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lettssee

Planting any new edibles this year?

lettssee
19 years ago

Ever since I bought this farm I have eyed up every edible I have seen. I still have lots of work to do to start full swing planting of the larger edibles like trees and bushes but the smaller ones I have been all over. I plan to put in my first full size veggie garden this year and I am building a pergola to grow some kiwi.

I would love to know what you all are planning in the way of edibles just for inspiration and dreaming purposes.

Lettssee

Comments (10)

  • alfie_md6
    19 years ago

    Crabapples, Nanking cherries, quince, fig, pawpaw (I may get a harvest in another 20 years or so), native persimmon (I planted seeds, anyway), rhubarb, gooseberries, black currants, asparagus, blueberries, horseradish, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, musk strawberries, mulberries.

    Potato onions (new), garlic, fingerling potatoes (new).

    Spinach, lettuce, corn salad, beets, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, rutabaga (new), mizuna, kale (new), ground cherries, carrots (new), muskmelon (new), watermelon, corn, okra, zucchini, winter squash (new), radishes, leeks, parsnips (new), fava beans (new), sugar snap peas (new), butterbeans, wax beans, cowpeas, green beans, purple beans, purslane, kohlrabi (new).

    Well, that's the plan, anyway :-).

  • Laurel7286
    19 years ago

    Gee, new ones... blueberries and grapes, rhubarb, thornless blackberries, chokecherries, parsley root, celery and cardoon. New varieties of many favorites veggies I grow every year.

    Alfie, where on earth have you found a fruiting quince? I have looked high and low and can only find the ornamental ones.

    A tip on the kiwi--be sure and mark the male and female, trust me,you will forget. If you have deer, they will leave the plants alone and eat every single fruit. They grow faster than you would ever believe, it's incredible. The hardy kiwi I prune in late winter, but the fuzzy types will grow so fast they need pruning mid summer too, once they are established.

    Don't you want some Jerusalem Artichokes at the swap??
    (she asks innocently...)

  • alfie_md6
    19 years ago

    Do I want any Jerusalem artichokes at the swap? Well, no, I think not, but thanks just the same :-)! (I think that thread finally dropped into cyberoblivion, hooray!) I bought my fruiting quince from the Raintree catalog. We had our first Quince Harvest Festival last fall -- one whole quince!!!

  • lettssee
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Laurel,
    I will bite on the Jerusalem artichokes (as I smell something funny from Alfies post I am going to look for "that thread"). I have never had them. Do YOU eat them? Do YOU like them? Are they invasive? I read a little about them on the internet today but mostly I found recipes and history about them being native and being eaten by the indians.

    Alfie, I am jealous of the pawpaw trees. I didn't know it took so long for them to fruit though. We will have to find space a little sooner to get them in. Actually I would like to taste one but I cannot seem to find any place to get one.

    Thanks for your posts I look out into our overgrown jungle of a yard and picture all of the wonderful things growing and fruiting. Although at the moment the picture is a little blurred by all the snow!
    Lettssee

  • braspadya
    19 years ago

    Laurel:

    You might also have a look at the Edible Landscaping catalog. I got a fruitng Boyer's quince from them several years ago. It has grown nicely.

    However, I am pretty sure that it is infected with rust - there are a lot of native red cedars in my yard & in neighboring yards. These cedars are the alternative host for the rust organism. So, without a lot of spraying, I don't think that I'll be seeing a lot of quinces in the near future.

  • reginak
    19 years ago

    My whole garden is new this year, and it will be almost all edibles! 25 varieties of tomato... 10 or so of eggplant... a few peppers, bloody butcher corn, 5 or 6 beans, cowpeas, artichokes (which I'm too late to start but will anyway), various lettuces and other greens, green onions, herbs, okra, melons, squashes, etc. etc. etc. And strawberries, and I guess I'm ready to put in some blueberries this year.

    Any SSE members here, by the way? The yearbook hasn't come yet -- I know it was late everywhere, but wondering if anyone in my area has received it?

  • alfie_md6
    19 years ago

    Lettsee, I planted 12 innocent-looking Jerusalem artichoke tubers from the grocery store one summer, and ended up with (first) an impressive wall of 12-foot-high sunflowers and then (second) several bushels of Jerusalem artichokes plus sprouts from tubers I missed, coming up literally a yard or more from where the bed had been. In my opinion, the best that can be said for Jerusalem artichokes as a food is that they're probably not bad fried, with ketchup -- but then, shoes fried, with ketchup, probably wouldn't be bad either :-). I was foolish enough to offer the extra tubers on this forum with "Jerusalem artichokes" in the thread title, and for the next three years I kept getting e-mails from random people all over the place, asking me for some.

  • Laurel7286
    19 years ago

    Lettsee,
    You can't always trust Alfie, you know. (Did you know Alfie likes okra? No wonder she doesn't like JA's :) ) She may not have known that the best flavor develops only after a light frost. I never dig mine until October or later, all the way through March if the ground isn't frozen. Once spring comes, you cannot dig anymore as any leftover tubers are producing the sunflowers for the next year.

    Jerusalem artichokes are very prolific.... OK, they can be invasive if planted in the wrong spot. Therefore, yes, you must plant them under the harshest conditions you've got--do not give them amended soil, fertilizer, or 10 hours of sun.

    Yes, I eat them and I love them. They have a lovely artichoke flavor, with a texture similar to potatoes. But here's the inside info: do not peel them, just scrub. All the nutrition and much of the flavor resides in and near the skin. Even if you wind up mashing them, the skins are so delicate you won't notice.

    Here are some ideas.
    1)you can eat them raw, they're sweet and nutty, with a crunch like water chestnuts. Great in salads just before serving.
    2)You can steam/microwave/boil them and dress with butter, or mash like potatoes.
    3)You can slice and saute them.
    4)I really like to cut them in 1" chunks, coat lightly with olive oil and roast in the oven with other root veggies and/or a chicken. Rosemary is a nice touch.
    5)they make a terrific soup--substitute for half of the potatoes in a cream of potato, vichysoisse, or potato/leek soup.

    So shall I bring some to the swap for you?
    Laurel

    They are not good keepers, which is why they are so expensive in the supermarket.

  • lettssee
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Laurel,
    After discussing the recipes and the invasiveness with my husband (he's the cook around here) I think we would like to try one. I appreciate your offer and I look forward to trying yet another new veggie.
    I like okra! tastes yummy with tomatoes. Although that is the ONLY way that I like them.
    Lettssee

  • wolfe15136
    19 years ago

    I'm looking for a really nice red rhubarb, some more stawberries to underplant the roses, and I think, some dwarf blueberries to plant in pots on the patio.

    Anyone tried those yet?

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