How Does Your Vegetable / Fruit Garden Grow? 2018

Culture, Media, General Food Gardening, Foraging
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If your summers are hot and dry, the peppers that go sterile in heat will have a better chance of setting fruits in the fall, winter, and early spring. Like any pepper, maturing fruit will take awhile.

Contact me directly (see above) if you’re interested in seeds. I do have Aji Amarillo seed from last year’s crop=fresh. Depending on which state/zone you live in, you may want to start the seeds next season. If you can mature them during the winter (no freeze), they may have time this year. Aji Amarillo gets started in Feb., here in Virginia. It germinates well with an overnight soaking in water and planted/sprouting at 80 degrees F. Those get big, so allow at least 48 inches between plants. It’s possible to get a couple years out of them before production declines.

My main reason for growing the Aji Amarillo is to make Huancaina sauce. Countless recipes exist, but a simple one is to put cored/deseeded Aji peppers, sautéed minced garlic and a 50/50 mix of queso fresco and Feta cheese in a blender and blend until smooth. I once listened to two Peruvian ladies argue about what was “authentic Huancayina”: “Yes, it has peanuts!”; “No, it never has peanuts!” They were both from Huancayo Peru, the namesake for the sauce. Those peppers are also tasty in Ceviche, though Rocoto and Aji Limo (not Lemon Drop!) are more traditional. Most Aji Limo in Peru are red, Capsicum chinense, and very hot. The Rocotos are also pretty fierce.

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Here are the little seedlings. It will be 40+ days before they can go into the ground. Tomatoes are almost ready to top-graft. These cells will get transplanted into small pots, before hardening off in a specially-made cold frame. These are under LED light, but I had to use a clamp light for the picture; LEDs made the leaves look almost black in the camera.

seedlings
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Top tray are tomatoes and the bottom tray are peppers, hot and sweet. The Peruvian Aji Amarillo are larger and in a greenhouse.

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Which plants do you use that work well with tomatoes? I am interested in graft but have never done that. Grafted plants I bought yield much more.

The plants you are showing is around 10 days old, right?

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Wish I can grow just some tomatoes, leeks.etc.
There is a an asian green which we call Kangkong in the Philippines, Ong Chay in Chinese which is so delicious that it is worth planting but considered invasive in Maryland and we are not allowed to plant it for fear it will invade the Chesapeake Bay. I used to be able to buy it from Lotte , Korean Store in Maryland, but then, they stopped carrying that in the 80’s because the law prohibits them for selling it. Occasionally, they will sell it for $6.99 /pound and you can see Asian ladies grabbing them so fast that within an hour or so, it is gone. It is sold in most grocery stores in Toronto , so when I visit, that is what I request to eat in restaurants or to cook. It is simply delicious stir fried with EVOO, ( use the stems first, then leaves) with just lots of garlic S/P, soy sauce. It is also great with Filipino sinigang or fish soup ( in this country, I use rockfish instead of milk fish).
When we wer ein HK, that is the first thing my son request for .
I recently found the in a vietnamese store but only occasionally on Fridays,they say it comes from NY and will be gone by early Saturday. It retails between 3.99 and 4.99
Hope you will try it. You will not be disappointed !!
Water Spinach, Kangkong, River Spinach, Water Morning Glory, Ong Choy, Water Convolvulus, Swamp Cabbage
Scientific Name: Ipomoea aquatica
Family: Convolvulaceae (the Morning Glory or Bindweed family)

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Ate them, love that. Didn’t know they are “invasive”. That is good news, meaning they are easy to grow! I didn’t hear law prohibiting it here, maybe I can try to find the seeds. (They can put me in jail afterwards.)

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It is best planted near water but if you drown it a bit, it should work.
We live it!

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Naf, I graft tomatoes onto other, more resistant tomato varieties: Maxifort and DRO141TX. These rootstocks do not make good tomatoes, but their roots are very productive and resistant to diseases.

