Easy high yield fruit and veg

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user 7691

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Hi all. I'm looking for suggestions for unusual fruit and vegetables I may not have considered previously that are very easy to grow, nutritious and have a high yield, such as;
Jerusalem artichokes, pepino, prickly pear, bullrushes, cape gooseberry, Peruvian apple cactus. I'm Looking mainly for things that will grow themselves that aren't common, such as ethnic plants that westerners aren't so familiar with and aren't in the shops. I'm in a temperate region. I do grow all the usual stuff as well but I'm sure there must be some more plants I haven't heard of. I love that pepinos give fruit in winter when there's not much else around, and also plants that need little care.
BTW, I'm in Australia and last season I grew southern Georgia collards for the first time and they are fantastic, one of my favourite vegetables that I will be growing twice a year for the rest of my life :) So good with bacon.
I'll be growing sesame seed next summer to make tahini. I want access to the ethnic foods I enjoy when the shops no longer operate.
 
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Thanks, yes, I grow those. I have been looking into overwintering eggplants and peppers, something I haven't tried before and only recently heard about, much better than starting from seed every year. I also collect seed from my non hybrid plants.
I am attempting to overwinter 2 pepper plants. This is my first time.
 
BTW, I'm in Australia and last season I grew southern Georgia collards for the first time and they are fantastic, one of my favourite vegetables that I will be growing twice a year for the rest of my life :) So good with bacon.
Seeing as how the Collards done so well , I will suggest curly leaf mustard . The growing conditions are the same and I actually like the mustard greens over the collard greens , They yield high for the space involved . I keep a stash of mustard green seeds as they are high on my after SHTF gardening plan . Even after a Global Winter brought on by a Nuclear War , I suspect mustard greens would thrive in the right temperature zone and planted to correspond with a changed annual temperature .
 
Not sure of your growing zone, but kale is great and grows in the cold as does spinach. Sweet potatoes are a must as are regular potatoes. Some folks don’t harvest some of their crop each year, and more potatoes grow. Peppers can be kept year to year.
Kale is something that I have put seeds back for planting , in particularly for my " After Nuked Garden " to correspond with the predicted 40 degree something cooler temperatures . Likely though I will plant some kale in my garden this fall as it is so cool weather tolerant , after my grandson's wedding this September in my garden area .
 
One of my favorites for our zone 8 semi arid climate is Argarita. Here it is native. It is edible, decorative, aromatic and medicinal. To me, the berries taste like a cross between a strawberry and raspberry. The leaves are very prickly and harvesting by hand is literally a pain, but, with a tarp placed and a piece of PVC to beat and tickle the bush, it becomes much easier. The smell of the flowers are as sweet as honeysuckle...when I smell them on the wind, I know spring is here.

To see if they fit with your climate : We average 76 days a year of precipitation, 228 day a year of sun, 30 inches of rain, July average temp of 95 degrees F, January average temperature of 34 degrees F.

These plants grow naturally here, never seen one die of severe drought, ice storms or frost. We have weak, shallow clay to clay loam soils here and I have never fertilized them. They seem to prefer to pop up in filtered shade so would be a great stealth addition to a guerilla garden since a lot of people would mistake them for the poisonous holly plant.

The wood is almost neon yellow and the Native Americans used it to make dye.


1678459567775.png


https://www.centraltexasgardener.org/resource/agarita/
http://weedcrafter.blogspot.com/2011/04/agarita-mahonia-trifoliolata.html
 
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Off the top of my head-
Currants, spice bush, French dandelion, cress, saltwort, purslane, malabar spinach, ferns, hostas, perennial broccoli, persimmon, pawpaw, rugosa rose, wild arugula (depending on your zone), lovage, cocona...

Some of these may be common in Australia and some are making a comeback here in the US.
 
Seeing as how the Collards done so well , I will suggest curly leaf mustard . The growing conditions are the same and I actually like the mustard greens over the collard greens , They yield high for the space involved . I keep a stash of mustard green seeds as they are high on my after SHTF gardening plan . Even after a Global Winter brought on by a Nuclear War , I suspect mustard greens would thrive in the right temperature zone and planted to correspond with a changed annual temperature .
Thanks for the suggestion. I have grown mustard greens but not curly leaf variety. I'll look into it.
 
Off the top of my head-
Currants, spice bush, French dandelion, cress, saltwort, purslane, malabar spinach, ferns, hostas, perennial broccoli, persimmon, pawpaw, rugosa rose, wild arugula (depending on your zone), lovage, cocona...

