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Post by circumspice on Jun 19, 2012 3:42:12 GMT -5
I'm still in the process of trying to find sane ways to utilize my little bit of paradise on Earth... So, I've come up with a semi hare-brained scheme to put into place some edible perennials that don't appear to be food crops. I am also trying to put in traditional annual & perennial crops. I see the stealth crops as a fail-safe or a form of nutritional insurance. My criteria: 1. Not generally recognized as edible plants. 2. Cheap or even better ~ Free. 3. Reasonably edible, reasonably nutritious. (i.e. no prolonged or complicated process to render it edible) 4. Either truly perennial or at least a self seeding annual or biennial. 5. Trouble free once established, must be able to thrive without regular irrigation & minimal feeding/fertilizing. 6. Relatively pest & disease free or resistant. Having said all that, I am starting with "Oxalis deppei (tetraphylla) Iron Cross". I got a free sample of the bulbs & want to see if they will naturalize. And yes I am aware that this plant contains oxalic acid, but so does spinach. I also have naturally occurring Prickly Pear cactus in moderate amounts on my land. I love Prickly Pear jelly.  I'm open to any suggestions if anyone cares to point out some good candidates for a hot, dry, full sun, long season climate. (Zone 8a) I have about a 210-240 day growing season & get about 34 inches of rainfall annually. The lowest temp I have seen in this area, in the last 30 years, was +19 degrees. The highest was about +110 degrees. My worst pests seem to be grasshoppers, ants, red spider mites, jackrabbits, birds, deer & raccoons. I have never seen a slug in my life... & so far, in the 2.5 years that I have lived here, I haven't seen any snails or their empty shells. I'm positive that other bugs will show up when there is something for them to ravage.  I believe that my land has never been cultivated before. It was once grazing land. I have a seasonal creek on the border of my property. At this time, it is overgrown with oaks & other trees (false willows maybe) & also the pestilential junipers. |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 19, 2012 8:46:47 GMT -5
If it were my place... I'd put in fruit and nut trees. Well spaced so that they'd end up providing a semi-open canopy. And some kind of tree that fixes nitrogen. And then under them put edible shrubs, and ground-cover plants.
In my garden I have apples, a cherry, an apricot, a plum, a pear, and a walnut. Raspberries thrive under them without weeding. Mint grows in the shade between the raspberries. Egyptian onions thrive in areas with more sunlight. Grapes use the trees as a trellis. Asparagus likes the sunnier area. I'm still collecting and eating the walnuts that fell to the ground last winter. I'd love to graft a few fruiting branches onto the male mulberry.
Mushrooms aught to grow well on oak logs.
Then I tuck in squash, tomatoes, and corn as annuals where I think they'd get enough light.
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Post by castanea on Jun 19, 2012 9:10:31 GMT -5
Jujube trees. Although anyone can see they have fruit in season, the fruit doesn't last very long and someone seeing them in the off season would have no idea what they were.
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Post by MikeH on Jun 19, 2012 9:28:15 GMT -5
Based on your criteria, Edible Wild Plants of Texas and the Southwest - www.foragingtexas.com/ has a list that you could start with. |
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edwin
gardener
Posts: 141
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Post by edwin on Jun 19, 2012 9:32:34 GMT -5
Trees that fix nitrogen and have edible fruit - Sea Buckthorn. Don't know if it would grow in your area.
Are you willing to expand to self-seeding annuals? Sweet Trefoil (I think it is also known as blue fenugreek) might fit in.
