Veg

[DeVaultSetter]

We touched on taro back here, and the weediness of elephants ears was mentioned over in Random, did you ever try harvesting the rhizomes for the kitchen pot? There do exist various cultivars and subvarietal forms of taro var. esculenta (too cold here for those), whereas the invasive forms mostly come from var. antiquorum. Looks like you have the latter though. 🙂

We’ve already mentioned other beauties as Californian geraniums, Mexican petunias and Century plant (American aloe), another favourite from South America is Spanish needle (Bideris Pilosa) which has a tendency to strike root in areas lacking or bereft of ground cover in liberal quantities mind you. Venturing out in a field of these in seed usually ends up in picking off thousands of seeds from fabric garments.

And, after years of plucking these myriad friends from nearly as many white cotton socks, worn out is what we are. Like this venerable sunflower:

[Spastic Hamburger]

I’m a bit nervous to do that as they contain a neurotoxin and require special processing. Don’t really feel comfortable with that risk involved.

We have century plants all over around here. They’re very popular with business for roadside decoration. We have some whose central stalks have gotten so tall they reach the utility poles!

Yeah, Spanish needle is plentiful around here. I’m always picking the spines off my clothes. Can be a real hassle, especially as the washing machine can’t get them off 😛

Tired sunflower! When they start to go past their prime, we harvest them and save the seeds. We’ll then eat the rest of the bloom. Pretty good in salads 🙂

[DeVaultSetter]

Ah, sounds more like belladonna, many forms of colocasia (including antiquorum), alocasia and even unrelated Xanthosoma are staple in many parts of the world, all requiring boiling/steaming to remove the effects of the crystallized calcium oxalate. Neurotoxins are nuked at 80°C. 🙂
The sunflower is still alive, very bowed over now, the petals are long gone since, and the leaves are beginning to pale. Youth fleeting, age defeating. Would you recommend harvesting the flowerhead for the pot?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by DeVaultSetter.

[Spastic Hamburger]

Yep, probably a good time to eat it. Don’t want it to get sadder! 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

We also have quite a few wild onions in the swamps around here. I need to get better at identifying them so that I can harvest them. They taste a lot better than store bought onions!

[DeVaultSetter]

They’re probably validum, wonderful looking plants, over here we call that kind of thing bush tucker. Growing down the gully here is stinging nettle, from which the dried leaves are added to tea for health boost. Have some of it growing in pots, too.
Old age isn’t all that bad is it? Things go grey, black and hairless and perhaps somewhat less delicious, that’s all. The flowerhead had weathered too much, so just after taking the snap the goat got in and snaffled up everything.

[Spastic Hamburger]

Yeah, we have nettles too but not sure which variety. They mostly grow in sandy scrublands here. Often see them near prickly pears (a form of cactus), which are quite tasty. Haven’t seen them in a while, though, but I haven’t been to many sandy woodlands in a while.

I really need to get a book on wild edibles one day. The bookstore up the street sells them but I just haven’t gotten around to it

Things do get better with age, I know I do. 😀

Pickles, soup, stews, the list goes on!

Yep, gotta watch the goats! My aunt has one at one point. Spoiler alert: it wouldn’t stop butting people (not worth using our spoiler tags for that 😛 )

[Spastic Hamburger]

I’ve developed bad erosion around the driveway so I’m looking at putting in some ground cover to shore things up. Something from this list is probably the way to go. In particular, Mimosa strigillosa looks like a good option. 🙂

[DeVaultSetter]

Did you find one? Tussocks are reliable for such a job, they also lack what we might call “aesthetic” qualities desirable for our verges. The Californian hair grass might be an exception. 🙂
Haven’t been able to secure another Red Rubin over here since posting this update back when, have any cropped up your way recently?

[Spastic Hamburger]

Sadly, we don’t have any native plant nurseries near me so I’m probably just going to go to a nursery and pick something out.

