Josh Jamison

check it out guys! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=161159351996

Well guys... checking back in to show you something that may interest some warm climate permies out there. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=161159351996

Do keep in contact. I have all sorts of excellent perennials for zone 9a. I could send you my list if you'd like.

Moringa will absolutely grow as a perennial. Be sure to get the plants out in the spring and get them established before frost comes next year. Might even want to mulch them up really or put something over the base for the first year. After they get over a year old they take the cold with no problems.

I'm in zone 9a. Malabar Spinach is not a great survivor. My plants did not return from cold and they hardly make it a year in the warm. They are very susceptible to disease and lack of water. My well established plants died in the summer without irrigation.

In the spring my plants grew at rapid pace and produced abundant food. In the fall they are pathetic. They are decent to grow as an annual. I prefer Basella alba (green) to Basella rubra (red). A great way to grow them is to use a hogwire cage and train them in a spiral around the cage as they grow.

The Perennial Vegetables book says they are perennials here... I disagree.

I recommend Chaya, Edible Hibiscus, Moringa and Katuk and many others as perennials for this region.

Moringa!!! Check out the nutrition stats. It is higher in nutrition than any other green known to man.

This is one of my favorite plants. I do not think it will survive the cold in that zone, unfortunately.


Check out my post all about chaya on my blog - http://therevolutionwillnotbefertilized.tumblr.com/post/29995073876/plant-on-left-chaya-cnidoscolus#notes

What is your zone?

Bumping this thread just in case someone growing this happened to miss it the first time around. I have been looking for this for a very long time. It is very frustrating that the one place that sold this plant no longer sells it. Someone please start distributing the edible air potato!

I think a lot of permaculture techniques are bound to fail on highly domesticated plants such as tomatoes. The book Tomatoland talks about the domestication of tomatoes and how they have been bred to be very weak and susceptible to disease and insect damage.

This isn't to say we shouldn't grow tomatoes but we will have to make slight compromises to meet the plants needs on a genetic level. In my experience and unstaked tomato will sometimes succumb to fungal diseases and fruit damage.