I also grow Ipomoea aquatica, Kangkong, water spinach, etc. It does just fine in regular garden soil, if kept damp. It does not need flooding or totally saturated soil. Many areas ban growing it or selling seeds. It can go crazy in states like Florida and become invasive. Since I grow it far from any water, there is no danger. It sets seed very late, Oct.-Nov., so, I have to protect it against frost to get seed to mature. This is another feature which keeps Kangkong from being invasive here. It’s the most productive green I’ve ever seen, especially when it’s warm.

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@bogman

Thanks a lot on graft. Indeed Maxifort is very recommended even in France.

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Anybody grow edible flowers?

I’m thinking of nasturtiums, sunflowers and maybe zucchini (just for the flowers), the climate here is not warm enough to have abundant vegetables.

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I used to grow edible flowers at my last job: Nasturtiums, Signet Marigolds, Violas, Roses, Oxalis, Monarda and many others. For a cool climate, many greens can thrive.

If you can get cheap, bulk seed of Dwarf Grey Sugar or Usui pea, it’s easy and quick to raise pea shoots outdoors or inside with no light. I grew yellow, blanched pea shoots in shallow trays, placed inside a box to keep out light. Within a week-ten days, it was time to cut the shoots. I was growing for a fancy restaurant which operated on the estate. Outdoors, the green pea plant tips were also snapped off, delicious! The outdoor plants regrew new shoots, but the indoor, blanched ones went downhill fast. Lettuce, Kale, Watercress, Arugula and many more like cool growing. It’s the fruiting plants that need more heat and sun, tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, beans, etc. (Although Scarlet Runner Beans, Phaseolus coccineus, do well in part shade and cooler temperatures, also has edible flowers.)

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I grew a vining Nasturtium variety last year, but didn’t end up using it much as an ingredient, more a way to cover fences with colour. After a slow start they ended up growing like a weed and spread everywhere. I haven’t planted any this year so will be interesting to see whether I end up with some from all the seeds that dropped.

This year I’ve bought some mashua tubers that I hope to grow in a similar way but in largeish containers. They’re in the same family as nasturtium, the flowers and leaves are edible, but they also form edible tubers in the autumn.

I bought some a few weeks ago mistaking them for Jerusalem artichokes and they were nice fried off like potato.

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I started some nasturtium seeds the other day. I have wild violets which I’ve transferred to the flower bed. I always intend to sugar the flowers but then forget. I’m hoping my pass-along day lilies put out lots of buds this year.

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@bogman
Oxalis is very trendy nowadays in French restaurants in France right now. Nasturtiums or Hibiscus is more at the high end. Violas or roses is for the dessert course. The problem is they seem so precious that they are just 1 tiny piece of each, not enough to grab the real character of each herb or flower.

A while ago I grew some young shoots indoor, like leek, mustard… But since there was the news from some intoxication by some people consuming them. The bulk seeds usually from UK, they are very difficult to find.

@Lex
You are from London right? If you can grow Nasturtium so easily, I think it will work in here.
Dandelion grows like weed on the side of the road here but when I try to grow them in pot, not even germination.

@meatn3
Daylilies I think I had eaten them rehydrate from dried, in Chinese cooking.

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Curious, anybody tried to grow saffron or vanilla orchids?

I just bought a jasmine plant, maybe I can use them for tea…

By the way, my rhrubarb was flowering last year, if it flowers again, should I keep that? I don’t think the flowers are edible? TIA

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I have lots of crocus sativus witch are from crocus cartwrightianus… They are sterile and thus human help is needed to harvest, and make saffron.
Saffron must be hand picked because it is so delicate. It takes over 80,000 flowers to produce one pound of saffron, and there are 450-500 stigmas in one gram. Each saffron only produces 3 stigmas, the stamen being useless. 1 gram equals 2 teaspoons whole, 1 teaspoon crumbled or 1⁄2 teaspoon powdered stigmas. (There are 453 grams in one pound.)

So, I just grow them for the pleasure of seeing them in the fall.
Recently, Costco started to sell the spanish fine thread crocus, much more reasonable than elsewhere ( I wrote about it as I bug their purchasing agent a lot to restock them. ) They retail $79.99 for 14 gms of full thread saffron.

I have never done that I just enjoy seeing them.

