Inge Leonora-den Ouden

What I wanted to say was: why all 'staples' together in one bed? I think a polyculture can have one staple together with some other vegetables. Maybe a combination of leafy vegetable, root vegetable, fruit vegetable, edible flower together in one bed?

Eino Kenttä wrote:Then our experiences with aardaker are quite similar. Less than vigorous is a good description. ...

Aardaker (Lathyrus tuberosus) is growing well in my allotment garden. Beautiful pink flowers. But not much of roots to harvest ...

Eino Kenttä wrote:The first experiment has been made: co-growing potatoes with creeping bellflower. The results are decidedly promising. They seem to play nice. In the end I didn't even bother to suppress the bellflower around the potatoes, since the potato plants got up above the main level of the bellflower leaves quite quickly. The harvest of the two potato plants in the tiny test bed didn't seem worse than the average harvest per plant in the rest of the potato beds. There was also a smaller, but tasty, harvest of creeping bellflower roots, even though I replanted the biggest, best-looking roots for next year.

Since it's the first year, the results are somewhat uncertain. For instance, in the event that the bellflower would turn out to be allelopathic, the substances responsible for it might take some time to build up enough in the soil to harm the potatoes. Also, the relative quality of the soil in the test bed compared to the main potato beds is uncertain, and both will hopefully keep improving in coming years. Still, it is a very good start.

I'll call Root Year 1 a success. Next year we'll see how well the bellflower grows with buckwheat. Possibly also quinoa, which will replace amaranth in the plan, since we've tried amaranth for three years now, and it hasn't done much of anything. Quinoa, on the other hand, looks a bit promising. I plan to keep the creeping bellflower confined to the test bed for two more years, in case it plans to start wreaking havoc, before allowing it in any part of the main beds. To be continued...

Never thought of that. The Campanula (bellflower) is growing like weed in my back garden! So I can plant potatoes in that same bed. I'll try it next year (if I don't forget). And maybe amaranth too.

Jim Sayers wrote:...
Something that continues to come back year after year self sown is ground cherries.  I planted  purple variety about 6 years ago and every year I have plenty come up and fruit.  They are just now getting their papery husk fruits.  We have made small hand pies with them.  It’s an odd little savory tomato like fruit that needs sugar if going for dessert use.
...  

Now I finally understand what 'ground cherries' are! Because you mention the papery husk. In Dutch they are known with several different names, depending on the variety (the ones with the orange husk are 'lampionplant' and most people don't know there's an edible berry inside). But all of them are 'Physalis' (botanical name).

When I read about 'ground cherries' I always thought they were small cherries growing from a low shrub-like Prunus.

Thank you, Esteban, for the explanation and the photos.

Maybe my Goji-berries tasted good ... They're all gone, I think the birds took them!

If you're in the Netherlands and want to read the book ...
There's a copie in the library of 'De War'/Stichting Permacultuur Onderwijs in Amersfoort.
I spread more of the books over the country, but I think this is the only one in a library.

Esteban Ademovski wrote:...
Thank you, Inge! 😊❤️ It’s hard to believe a whole year has already gone by. Wheaton Labs has been quite the journey, with plenty of learning, growing, and blessings along the way. One year down, and I'm continuing to work toward my bigger dream of eventually returning to Europe and taking over my late father's apple orchards along Lake Prespa in Macedonia. 🍎🇲🇰 It would mean a lot to carry on that piece of my family's history. For now, I'm grateful for everything I'm learning here and looking forward to seeing where the journey takes me. 😊

Interesting, I didn't know about the apple orchard in Macedonia. All you learn at Wheaton Labs could be helpful in your dream coming true ...

Joshua Streamland wrote:Hello and thank you for this beautiful page....

Hi Joshua. Welcome to Permies!
Please share more on your gardening adventures. Maybe there's already a thread you can reply to. Or you start your own.

My next translated recipe.
For those who don't like fish: you can just leave it out, the salad will still taste good!

Apple-beetroot salad with fish

Ingredients:
200 g spelt
250 g cooked (red) beetroot
1 apple
4 smoked mackerel filets*
1 tuft of spring onions (I think walking onions are OK too)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
salt
2 tsp cumin seeds (roasted)
1 pinch of chili flakes (if you like)

Ingredients dressing:
a handful of finely chopped dill green
2 tsp grated fresh horseradish
150 g yoghurt


1. Cook the spelt grains for about 25 minutes in water with salt. Drain and let cool down.
2. For the dressing mix half of the dill and all horseradish with the yoghurt. Add salt to taste. If you like you can make it a little thinner with 1 – 3 tbsp water.
3. Fry the chopped onion greens softly in some olive oil. Add the lemon juice, cumin seeds and chili flakes. Take off the fire and add salt and pepper to taste.
4. In a large bowl mix the cooked spelt with the fried onion mixture. Add the other half of the dill and mix well.
Put the cubes of beetroot and apple and the fish* over the spelt. Drip the dressing over it.

*in this recipe it's smoked mackerel, but I know this kind of salad with the typical Dutch salted herring. The taste is very different, but I think both are a good combination with beetroot and apple.