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Post by utopiate on Feb 15, 2009 12:44:18 GMT -5
;)Divide up all them shoots, keep two for yourself and send us the rest Stephen. Thanks.
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Post by kimikat on Feb 15, 2009 13:20:54 GMT -5
I love asparagus...Gonna get some plants for it this year...Hopefully. Will have to find a place to put it where the "Bush Hog Monster/Great Dane Lawn Mower Monster" can't get them...It doesn't mater how many time was say "don't mow there" it gets mowed anyhow...It'll be a miricle if the gooseberries survived.lol!
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Post by grungy on Feb 15, 2009 15:54:16 GMT -5
Kimikat, what you need is some 5' long steel pipes that you drive about a foot and an half into the ground to hang your "don't" signs on. <smiles>
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Post by canadamike on Feb 15, 2009 16:00:16 GMT -5
me too me too
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sammyqc
grub
Urban, small raised beds, Zone 5 (Canada)
Posts: 94
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Post by sammyqc on Feb 15, 2009 20:11:14 GMT -5
Asparagus, of course!! Love it, and will try to grow it again this year. My first three big clumps (4 years old) got replanted in the raised beds two years ago. OOOPPPPSSS. They froze to death. Last year I grew it again from seed, and forgot to plant the little clumps in mid/late summer. By the time I remembered them, in mid November (which is about when I remembered that I should have dug up my cannas too,) it was too late. I had a bad gardening year all around, it wasn't just the weather, it was me too. My other favorite is fiddleheads! It's not spring without some tasty ones, sauteed with butter and garlic, with a sprinkle of parmesan. Heavenly!
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Feb 15, 2009 20:33:15 GMT -5
Fiddleheads! Good Call, Sammy. That's another thing I bet I could raise here by the wetlands... Even though Sobey's sells them in the store, I find that they just aren't the same as fresh picked. More difficult to clean the sand from once the fronds have dried a bit as well.
Off to find my books on varieties grown for Fiddleheads............
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Post by stevil on Feb 16, 2009 2:32:37 GMT -5
We have possibly the world's largest resources of fiddleheads (Matteuccia) here in Norway. Practically no-one uses them here and there was no tradition of use (unlike the native american use). It's one of my favourites too. I would pick a lot more if I had more time to prepare them, but spring is a busy time in the perennial garden (it's the main harvest season).
Anyone know hos many fiddleheads one can harvest each year from a plant under cultivation without weakening the plants?
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Post by canadamike on Feb 16, 2009 2:35:31 GMT -5
I usually pick no more than half the fiddleheads, but it would be a good idea to test on 3-4 plants.
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Post by raymondo on Feb 16, 2009 4:11:51 GMT -5
Stevil, which species of Hosta is it you grow to eat? There are around 30 species. How do you eat them?
Is it only Matteuccia that provides edible fronds? I have no idea whether the ferns here are edible. I've never seen reference to any local species being edible.
Hablitzia sadly is a prohibited entry in Australia, at least for the time being.
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Post by bunkie on Feb 16, 2009 8:54:58 GMT -5
why is it prohibited ray?
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potagere
gopher
On slopes of the Jura nr Geneva, Switz. Zone 7a/b, but colder microclimate. About 52 sq m in veggies
Posts: 46
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Post by potagere on Feb 16, 2009 10:18:22 GMT -5
I'd name "Raspberries" if they were a vegetable. But they are not, so I have to go with : Asparagus Aubergines Peppers Tomatoes
If anyone wants my horseradish, they are welcome to it!
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Post by stevil on Feb 16, 2009 12:27:54 GMT -5
Stevil, which species of Hosta is it you grow to eat? There are around 30 species. How do you eat them? In Japan it seems to be mainly Hosta sieboldiana which has been used. I have used this species (I have several cultivars) in addition to H. fortunei and H. montana. For obvious reasons, it's mainly the large species that are used. I've been collecting Hosta species (seed propagated) for several years now and now have over 15 species in the garden, so I can see a tasting experiment in a few years when they're big enough. I also finally got hold of a red leaved cultivar "Red October" last autumn and I also have one of the most common variegated cultivars "Sagae" which was actually found in a vegetable garden in Japan! In the article (send me an email for a copy) you can read more about eating them including pictures of Hosta Sushi and my Hostakopita (used a Greek Spinach Pie recipe - Spanakopita).
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Post by stevil on Feb 16, 2009 12:41:49 GMT -5
Is it only Matteuccia that provides edible fronds? I have no idea whether the ferns here are edible. I've never seen reference to any local species being edible In the US, only Matteuccia is considered safe. Some foragers do eat some others though, including bracken fern (Pteridium) which you have in Australia. However, the latter is used on a large scale in Japan, and it has been suggested that it is a carcinogen, although this is debated in foraging circles. The Aborigines and Maoris certainly used Bracken rhiozomes were used as a staple. In South East Australia, "the rhizomes were roasted and chewed to extract the bland white starch. This may be the fern which the officers of the first fleet saw Aborigines harvesting around Sydney and flavoring with crushed ants" (from Tim Low's Bush Tucker) Let us know how you get on with that, Raymondo! In Moreton Bay the semiaquatic fern called Bungwall, Blechnum indicum, was the mainstay of the local people. There are others too...
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Post by utopiate on Feb 16, 2009 12:53:14 GMT -5
One also reads of the Nairdo (or was it Nardoo) Fern in Australia (just recollecting here). Spores or seedlike bodies eaten by the Cooper's Creek Aborigines as a starchy staple, pounded to a flour, though the Burke Exploration party starved anyway while trying to subsist on them. They may not have used the proper preparation procedure to extract the nutrient. Can't recall if this is a true fern or not.
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Post by mybighair on Feb 16, 2009 13:13:18 GMT -5
I've been told by a number of elderly people that bracken tips were eaten as they emerged in spring, they were apparently quite good. I don't know of anyone today that eats bracken, and I cant say why it fell out of use. I do recall being told it was poisonous as a child, so perhaps fears that it is carcinogenic have put people off.
I have been tempted to try it but haven't gotten past those childhood warnings yet; maybe this year.
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