STUN but for annuals

Hey all,
Im heading out to my 11-acre property in eastern Washington in early May and I am wondering if you all have suggestions for annuals that I can plant while I am there that will need little to no care. I have a ton of seed potatoes and veggies starts for my current home garden and will be bringing some with me but just wondered what you guys thought would survive/give a possible harvest. I was thinking Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes, winter squashes and maybe summer squashes to grow for seed. I was also just going to throw some tomato transplants in the ground and see how it goes. I have lettuce and orach seeds I grew out and will be broadcasting those as well. All the plants I will be mulching heavily as the area only gets 20" of rain a year and summers are hot. Just wanted to see what the permies zeitgeist thought of this idea and if there were suggestions. Ill be planting fruit/firewood/nut trees while I am there as well but wanted to try to get a yield this year with the craziness of food prices. Thanks for any suggestions!

Nat

I'm very interesting in reading the replies you haven't yet gotten, so I thought I'd bump this up by suggesting chayote squash. Maybe it won't do well in your region, but it's so easy to grow, sometimes if you buy a couple of pounds of chayote squash one will have sprouted before you can eat them. You just drop this anywhere and it will grow. They love to climb so better to drop it near a fence or tree.  They pretty drought tolerant and can also handle torrential seasonal rain.

Mark Shepard makes a case for what he calls the STUN method: sheer, total, and utter neglect.

This lady makes some good points:

Carol said, "I always tell them to quit tilling their soil, keep it covered, stop using chemicals, and welcome all life, including ants and spiders and all kinds of creepy crawlies. I teach them how to be pollinator friendly and make them aware of pollinators many people overlook, like ants and butterflies. I dig up small portions of my STUN garden and show them soil structure and explain its benefits, including carbon sequestration. I teach them to make compost tea.

growing a million calories a year

I would imagine that this method would work under the right conditions.

Maybe using a hugelkulture bed.  

Having gotten your soil already to be super soil.

Your area gets a better than average rainfall at the right times.

sweet potatoes (worth a shot)
winter squash/pumpkins
sorgum? (we eat it as cereal, it's not terrible to thresh, but animals love to eat it)
i might try throwing some collard seeds out, mine are pretty hardy and sometimes surprise me.
+1 on chayote, and def near something to climb.

maybe might be nice to get some kind of passiflora established? they usually take about 3 years to get going.

Tereza Okava wrote:sweet potatoes (worth a shot)
winter squash/pumpkins
sorgum? (we eat it as cereal, it's not terrible to thresh, but animals love to eat it)
i might try throwing some collard seeds out, mine are pretty hardy and sometimes surprise me.
+1 on chayote, and def near something to climb.

maybe might be nice to get some kind of passiflora established? they usually take about 3 years to get going.

I agree with Sorghum as a suggestion. Amaranth and Teff could be good too (Adaptive seeds has both). If you can mulch thickly that will help. Some types of corn from Adaptive and other seed companies are actually supposed to be very thrifty.

If anything survives I recommend saving seed so it's even more successful next time!

James Landreth wrote:

Tereza Okava wrote:sweet potatoes (worth a shot)
winter squash/pumpkins
sorgum? (we eat it as cereal, it's not terrible to thresh, but animals love to eat it)
i might try throwing some collard seeds out, mine are pretty hardy and sometimes surprise me.
+1 on chayote, and def near something to climb.

maybe might be nice to get some kind of passiflora established? they usually take about 3 years to get going.

I agree with Sorghum as a suggestion. Amaranth and Teff could be good too (Adaptive seeds has both). If you can mulch thickly that will help. Some types of corn from Adaptive and other seed companies are actually supposed to be very thrifty.

If anything survives I recommend saving seed so it's even more successful next time!

Ill get started on some sweet potato slips now because like you said its definitely worth a shot! I should be able to mulch pretty thickly. For the amaranth would you get the plants established first and then heavily mulch or how would you go about getting it established? Ill be there for 10 days which would be enough time for the seeds to germinate at least.

Thank you for your reply!

Melissa Ferrin wrote:I'm very interesting in reading the replies you haven't yet gotten, so I thought I'd bump this up by suggesting chayote squash. Maybe it won't do well in your region, but it's so easy to grow, sometimes if you buy a couple of pounds of chayote squash one will have sprouted before you can eat them. You just drop this anywhere and it will grow. They love to climb so better to drop it near a fence or tree.  They pretty drought tolerant and can also handle torrential seasonal rain.

Thank you for the suggestion! Ill see if I can find some chayote at my local stores and/or order some seeds to throw down.

Anne Miller wrote:Mark Shepard makes a case for what he calls the STUN method: sheer, total, and utter neglect.

This lady makes some good points:

Carol said, "I always tell them to quit tilling their soil, keep it covered, stop using chemicals, and welcome all life, including ants and spiders and all kinds of creepy crawlies. I teach them how to be pollinator friendly and make them aware of pollinators many people overlook, like ants and butterflies. I dig up small portions of my STUN garden and show them soil structure and explain its benefits, including carbon sequestration. I teach them to make compost tea.

growing a million calories a year

I would imagine that this method would work under the right conditions.

Maybe using a hugelkulture bed.  

Having gotten your soil already to be super soil.

Your area gets a better than average rainfall at the right times.

Well that is fantastic news about rainfall in the area, I did not know that! Im going to be broadcasting cover crops and just try to get any plants I can to get established to try to start building up the soil. Mostly I want to get the soil covered now but if I can get a yield out of this planting that is icing on the cake.

Nat Kadziel wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:Your area gets a better than average rainfall at the right times.

