posted 15 years ago
Following links from this forum a while back, I learned that Marc Bonfils recommends black medic as a dryland substitute for white clover in his no-till continuous wheat rotation. It didn't seem exactly right, so I've been wondering what other good options are out there ever since.
One of my Christmas gifts last year was an order from the Baker Creek seed catalog, which I had never heard of. The catalog arrived last week, and reading through it taught me that jicama is a legume! I had first eaten some in 1998, and remembering the texture of those tubers made me wonder if jicama might be a drought-tolerant plant. The internet seems to say it is, apparently moreso if you harvest the flowers.
So now I'd like to try, or to hear from someone who has tried, jicama as a companion to cereal crops. There might be problems with root competition etc. Fresh aerial portions of it are apparently very toxic to insects and fish, and moderately toxic to humans, which might come in handy but could become a problem.
There is also a close relative called ajipa that looks interesting for this role, but from what I've read is less prone to spread out, and might not be as drought-tolerant.
"the qualities of these bacteria, like the heat of the sun, electricity, or the qualities of metals, are part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men. They are manifestations of the laws of nature, free to all men and reserved exclusively to none." SCOTUS, Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kale Inoculant Co.