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I grow Saffron, C. sativus, and harvest stamens in the fall. They’re easy to grow and multiply in rich, well-drained soil. Here, the main concern is protecting them from rabbits and voles. To harvest, I snap off the flowers and pick through them at a table. Saffron bulbs are inexpensive, here in the US, $44.00 for 100 bulbs. That can easily multiply to 600+ bulbs in a few years.

Growing Vanilla is not practical for producing pods, “beans”. I’ve produced pods easily enough, but curing is very difficult unless you have a large pile of pods. To get the orchid to set pods, I used toothpicks to get the pollen mass (pollinia) and transfer it to the female receptacle. Many Vanilla orchids are self-fertile. If you want to grow a Vanilla vine for looks, I’d recommend Vanilla pompona. It’s a minor source of low-quality vanilla, but an easier, better looking plant to grow. The leaves and stem are thick and jade green.
vanilla4

Flowers only last a day, but they come out in clusters over many days. Vanilla planifolia, true vanilla, is also a pretty plant, but less tolerant of cool conditions. It’s leaves and stem are thinner. I found V. pompona grows about three times as quickly.

Naf, do not eat the Rhubarb flowers. It’s best to cut off the flower stalk, so the plant does not waste energy making seed; they make a huge number of seeds, if left to mature. Unless the cultivar is a fairly stable one, like Victoria, the seed may not come true.

You can use certain Jasmines for tea flavoring. My favorite is Jasminum sambac . Geez, I HATE spell check; I waste a lot of time overriding the stupid attempts to “correct” me. No sambac is not “samba”! Anyway, J. sambac is kind of leggy, not a beautiful plant, but the flowers are big, many petalled (esp. in cv. Maid of Orleans) and very fragrant. It’s a popular one for scenting tea. Spider mites love it, though.

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Thanks a lot for all the information, especially the names of varieties, that is very helpful.

I checked the label of the plant I bought, it is trachelospermum jasminoides, it is a fake jasmine. One site said the leaves I can use for tea, while another said it is toxic.

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Oxalis is a weed for me
My neighbor’s oxalis creeps over here and creates a nightmare fore me.

The chinese does use dehydrated dallies which are labeled tiger lily buds. We use them as one of the ingredients in sweet sour soup, Typically, we tie them in a knot after they are rehydrated. I also use them in filipino adobo stew and also in savory sticky rice with mushrooms, sausages, dried shrimp.
I think i have seen them fried at a spanish carry out last year but did not really like the way they cook it.
I have tons of them and have problem when they dry up because it is non a slope which the County does not allow me to touch. I tried to send pictures but unable to . Will try again if I have time to trouble shoot

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I saw your blog about
I grow Saffron, C. sativus, and harvest stamens in the fall. They’re easy to grow and multiply in rich, well-drained soil. Here, the main concern is protecting them from rabbits and voles. To harvest, I snap off the flowers and pick through them at a table. Saffron bulbs are inexpensive, here in the…
Tried to read some more but cannot find the rest of the subjects.
I have lots of them but never tried to harvest them. They do die off but each corn produces 3 other corns
You are correct, about rabbits and squirrels. I also have problems with ground hogs
Do you mind sending me the rest of the sentence?
I am interested.
Thanks

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Ccj, I think the site had some loading issues. I had trouble seeing full posts, but they’re loading now. Regarding Oxalis, the ones used for flowers, garnishes are non-runnering types. Oxalis regnellii (or triangularis) atropurpurea is a popular one. I’ve never had seeds on mine and they are lovely plants. In areas of deep, hard freeze, you can dig them up in Oct.-Nov., put the plants, with thick translucent roots, into a box and let them dry out. The carrot-like root will shrivel up and salmon-colored “corms”, tubers will form near the crown; these are what you replant in the spring.

It’s too hot here to grow Oca, Oxalis tuberosa. It’s a Peruvian root crop vegetable. I tried multiple varieties; all died after weeks in the 90s (F). A bunch of those Andean food plants will not grow where there are hot summers. I needed a sweater, during Peru’s “summer”, when exploring the high elevations, looking at all the crops. I spent a lot of time with farmers there, learning from them. Only a few food plants from there survive warm conditions; I’ve tried growing most of them.