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Post by circumspice on Jun 19, 2012 18:45:54 GMT -5
Wow! I knew that y'all would have great ideas!!! Thanks for the advice & suggestions! |
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Post by circumspice on Jun 19, 2012 19:40:41 GMT -5
If it were my place... I'd put in fruit and nut trees. Well spaced so that they'd end up providing a semi-open canopy. And some kind of tree that fixes nitrogen. And then under them put edible shrubs, and ground-cover plants. In my garden I have apples, a cherry, an apricot, a plum, a pear, and a walnut. Raspberries thrive under them without weeding. Mint grows in the shade between the raspberries. Egyptian onions thrive in areas with more sunlight. Grapes use the trees as a trellis. Asparagus likes the sunnier area. I'm still collecting and eating the walnuts that fell to the ground last winter. I'd love to graft a few fruiting branches onto the male mulberry. Mushrooms aught to grow well on oak logs. Then I tuck in squash, tomatoes, and corn as annuals where I think they'd get enough light. As usual Joseph, your advice is sound & thought provoking... To be able to follow through on your suggestion I'd have to knock down about 30-50 of the dang junipers just to have room to put in some fruit & nut trees spaced as you suggested. On a more positive note... We have 'Mustang' grapes growing wild all over South Central Texas. They don't make a good table grape, but are good for jelly & wine. Wild Texas grape rootstock saved the French & even the European wine industry. I wouldn't plant the Mustang grapes anywhere near a fence, telephone poles or trees that I cherish though... They're pretty destructive. About as bad as Wisteria.  www.sbs.utexas.edu/bio406d/images/pics/vit/vitis_mustangensis.htm You've given me a lot to consider... Thanks! |
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Post by circumspice on Jun 19, 2012 20:01:47 GMT -5
Based on your criteria, Edible Wild Plants of Texas and the Southwest - www.foragingtexas.com/ has a list that you could start with. Mike ~ OMG! Thanks for the link! I have found other websites on the internet that contain only LISTS of wild edibles in Texas. This website is great! It has pics & written descriptions of the various plants, along with what they are best used for. Wow! Thanks again. |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 19, 2012 22:33:11 GMT -5
We have 'Mustang' grapes growing wild all over South Central Texas. They don't make a good table grape, but are good for jelly & wine. Wild Texas grape rootstock saved the French & even the European wine industry. I wouldn't plant the Mustang grapes anywhere near a fence, telephone poles or trees that I cherish though... They're pretty destructive. About as bad as Wisteria. For optimum production, about 95% of a grape vine should be pruned off each spring. [Grapes grow on this seasons growth. More vigorous growth leads to more and better grapes.] I keep the vines from breaking things down by pruning the grape vines back to a stump and some buds in the spring. |
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Post by caledonian on Jun 20, 2012 12:11:03 GMT -5
For optimum bearing, roughly 90% of the new growth of a grapevine should be pruned back, as grapes fruit only on new wood.
Cutting them down to the ground is not the best way to grow them.
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Post by mountaindweller on Jun 20, 2012 20:36:10 GMT -5
Why should the plants not generally be recognized as edible?
Queensland Arrowroot, tastes terrible but is edible and starchy and grows like a weed in the right climate. Maybe I cooked it wrong, apparently it was a food crop for the old Americans.
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Post by raymondo on Jun 20, 2012 21:54:44 GMT -5
Why should the plants not generally be recognized as edible? Queensland Arrowroot, tastes terrible but is edible and starchy and grows like a weed in the right climate. Maybe I cooked it wrong, apparently it was a food crop for the old Americans. I've only had them thrown into the embers of an open fire but they were okay. Nothing special and I'd take a spud over them any day but they were passably palatable. I just planted a few to see how they'd fare in my cool mountain climate. |
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Post by mountaindweller on Jun 21, 2012 6:03:19 GMT -5
I planted two here in the mountains and I will see how they will survive winter. In subtropical climate they grow three meters high in two or three month, that alone is a reason to grow them, tons of biomass. Maybe the open fire method is better than boil them like potatoes.
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Post by circumspice on Jun 22, 2012 6:51:09 GMT -5
Why should the plants not generally be recognized as edible?Queensland Arrowroot, tastes terrible but is edible and starchy and grows like a weed in the right climate. Maybe I cooked it wrong, apparently it was a food crop for the old Americans. For stealth purposes... If 'TSHTF', stealth crops may be all you are left with after others who are desperate take your traditional crops away from you. It doesn't hurt to have a nutritional back up. Just picture what happened to farmers during wartime... Invading troops took the livestock & food crops, leaving the farmers destitute. It has happened repeatedly for millenia & will probably happen again. One can only hope that won't ever happen again. |
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Post by mountaindweller on Jun 24, 2012 1:58:09 GMT -5
True, but you won't feed your tummy with greens. Then I would go for the jerusalem artichocke, and definitively for oca, as city folks won't recognize that. for the odd QLD arrowroot (it fills your tummy but not so nice) and for yacon if you climate allows this, btw, this tastes really yummy. Maybe a chestnut tree or two (you might grow it on wasteland outside your garden). I would think then stealth crops are carbohydrates as you can add wild greens. And maybe chufa.
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I believe that my land has never been cultivated before. It was once grazing land. I have a seasonal creek on the border of my property. At this time, it is overgrown with oaks & other trees (false willows maybe) & also the pestilential junipers. 
