Henry Jabel

Amiran Ó Floinn wrote:I hope they're visible.

That looks like its mainly ground elder , with some dandelion and possibly some daisy. Ground elder is a little.....persistant. It is edible but I can't say I have tried it. Unless you want to live with it I would work on removing that before you do anything else perhaps by covering the area, sheet mulching or even continous mowing until it gives up. As it spreads by rhizomes its quite difficult to remove from around plants you might want to establish at a later date.

Good news about buckwheat is once you have some established it self seeds again very easily.

Nicole Alderman wrote:
I've read it spreads a lot, and flowers a lot, but doesn't make much fruit. It's used more as an ornamental ground cover than as an edible, though it is edible.

Thats the problem when people buy plants for you and they have no idea what it is either, I though it was just not getting pollinated. Thank you

Depends who you know! My dad used to sell them to almost everyone at his office for £5 a go in the early 90's. He gave up as it was turning into a job!

We also used to have people come to our field and to shoot/ferret the wild ones. So I am sure some of those were being sold.

I think places that already serve other game and not rabbit would be worth asking to see if there is a potential local market for them. Maybe game is more popular down south?!

https://justseed.com

Have a good range of organic seeds, never had a problem with them and they are good value too.

I have Mary and Sunny as well as Lord (male). I also have conventional sea buckthorn which to be honest is pretty bad by comparison. Mary and sunny are quite sweet like a slightly sour orange juice. I have also noticed the named cultivars are ready way before the 'wild' version as well as being eaier to pick and tasting better.

I have heavy clay soil and they are growing just fine here! Perhaps the problem is the lack of moisture rather than the soil type?

This is still my favourite 'unusual' fruit but these are pretty good too:

Honeyberry:Blueberry like without the need for very acid soil
Japanese Wineberry:Raspberry like but sweeter.
Chuckleberry: A very productive large blackcurrant like fruit. Its a cross of several Ribes species.
Cultivated sea buckthorn varieties: Mary and Sunny are good, kind of like a sour orange juice. Much more palatable than the wild version.
Cornus Kousa:I think it tastes v good but the fruit is on the small side. I tried a customer's tree so wether my Chinesis variety will have larger fruit remains to be seen.
Aronia:Tastes nice to begin with but v astringent, goes well with other fruits and cream though. My Polish partner says the ones I have are much nicer than the wild ones in Poland so I would make sure to get a cultivar.

Here are some more I am looking into or waiting for them to fruit in my garden:

Luma apiculata: Chilean/Argentine Myrtle
Myrteola nummularia:Another Chilean/Argentine Myrtle
Serviceberry

Thank you Charles, look forward to trying them out next season. Thank you for all your informative videos.

They are one of my favourite fruits now, they grow really well here in U.K as they grow in the south of Chile, my Chilean friend had never seen or heard of them so they obviously don't get a far north as Santiago. I have a few 'normal' plants and two named cultivars 'Flambeau' and 'Butterball' that are meant to be ornamental but they have not fruited so far (probably due to there younger age). There is a cultivar called Ka-pow which is bred for the fruit but seems to be out of stock whenever I check for it.

There is also a close relative Ugni myricoides that grows better in hotter climates. I tried to grow these from seed (I thought it might be fun to try to make a hybrid) but I probably didn't give them enough attention and they all died on me.

Primabella tomato is definately on my shopping list after this years weather, can you recommend any more blight resistant varieties?

I got some tape from Ebay though I have heard of people using cut strips of plastic/freezer bag and it working just fine. Grafting wax I have also seen on there too and but I use a beeswax candle.