Sam Shade

I use them primarily as chicken feed.

My goats trampled some of mine horizontal and they sprouted vertical shoots so it is possible.

Christopher Weeks wrote:So if you leave them over time to do that, do they produce abundantly on the rim of the circle and poorly in the center? Do they allow other things to grow mid-field?

Yes - diminished yields in the center, abundance on the periphery.

I haven't found mine to be highly allelopathic. I've had goldenrod and groundnut growing right in the middle of it and sweet potatoes growing around it.

Even in zone 7b my jerusalem artichokes rarely bloom.

After a few years in the same patch the yields diminish, but if you plant them out in the back 40 (as opposed to garden beds) they rectify this by spreading out each year. Wherever they have new ground, they produce tubers in abundance.

I'm in 7b and have planted a wide variety of fruit trees over the last 7 years with very mixed results.

I don't recommend peaches or nectarines. The trees grow extremely fast and fruit very early but mine have been nothing but breeding/feeding grounds for oriental fruit moths and stink bugs.

Have had a bit more success with plums, though they are vulnerable to unpredictable spring frosts.

I've lost several apples and pears to fire blight, but my dolgo crabapples appear to be resistant.

Tried a couple pomegranates but they couldn't take the winters.

Cherries do pretty well but they take a long time to start bearing and the birds get first dibs.

Have a lot of persimmons going now, but it's too soon to report on them. They are very cheap and widely available from state forestry departments though.

My only unqualified successes have been figs and mulberries. Figs hate the winter and die all the way to the ground after the first frost but they come back with a vengeance in spring. And they are very pest and disease resistant. No bug wants to touch them when they are green; they'll go after them once they start to ripen but the ripening process is so quick that you can usually beat them to it.

Nothing can touch mulberries however for sheer vigor and production. They are extremely quick to grow and fruit. No disease seems to be able to stop them. Birds love the fruit but they produce so much there's always some left over. Their only downside is how short the shelf-life is for the fruit. Gotta eat them quick or dry/freeze them. It's also a great fodder and firewood tree that coppices/pollards better than any other tree I've encountered other than invasive stuff like privet.

If you're willing to look beyond fruit, I also highly recommend hybrid chestnuts. Another super-vigorous grower that's early to bear and extremely productive.

I love this idea. I hope you keep us updated.

I take a lazier approach. I raise jerusalem artichokes in one of my goat pastures. I run the goats through in Sept/October and they strip the leaves and knock the stalks to the ground. I come in behind them and harvest the tubers, eating some, and giving the rest to the chickens and goats as winter feed supplement.

Mine rarely flower however so I don't get the benefit of seeds.

Spring beauty sounds very appealing as a food source during spring when not much else is ready. Any preparation tips?

I tried a bunch of new perennial root crops this year with mixed results. The mashua really struggled to outcompete the weeds and then the stuff I protected with a lot of mulch died during the first of the intense summer heat. Might try another variety because I love the idea of it, but I was very disappointed in this year's results.

Edible dioscorea bulbifera was another one. Did really well but my dad (who lives with me and does a lot in the garden) mistook it for a weed and destroyed most of it. Happy to report it bounced back and is now producing again.

Sacred lotus is going crazy in the protected area of my pond (everything outside that area gets destroyed by turtles and ducks) - very optimistic for that one going forward.

Going to try to harvest some cattails from a nearby ditch later this fall to establish in the pond as well.

In the meantime, can't speak highly enough of Jerusalem artichoke and Chinese yam. Year after year they outcompete everything and give bountiful yields with virtually no input. Love that both are dual use. My goats go crazy for the j. artichoke tops and the yam bulbils are great for chickens.

I think chinese yams are one of the most underappreciated crops out there. Literal food falling from the sky plus buried treasure under ground.

Sacred Lotus is the prettiest plant I grow.

I've had good luck with elder berry growing and producing in almost complete shade (two story house shading it from the south, mature redbud blocking the west and a grove of paper mulberries  to the north). Definitely an easy one to stick in shady spots next to the trees that will grow big.

I couldn't get mine to survive overwinter in Memphis and the ones I tried to save in the basement to  plant this year got eaten by rat invaders.

Really nice sweet flavor - like a carrot with the texture and juiciness of a pear - but I'm spoiled by the ease and hardiness of Jerusalem artichokes and Chinese yams as perennial root crops.