Plants that are money in the bank, food in the ground(/container)

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?

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...

Nancy Reading wrote:

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?

Maieshe Ljin wrote:Do you eat your camas yet?

Still experimenting: https://permies.com/t/5717/Camas-Quamash-growing-cooking-harvesting#1772198 I didn't try any last year as my new main patch is establishing.

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?

A few more plants to add to the discussion:

Mulberry - fruit, greens, animal fodder, lumber, firewood, silkworm starter kit.

Kudzu - edible/medicinal root, great animal fodder.

Cardoon - vigorous artichoke cousin that takes some work to process for food but grows big and survives with zero maintenance.

If you have a pond...

Duckweed - nutritional powerhouse that grows at insane rates and can't be killed.

Water lotus - seeds and roots, and the most beautiful plant out there.

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!

Sam Shade wrote:

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.

Sam Shade wrote:A few more plants to add to the discussion:

Mulberry - fruit, greens, animal fodder, lumber, firewood, silkworm starter kit.

Kudzu - edible/medicinal root, great animal fodder.

Cardoon - vigorous artichoke cousin that takes some work to process for food but grows big and survives with zero maintenance.

If you have a pond...

Duckweed - nutritional powerhouse that grows at insane rates and can't be killed.

Water lotus - seeds and roots, and the most beautiful plant out there.

How would you eat the Duckweed? On a salad or cooked?

Ed Lewis wrote:

Sam Shade wrote:A few more plants to add to the discussion:

Mulberry - fruit, greens, animal fodder, lumber, firewood, silkworm starter kit.

Kudzu - edible/medicinal root, great animal fodder.

Cardoon - vigorous artichoke cousin that takes some work to process for food but grows big and survives with zero maintenance.

If you have a pond...

Duckweed - nutritional powerhouse that grows at insane rates and can't be killed.

Water lotus - seeds and roots, and the most beautiful plant out there.

How would you eat the Duckweed? On a salad or cooked?

I mainly feed it to my chickens but I've read people throw it smoothies.

Incidentally, I think garlic mustard and dame’s rocket fit this category. They are both evergreen vegetables in my climate so can be gathered whenever the ground is not covered in snow (though dame’s rocket disappears about mid summer). So they can help with the provision of vegetables during the colder times of year when it might be quite expensive to buy a satisfying amount of greens, or expect anything from the garden without significant inputs.

I agree with nettle too—very lovely, nourishing food! They are a rampant vegetable that enjoys the sorts of disturbance and fertility that humans create, and are wonderful medicine for the body as well.

Ramps are another wonderful vegetable that sticks around. They grow as a spring ephemeral in full shade and multiply slowly every year, but if well tended they can grow into a carpet over the entire woodland floor, and be a source of good springtime root and leaf vegetables that are highly nourishing.

I have many candidates for food including rhubarb, oak, brambles, apples(including crab apples- best apple butter!) and ramps but can I include a nonfood use? Maple trees are amazing firewood producers. In our household, maple trees provide almost all of our home heating and cooking fuel needs, and I use a bow saw and have never had to cut a living tree.