealand spinach is a great one for summer heat, but I have a reaction to it. It’s the only thing I have any allergies to.
JohN S
PDX OR
1 Like
I picked some tips and tasted it. It has a little bitter taste, also a little smell of fava bean. Interesting
I have grown native Devil’s Claw for the young pods used like okra. I prefer okra, though.
1 Like
Has anyone tried Chijimisai? I’m tempted to try it this year. I’ve really started to enjoy a lot of the Asian greens.
Try Japanese wasabi, my new favorite radish, I got my seeds from Baker Creek. Also you can try pumpkin flowers, they are delish, Talayote a wild fruit kind of like chayote, but withstands heat and cold weather better. Alcayota squash and opo squash are really good too.
Is the talayote cynanchum racemosum? Thanks!
2 Likes
Annie,
What is this root vegetable?
My Chinese friend gave them to me. She only knows its Chinese name. Does it have an English name?
4 Likes
Looks a bit like jerusalem artichoke.
4 Likes
Yep, jelusalem artichokes. You can eat it raw as a salad( slice it very thin, marinate in vinegar and sugar for half hour.
Add chopped cilantro right before serving ). Sautéed with some meat, or cook it like potatoes. It is good for the diabetics and support colon health.
2 Likes
They make good fermented pickles, too!
Tatsoi greens.
2 Likes
@busch83 and @IL847 Thanks for the answer. I have heard of jerusalem artichoke but never seen one for real.
@jcguarneri - I can’t eat acidic food anymore, unfortunately.
In case someone hasn’t said it yet:
Wild peavine tips
Only the tips though, when they get old, they get woody and don’t taste as good so you gotta harvest them at the beginning of spring or before they try to flower. They’re perennial here in Washington and they make massive tap roots so once you plant it, make sure you’re ready for it cause they’re really hard to get rid of. They taste great though
Hi Melon, What is the latin name of wild pea vine? Thanks!
1 Like
I may have posted before, but I’m not going back through 650 posts to see…
@cousinfloyd turned me on to Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa, aka Jamaican sorrel, Florida cranberry, etc.) several years ago, and it was one of the few garden plants that survived my total abandonment and neglect this year.
This year’s crop was all dehydrated for use in making Roselle ‘tea’… preferred by my kids. I made jam with some of last year’s crop, and it was good, but we don’t eat much jelly/jam around here, so I still have several jars in the pantry.
The past two years, I’ve grown ‘Thai Red’ Roselle, seeds from Baker Creek. Have a friend in PA who was supposed to be sending seed from a strain that begins blooming earlier in the season… but those never materialized.
I think there were, at most, a dozen plants in this row. They received no fertilization and almost no weed control. Total harvest was about three 5-gallon bucketsful, which dried down to about 3 one-gallon ziploc bags of dehydrated calyces.
In addition to the tart, fleshy calyces, the leaves of Roselle also have a tangy, citrus-like flavor in salads, etc.
My experience has been that germination rates are characteristically fairly low… maybe in the 60% range, so it helps to initially plant more seed than you think you’ll need.
8 Likes