Pics from Greg's Forest Garden

Robin Katz wrote: I love alliums in all their shapes and sizes so I'm hopeful ramps will do well here too. Love the pictures!

Robin Katz wrote:Wow Greg! I love the jungliness (not a word, I know) of your forest garden. We're just at the start of building our forest garden in our new place so this gives me some great inspiration.

dirk maes wrote:Wonderful. What a result.
On 20190817_101724.jpg I think its Chinese leek. Allium tuberosum.

Robin Katz wrote:Greg, those are excellent looking mushrooms. Very pretty growing on the log. What type of tree was it? We have all conifers here so I'm looking for anything that might grow on them. I may inoculate with different types of mycelium just to see what happens (can't take the researcher out of me).

I'm especially envious since we're having our first snow of the season and it's a big one. Good thing we got in all the tomatoes and peppers from our first year proto-garden.

Greg Martin wrote:Not far from those paw paws is an old German fig I bought off an older collector that had to reduce the size of his collection.  It's in a pot that got stranded late last fall out in that section of garden with about 20 others.  They hadn't gone dormant yet due to a hot weird fall and then a sudden freeze and heavy snow hit.  I laid them down on the ground and threw two tarps over them, which was all they got for winter protection, which is no where near enough for most figs.  16 died, 6 partially died, but have rebounded, and this one from Germany had no damage!!!  Not even to the dormant fig buds which then pushed these figs out for me.  More cold hardiness testing to follow.


Hi, as a fellow Mainiac I would love to trade some fig cuttings from that German fig for something you might need/desire. Just a thought. I'm  in central Maine most of the time but escape the worst of the snow in N. C.

Greg Martin wrote:....I got excited because for the first time I have paw paw fruits developing!  I took some pictures and thought I'd share.  I posted some monarch butterfly pictures I took on my milkweed crop here, so I'll skip reposting those.  So first my cute little paw paw fruits.

rick jacobson wrote: Hi, as a fellow Mainiac I would love to trade some fig cuttings from that German fig for something you might need/desire. Just a thought. I'm  in central Maine most of the time but escape the worst of the snow in N. C.

Orin Raichart wrote: how many ways do you know how to prepare paw paw fruits???  I'm asking cause paw paw trees are native to the US and can be grown almost any where in the US....so if you've eaten and prepared them to your satisfaction, please let me know ....in return, I'll tell you how I prepared honey locust beans


and by the way, your food forest loves you man!

John Suavecito wrote:Hi Greg,
I absolutely love your forest garden. I am astonished at how similar it is to mine.  Well, I guess we both live in cool, wet, out of the way states and pretty close to a Portland.  Yours is the original.
We grow almost all of the same things.
As well as the biochar that we've both known about for a long time.
I am so happy to see you consuming many alliums. Great easy low effort vegies.  A great natural way to prevent cancer.  Flavor your food up in a healthy way without salt or unhealthy processed ingredients.  Great in marinades!
For houtuynnia cordata, I use it in the following way: it is quite strong flavored, so I make a tea out of it, which I think is quite good.  Then I use the greens afterwards like any other green leafy: with beans, in pasta, with rice, in a wrap like sushi, or a taco, in a sandwich, or in a soup or casserole. Did you know that houtuynnia cordata is one of the most esteemed anti-virals of herbalists like Stephen Harrod Buhner?   The Japanese drink houtuynnia cordata tea as a detox drink.   I believe that I have the vietnamese variety. I grow it in a raised bed due to its invasive nature.
John S
PDX OR

C. West wrote:Greg I would love if you posted full planting list of our forest garden, I live in a very similar climate (zone 5 Ontario) and would love to "steal" some of your varieties that have worked.

I had no idea spikenard had such intersting berries! Always thought they were just an asparagus replacement.

PS your groundcover is indeed bungleweed, its all over our property as well. nice purple blue columnar flowers.

Greg Martin wrote:

rick jacobson wrote: Hi, as a fellow Mainiac I would love to trade some fig cuttings from that German fig for something you might need/desire. Just a thought. I'm  in central Maine most of the time but escape the worst of the snow in N. C.

Sara Rosenberg wrote:Steve, I wish I was in the country but budget, work, and our child's school keeps me close to the downtown area. I thought I was doing good getting a 1/4 acre in an HOA. I do dream of 2+ acres without an HOA and less rocky soil.

It takes me a full day to dig holes for blackberry starts because of the limestone deposits. there is an old abandoned limestone quarry ~1 mile away.

Greg Martin wrote:And an ornamental onion with great tasting foliage that grows at the base of my rose arbor....not sure, I think it might be an A. nutans.  Anyone know?  I'll have to look it up.  The flowers are a little more purple in person than they are showing in this pic.

Greg Martin wrote:

dirk maes wrote:Wonderful. What a result.
On 20190817_101724.jpg I think its Chinese leek. Allium tuberosum.

Dirk, thank you very much for your kind compliment as well as for your help with my Allium!

That Allium does have some traits in common with my A. tuberosum selections, such as the flat leaves of good culinary quality, but it differs in a few ways.  It blooms about a month earlier, has lilac colored flowers with a rounded umbrel, while my A.tuberosum umbrels are much flatter and white, though I think there are some varieties with purple flowers.  I need to work a little harder to identify it.  I'm kind of leaning towards A.senescens or a hybrid of it at the moment.  I bought it years ago from a nice woman at a farmers market who was growing it in her flower garden.  I'll take a closer look at them together tomorrow and taste them side by side to see how they compare.  Also, I want to see if it's forming seeds or if it seems to be sterile.  Next year I'll have to pay close attention to how the flower stalks open as well as try eating the flower shoots when they are young and tender to see how those compare to A.tuberosum.

One nice thing about this plant is that it is spreading nicely.  I'll have to move it to the base of the climbing rose on the other side of the arbor as well as a few more places to make sure it's safe.

Greg Martin wrote:I've been picking chicken of the woods (growing wild in the forest right near my house) and wine caps (cultivated in hardwood chips on a shady path in the forest garden) lately.  Chicken of the woods are great for beginning mushroom foragers as there's really nothing that looks quite like them.  And yes....they really do taste like chicken a decent amount and even develop a very chicken like texture.  Here are some pics of them:

Greg Martin wrote:And an ornamental onion with great tasting foliage that grows at the base of my rose arbor....not sure, I think it might be an A. nutans.  Anyone know?  I'll have to look it up.  The flowers are a little more purple in person than they are showing in this pic.