culi tea wrote:Any plant that's considered by the UN to be a "neglected and underutilized crop" is a good bet.
(zip)
That includes Chaya, Fonio, Bambara Groundnut, Kodo Millet, Tepary Bean, and more
Others might be camas, silverweed, pigweed, springbank clover. Most of those listed are hot climate crops, but breeding of many perennial food crops has been neglected in recent years because annuals are so much quicker.
Not a cool climate perennial, but one I only needed to actually plant once:
I was just thinking about salsify, which used to be prized as "the vegetable oyster" as an under improved prolific self-seeding biennial which might also benefit from more attention.
If the roots formed more like carrots: fatter, with thinner skins, I think they'd be more popular?
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Nancy Reading
steward and tree herder
Posts: 11219
Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year
Ac Baker wrote:If the roots formed more like carrots: fatter, with thinner skins, I think they'd be more popular?
Sounds like a breeding opportunity there! As a biannual it would be relatively quick, at least to explore the possibilities. I just love it's purple dandelion flowers - first ones opened here this week. It only seeds around in the stone paths here - I think it prefers warmer...
culi tea wrote:Any plant that's considered by the UN to be a "neglected and underutilized crop" is a good bet.
(zip)
That includes Chaya, Fonio, Bambara Groundnut, Kodo Millet, Tepary Bean, and more
Others might be camas, silverweed, pigweed, springbank clover. Most of those listed are hot climate crops, but breeding of many perennial food crops has been neglected in recent years because annuals are so much quicker.
The people I know who grow camas, say they grow like weeds, and don’t eat them. I was recently allowed to dig up an entire large clump to transplant which was a pleasure. I have eaten some raw but haven’t had a sufficient quantity to make cooking worthwhile.
Do you eat your camas yet?
Nancy Reading
steward and tree herder
Posts: 11219
Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year
Perennial tree collards. Propagates like a succulent. One stick in the ground makes a 10'x10' patch or more if it's happy. In Socal it's a year around green machine.
Ed Lewis wrote:Perennial tree collards. Propagates like a succulent. One stick in the ground makes a 10'x10' patch or more if it's happy. In Socal it's a year around green machine.
Is this the walking stick kale Baker Creek sells or something else?
Mulberry is a good one to add! I hear that the birds eat them readily and they can work to draw them away from other plants. And hopefully they leave a few for us!
Ed Lewis wrote:Perennial tree collards. Propagates like a succulent. One stick in the ground makes a 10'x10' patch or more if it's happy. In Socal it's a year around green machine.
Is this the walking stick kale Baker Creek sells or something else?
No, here's one I found on etsy Tree Collard Seeds There is a green variety that thrives where I'm at and a purple one that is sweeter. I have a lot of critter pressure and the green one does well surviving that. We hit 28 degrees and they have no issues. We get to 110 in summer and they handle that as well but their sweet spot is socal winter and spring. The purple one gets eaten before it can thrive so I have never been able to grown them. I eat collards all the time and I hand them out to people left and right. It's ridiculous abundance. There are even people who love collards and want them in winter and will pay you for them.