Well that is fantastic news about rainfall in the area, I did not know that! Im going to be broadcasting cover crops and just try to get any plants I can to get established to try to start building up the soil. Mostly I want to get the soil covered now but if I can get a yield out of this planting that is icing on the cake.

I am sorry if I mislead you, I meant if your area gets better than average rainfall.  Though eastern Washington may get good rainfall.

Here are some threads about Chayote Squash you might enjoy:

https://permies.com/t/160678/Chayote-Squash-Journey

https://permies.com/t/136739/Article-History-Chayote-Mirlitons-North

I hope your grocery has them.

Nat Kadziel wrote: Ill see if I can find some chayote at my local stores and/or order some seeds to throw down.

You have to plant the whole fruit! Burying it is optional but helps, but you need the whole fruit.
You might find this interesting.  
https://bcfarmsandfood.com/chayote-squash-new-staple-crop-northern-gardens/

Good luck with your new space!

I think it'll come down to how well you have mulched and the timing of planting the seeds/seedlings.  I suggest also that whatever you get to grow with STUN, don't ruin your (not) hard work by pulling up the plants when you are done harvesting.  Leave some to go to seed.  Also sometimes, you'll be surprised what turns out to actually be perennial in your climate or ends up self seeding.  

Here's my random musings... Eastern WA does get good rainfall in some areas.  You need to get the soil to hold onto it through the dry season. I think you'll get the most success on focusing on growing things in the spring and in the fall.  Things might go dormant or die back in the summer when it's hot and dry unless they grow a really deep root system.  Okra might grow well.  Tomatoes will go dormant during the hottest months but you can get spring and fall fruit.  Scatter a bunch of lettuce and other greens seeds, let them go to seed and you'll get random lettuce, kale, spinach, etc popping up whenever it's cool and starts to rain (spring and fall).  Things with a bulb/storage root like radishes and onions.  The radishes will get bitter/spicy in the heat but you can eat the greens and the seed pods.  Onions grow great in eastern WA.  I bet a flour corn like Painted Mountain would do well for you.  Plant it in the ground as soon as there is no frost and it'll start growing- the ground doesn't have to be warm for it.  I usually STUN my Painted Mountain corn and get a decent crop in the fall, though of course the crop is better if I irrigate it.  And squash will do great as long as it gets established well before the heat and dry starts.  My best success with squash is usually the volunteers that grow in the worst soil and don't get watered.

For amaranth I would do starts if possible, then transplant and mulch. It's generally too dry by that time of year to try seeding without some water to start and no mulch. For grain millet really is very excellent, though that's probably not what you're looking for. It's very good for feeding local birds though and as fodder

White potatoes are very drought tolerant too. I'd definitely follow the suggestion of spring and fall (shoulder-season) gardening. I'd plant garlic in the fall, for example

Most years, I get enough rain that peas, beans, cherry tomatoes, salad mix type lettuces, beets and winter squash pretty much take care of themselves. Once I plant and water well, I mostly ignore (except last year when it was very hot and dry by local standards). These are the crops that have done well for me despite my neglect.

An annual but not usually treated as edible, luffa grows well for me with the STUN method. Animals have left it alone so far, and it regularly survives our summer droughts. Since they need to grow mature and somewhat dry on the vine, I treat it similarly to sweet potatoes -- mulch the ground, provide a trellis for the vines, and then I don't have to worry about harvesting until fall. Ridged luffa is a variety that's commonly eaten, but it needs to be harvested much more frequently.

Living in North Central Idaho (only about an hour's drive from Clarkston in eastern Washington), my biggest question is:  What kind of soil do you have?   In my area, I have mostly clay, mixed thoroughly with gravel (thanks to the previous owner), then 4"-20" basalt rocks.  

I think sweet potatoes make a great ground cover, and I love eating them,  but it has taken me an entire season to dig up and amend enough area to be able to plant them.  I've started a hugelbed, and depending on how well it works, I'll work on more.

Now, for the annuals you were thinking about:  

Many herbs thrive on neglect.  I planted one Evening Primrose, and now I have them popping up all over.  They grow to about 4' tall, and have beautiful flowers.  They die when the frost comes.

Many cover crops will block out the weeds and add nutrition to the soil.

Depending on your soil, your ability to get them started, and how any birds will get the seeds, sunflowers are great.  (I have chickens so they never self-sow).

Calendula will self-sow like crazy

The question here was specific, about a certain area (with its soil, climate, etc.). I live in a totally different country, I'm sure my region has a different soil and climate. Although I like 'doing some work' in my garden, I love plants that don't need special attention.

Where I live the first one I think of is what you probably call Swiss chard (Latin name: Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris var. vulgaris or var. cicla). Also some varieties of kale (f.e. Brassica oleracea convar. acephala var. laciniata) are easy, only the start (sowing the seeds and transplanting) asks for some effort and patience.

For the suggested plants, you'll probably want to just overplant as much as you can (and consider just mixing it all up and scattering heavily...at the very least you'll confuse predators).  I think someone suggested this above, but keep the seeds of the "winners"*, and repeat.  It's like a hyper-local landrace, and you can always add in fresh external seed periodically to keep mixing up the genetics (or new species).

You might not have a huge abundance at first, but keep it up and after a few years I'll bet you'll end up with the best-adapted plants to your soil, environment, and garden neighbors.

* Consider various categories of winners, and collect from all of them:

Fastest growing

Earliest to fruit

Longest fruiting season

Highest yield

Best tasting

Best seed production (seeds are the name of the game, after all)