Some of these may be common in Australia and some are making a comeback here in the US.
Thank you! spice bush, saltwort, rugosa rose and cocona aren't familiar to me so I'll look into them. Didn't know costa was edible?
I have been trying to get an astringent persimmon here for 2 years and no nurseries have them :( It is one of the best trees to have in my opinion. The hard vanilla variety are available but just not as good in any way. I guess medlars would be good as a fruit that would last a long time as they blett.
 
One of my favorites for our zone 8 semi arid climate is Argarita. Here it is native. It is edible, decorative, aromatic and medicinal. To me, the berries taste like a cross between a strawberry and raspberry. The leaves are very prickly and harvesting by hand is literally a pain, but, with a tarp placed and a piece of PVC to beat and tickle the bush, it becomes much easier. The smell of the flowers are as sweet as honeysuckle...when I smell them on the wind, I know spring is here.

To see if they fit with your climate : We average 76 days a year of precipitation, 228 day a year of sun, 30 inches of rain, July average temp of 95 degrees F, January average temperature of 34 degrees F.

These plants grow naturally here, never seen one die of severe drought, ice storms or frost. We have weak, shallow clay to clay loam soils here and I have never fertilized them. They seem to prefer to pop up in filtered shade so would be a great stealth addition to a guerilla garden since a lot of people would mistake them for the poisonous holly plant.

The wood is almost neon yellow and the Native Americans used it to make dye.


View attachment 19243

https://www.centraltexasgardener.org/resource/agarita/
http://weedcrafter.blogspot.com/2011/04/agarita-mahonia-trifoliolata.html
That's exactly the type of thing I'm after but as far as I can tell it's not available in Australia :( Pity our biosecurity laws are so intense.
Thanks for the suggestion and info, I will keep an eye out in the future in case nurseries are able to sell it somehow. :)
 
Thank you! spice bush, saltwort, rugosa rose and cocona aren't familiar to me so I'll look into them. Didn't know costa was edible?
I have been trying to get an astringent persimmon here for 2 years and no nurseries have them :( It is one of the best trees to have in my opinion. The hard vanilla variety are available but just not as good in any way. I guess medlars would be good as a fruit that would last a long time as they blett.
Spice bush is a native to the US. Saltwort is new to me, but I like it so far. It is a Japanese plant called "land seaweed" due to its taste. I really like seaweed, so it might not be for everyone. Cocona is in the tomato family, I think. They are perennials but grown as annuals here and taste sort of like ground cherries (what you Australians call cape gooseberries, I believe).

Another would be the US gooseberries (ribes) which are related to currants. They have some mighty thorns, though!
 
Hmmm, you remind me about seaweed itself, as far as I know it's pretty much all edible and I am close to the ocean. I think it would be quite good in fish soup. Cape gooseberries (yep, we do call them that) are doing really well where I live, popping up like weeds everywhere, which is what I want. As far as I know, oxalic acid is an issue in many plants like purslane but also as far as I know it is eliminated by heat?
 
BTW, I'm in Australia and last season I grew southern Georgia collards for the first time and they are fantastic, one of my favourite vegetables that I will be growing twice a year for the rest of my life :) So good with bacon.
Congratulations on finding one of the secret ingredients, LOL
We might have to make you an honorary Southerner. 😁
The only thing I put in collards besides water are bacon (fried completely crispy first) and Balsamic Vinegar.
Now all you have to do to cinch the honorary Southernership is figure out what you are supposed to do with the pot likker. (collard juice)
 
Hmmm, maybe mix it with some George Dickel 12 year? :)
I have to admit, I do put some garlic with it, lightly fried in the bacon fat.
Funny thing, I recently planted seeds of onions, cauliflower, leek, broccoli, thyme, oregano and 1 or 2 other things and after a week of only a few broccoli coming up I planted more collards and they were up and full of vitality after a few days. They really are great. It's been a funny season here in southern Australia, not much of a Summer at all so plants are not acting as predictable as I would like but the collards are irrepressible :)
 
Congratulations on finding one of the secret ingredients, LOL
We might have to make you an honorary Southerner. 😁
The only thing I put in collards besides water are bacon (fried completely crispy first) and Balsamic Vinegar.
Now all you have to do to cinch the honorary Southernership is figure out what you are supposed to do with the pot likker. (collard juice)
Do you actually look like Sean Connery? ;) I don't look like a rooster.
 

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