Automatic Backyard Food Pump

Anne Miller wrote:Neat idea.  Some thoughts ...

I have not grown sunchokes because some folks say they cause gas.

My walking onions spread the first year doubling the amount of onions.

I did not have good luck with kale one the temperatures warm up the plants were attacked by aphids.  That was before I knew about using a soap spray and killing the ants farming them with vinegar.  I knew about vinegar just didn't know that ants farm aphids.

paul wheaton wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:I have not grown sunchokes because some folks say they cause gas.

I have heard the same thing.  And I have learned three very important things:

THING-1:   I have eaten sunchokes about 50 times and had gas only once.  But it was sooooo good, I ate way, way, way more than i should have.  

THING-2:  my understanding is that you need to build up the ability to thoroughly digest sunchokes.  Start small.

THING-3:  apparently, if you harvest after the first hard frost, there will be less digestive issues.


Here's a thing?  Ferment sunchokes so they're partially digested prior to consumption to reduce gas.  
How to Ferment Jerusalem Artichokes - The Backyard Larder https://backyardlarder.co.uk/2020/12/how-to-ferment-jerusalem-artichokes/

S. Glass wrote:Fairy potatoes: grows wild in many climates, entire plant is edible, no real maintenance necessary

Cassie Martin wrote:I don't know if they do this everywhere, but potatoes are tenacious where I live. If you miss just one or two little potatoes, they grow big, healthy plants next year. There are potatoes growing in the lawn areas where we had garden beds years ago. They could hypothetically be harvested any time, you would just need to know where they were in the winter.

Any potatoes left in the ground would have already frozen solid during the colder months. The freezing process ruptures the potato's cell walls, turning the flesh gray or reddish-brown. When thawed, the potatoes would become a mushy, inedible mess.

paul wheaton wrote:I asked google and google said

Any potatoes left in the ground would have already frozen solid during the colder months. The freezing process ruptures the potato's cell walls, turning the flesh gray or reddish-brown. When thawed, the potatoes would become a mushy, inedible mess.

Nancy Reading wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:I asked google and google said

Any potatoes left in the ground would have already frozen solid during the colder months. The freezing process ruptures the potato's cell walls, turning the flesh gray or reddish-brown. When thawed, the potatoes would become a mushy, inedible mess.

Google obviously doesn't live in a mild area! They overwinter quite happily here too.

Or a very harsh area! We occasionally hit -40 C/F and potatoes overwinter for me too, but it depends on the variety. A theory I'd been playing with is that our sand allows all water to drain away from the tubers, but I've also seen people on clay say taters overwinter for them as well. So I guess genetics is my current best theory.

paul wheaton wrote:I think it is good to note which things get chomped by deer, but I also think that getting chomped by deer does not excludesit from "the top 3".  

I have a fenced area.  And a lot of unfenced area.  And a LOT of deer pressure.  

The deer eventually chomp the kale and the sunchokes.  But I can still get a big kale harvest before they chomp it.  And the sunchokes tolerate some chomping late in the season.   So kale is mostly grown in the fenced area.  

The deer do not chomp the onions.  


Everybody is going to have different zones and challenges.  Some people have zero deer problems.  

There are thousands of gardening books where people talk about growing gardens and there is zero mention of deer.  

And thousands of gardening books growing stuff that will not grow in a tropical climate and they have zero mention of citrus, bananas, etc.  

I mention all this because I appreciate the discussion of challenges ("grow in a fenced area" or "the deer don't seem to want it") but some of the wording seems dark to me because it seems to discourage anybody trying due to challenges.

paul wheaton wrote:is there anything that would bump something off of my current top 3?

           (sunchokes, walking onions and kale)

Burra Maluca wrote:I think I need to find a way to get some of my galega seed to you. It's a perennial tree cabbage, very similar to kale but 'older' genetics, which is usually kept perennial by removing the flower buds- But I've been selecting for the ability to survive seeding and have seed off one that survived for four years and seeded successfully for three of those. Generally they live for seven or so years if you take the buds off.

paul wheaton wrote:I like this general idea that this can be morphed into other zones, other conditions, other challenges ...   Before I can contemplate those, I guess I would like to ask... etc  

paul wheaton wrote: What I really want to do is be able to say something like
      - spend 30 minutes gardening the way I tell you.  NO FUCKING VARIATIONS!  Obey my instructions or fuck off.

Lif Strand wrote:I don't think Galega (commonly known as goat's rue or French lilac) is a tree cabbage. It's in the legume family. Tree Kale is in the Brassica oleracea family. I think I would prefer it more than regular kale because supposedly it doesn't taste a whole lot like regular kale.

Burra Maluca wrote:This is couve galega, and it's Brassica oleracea. Nothing to do with goat's rue. It's one of the original brassicas to be domesticated and never had its perennial tendencies bred out. Probably older than anything currently labelled 'kale'. Every self respecting Portuguese garden has these growing just outside the back door. The lower leaves double as toilet paper.

Kathleen Sanderson wrote:
The kale - I'm not sure about. It's a good choice in a lot of respects. Daughter tolerates sauerkraut well (and dill pickles); it seems likely that kale could be made into sauerkraut, though it would be a little different....

L Anderson wrote:Inge:
Thank you for this list of easy vegetables! It will help me to expand what I grow.
By the way, I wonder if your sweet beet is related to parsnip? I