Thekla McDaniels

William, what’s an overwintering annual?  I have never heard that term.

Or were you asking about artichokes holding their leaves over winter.

In freezing winters artichokes die to the ground.  I believe they hold their leaves in mild winters.  In a region where they usually hold their leaves… they will lose them in a hard frost, but it won’t kill them.

I have successfully grown horseradish among a mix of sunflowers-tithonia-cosmos and hollyhocks.  And goji berries, though that one’s more invasive than horseradish and with thorns!  I won’t plant gojis again.

And had king stropharia mushrooms pop up under the hollyhock and horseradish leaves.  Mushrooms are sensitive to temperature and humidity, and in an arid situation with intense sunlight, horseradish creates habitat for mushrooms, at least king stropharia.

Which brings me to the idea of shading.  Mainly horseradish takes over by shading.  I think horseradish would shade out strawberries because the low growing berries can’t get to the sunlight.  

I think things that are as tall or taller than horseradish are your best bet.  In growing a food plant, maybe scarlet runner beans, or any climbing bean, would work.  The trellis gets them above horseradish’s shade, and as legumes they have their nitrogen advantage..

I haven’t seen it but I can believe a crawling plant like vining squash would hold its own, or gourds.

If you’re in a place where artichokes survive the winter, they might also be worth a try.

John Suavecito wrote:I do have some slug predation on my horseradish.  However, it can be a plant used as a slug trap-to keep slugs away from others-it still grows vigorously.  It can also be used for entrapment. Go out, just before you go to bed, or just as you wake up, maybe with a flashlight, and grab all the slugs. Then smear them on some concrete. Then their buddies will come by the next day to eat them and you can kill them too.

John S
PDX OR

For a double whammy:  maybe put a dish of beer (slugs love it, slide in and drown) under the leaves of the horse radish?

Like many people, come for the salad, and it doesn’t work out as intended🤣

Thanks Mike!

I’m going to copy that one down and put it in my SD recipe collection!

I think it was already said:  harvesting aggressively pretty much prevents aggressive spreading.  But I bet in arid alkaline soil it doesn’t spread that way.

I have goat pasture.  I will transplant some to the pasture when we have had a better winter— meaning a lot of snow, following a summer and or fall when we got a lot of rain.

Goats like it!  Maybe sheep do too.  And when the animals have access, most things don’t get out of hand!

I have grown it in the past.  It was good to have in the garden, and its roots contribute to soil aggregates formation.  That’s a big plus

Mike Barkley wrote:I use sourdough frequently. Not that often for a loaf of bread though. Always have pancakes & tortillas in the freezer for quick meals. Sourdough pizzas every other week or so. Sometimes I make cakes or cookies with it. Fresh pasta made with sourdough is excellent tasting & easy to do. Chicken & dumplings using sourdough for the dumplings is probably my favorite.

Mike, are you just using your starter for the dumplings?  Or do you throw a few other things in?

Kate Downham’s sourdough without fail!

I am also a fan!

Chelsea Green sent me notification of a sale.  Lots of books on composting and soils enrichment.  There’s a process described for extracting minerals with vinegar.  There’s also a recipe provided for cooking the base of a green sunflower.

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I like it!