Mexican sour gherkins are great. I grew them last year. They look like tiny watermelons. Very prolific!
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Ok , you may have heard of them.?
These are some of my " walking onions"
They are unusual in that they are perennial , low maintanance ,winter hardy , and … They walk…
First week of March here in 6b Wv. And I am eating green onions !
Everyone should have a few rows of these.
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Love those onions, if you let them get out of hand though they will walk all over you.
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Welcome them walk to Chicago，my backyard.lol
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annie, do you not have walking onions? If you don’t, pm me.
Mark, Thanks👍. PM is sent
I think taro is a common staple starch in the tropics, but it’s certainly unusual for most of temperate North America. A friend who’s also in zone 7 North Carolina just gave my family some taro she grew to use for “seed”. I think she’s been growing it for at least a few years. I think in our climate it has to be started before the last spring frost in flats under glass or otherwise protected, but I’m looking forward to having another neutral starch for the winter months. Sweet potatoes are our main non-grain starch, especially for the months of October-June, because Irish potatoes mature when it’s still so hot that they only keep well through September (at least without a climate controlled storage space), and as much as I like the sweetness of sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes aren’t always as compatible with other things as a non-sweet starch like Irish potatoes, so taro seems like it could complement our other non-grain starches very nicely.
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The fat stem of taro stalk is a good veggie too. It has sponge like texture, it willbsoak up all the juice it is cooked in.
Do you grow taro in Illinois?
I wish I could. I buy both taro and taro stem from the store
@Chills Please tell me more about lovage. It is practically unheard of here, but I can get seed. I am mostly wondering if it is worth growing when I have parsley that self seeds well and water celery growing in a bucket and is very abundant.
I would also love to hear people’s experiences with chufa (aka tiger nut). Sounds like a lot of work to harvest them so I am not sure if a meal is worth that effort?
Lovage is a wonderful herb. It is a vigorous celery like herb. I use it in cooking much of the summer. I make chicken salad and add lovage to the water when poaching the chicken. The stock I am left with then gets frozen and I use it in the winter to make chicken soup. (yum)
When the sprouts are new it can be used like celery, but it quickly gets woody-ish. The stems are hollow and my kids used to like using them as straws.
It produces copious amounts of seed and lovage seed is frequently used as “celery seed” by herb/spice companies. Chewing the fruits cleanses the palate as well as the breath.
Anything else you’d like to know?
Scott
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Hi, Scott, good description of lovage. I also grow lovage in my yard. I use it when I steam fish. I love its scent.
This is what I grow . I got it from hmart. It’s called Dropward, or water celery. The stem and leaf both are edible. It has celery like scent. It is very winter hardy in zone5 and can be invasive. Very easy and fast grow, not pest issues or disease issues. It is good to stir fry with meat
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I hot a jungle of them down the ditch just from ten plants 10 years ago. I put them in my ramen once in a while.
Lovage is well worth growing and super easy but be prepared that some people REALLY don’t like it. The scent is very strong and can turn people off like coriander does for some. (and you will smell of it if you handle it at all)
It is very hardy and while not a fast spreader, it does just…keep expanding. Put a patch in and you will forever be able to share. (And digging it out is possible, but a bit of a chore. It sets deep roots)
I do second the recommendation but just FYI that it’s one people can react quite negatively to.
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In early spring time when it’s tender I stir fry and mix with ground meat , use as filling. It tastes quite good
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Now i am ponding water celery is on my radar but i have yet to grow and try it.
Plugged small sprigs of an aquatic mint and of watercress into the bog filter (stock tank, at the time it only had some iris and cattails) pictured, but they have some growing to do…looking forward to having them available though
I grow the variegated form of water celery. It is less vigorous yet apparently tastes the same.
I like the sound of lovage, I think I will order some seeds and give it a try. In winter does it produce offsets similar to skirret? Also, people say lovage roots are edible, what do they taste like? I assume one would roast them?
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