Got plenty of that in fields around here. It’s pretty prolific! Have to be careful, though. The bugs love it!

I may have seen it somewhere recently. Not sure where but I’ll keep an eye out. I know we’ve got plenty of sweet basil, of course. Mom’s got a couple of those. I think I may have seen it at the hardware store a few months back? Can’t say for certain but I’ll be going there in a few days and will keep a look out!

[Spastic Hamburger]

Here’s an interesting idea: in theory, a darker sheet should decrease the risk of freeze damage more than a lighter colored one as it’ll absorb more photonic energy. Definitely worth testing at some point.

The test would be pretty simple: get a collection of very sensitive plants and split them into three groups: a control and one each for the different sheets. Then we’d wait until Winter when it’s cold and below the minimum temperature. Next, we leave the control out without a sheet just to many sure they are indeed temperature sensitive and cover the other two groups with their sheets. We simply check them in a few days to see which ones have more damage. And to make sure we killed the control group

• This reply was modified 9 months ago by Spastic Hamburger.

[Spastic Hamburger]

Picked up the ground cover: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyla_%28genus%29 🙂

Not sure of the specific species, though. Couldn’t get enough mimosa locally so I went with frog fruit instead.

[DeVaultSetter]

Over here, some plants won’t show chill shock symptoms ’til spring, and in many cases it’s too late. A great culinary addition to one’s garden is Mother of Herbs, also requiring chill protection in winter, even though it is a fantastic ground cover. So best in a pot. The much rarer Lemon Sherbet Coleus has similar requirements, been on the waiting list for that, uh, a while.
Good luck, verbenas are tough, granted, make sure it’s well established before being walked on.
Most of the tree plantings are complete, the main worry is to maintain protection for the young plants from wallabies and deer. Happens when things dry up a bit.

[Spastic Hamburger]

The trick I use for oregano is to plant it in a baby pool after punching holes in the bottom. It works like a charm! Granted, it still gets too cold in the winter even for herbs here so spring replanting is always a must if they’re outside 🙂

It’s doing well but the neighbors have started messing with the new ground cover, which is why it had to be planted in the first place. 🙁

We did our planting the other day. Not too much concern about wildlife here messing with them but I do need to haul them gallons of water to them every other day 😛

[DeVaultSetter]

Oregano is really tough, there’s a patch of it which has been regenerating each spring for many years now, at least 15 IIRC.
That’s a pity, an idea is to intersperse the cover with something slightly unpalatable, the nightshades for example. The younger leaves on a local species (probably this) growing under the pines here are actually quite gentle on the feet, prickles are felt more on the onset of maturity in drier times. If they keep walking on it, try a sweet-smelling deterrent like Houttuynia or Lesser Swine Cress.
Which of the wildlife causes the most problems? Over here the black wallabies are usually fine except in colder and drier times when they tend to destroy bark on shrubs and young trees.

[Spastic Hamburger]

Armadillos are the biggest issue around here as they like to tear everything up. We also have a few feral pigs in the swamp but, fortunately, I’ve never seen them in the neighborhood.

I’d like to get some blackberries going to replace the ones that the city cleared out from the public lands a few years back but I’m not sure I have the right kind of soil. Definitely worth a look! Used to be able to get about a pound annually from those bushes 😀

[Spastic Hamburger]

Wild grapes are ready to pick a few weeks early! Going to start snacking! 😀

Just made my third attempt at planting ground cover. The landscapers whacked it back again before it was established so I had to replant. I’ve ordered a larger sign to put out to hopefully fix the problem

[DeVaultSetter]

Harrumph, couldn’t they not read? Did you get a chance to talk with them, or is it different folks each time?
Put in a hazelnut purchased from the now defunct Riverside Nursery, closed on the 30th of June. Losing money, apparently as the margins could not compete with costs. A great pity as it was setup well for operation in recent times, 17 years in its current location, after 23 in the previous.
They said there was plenty of walk-in traffic, not enough to warrant viability it seems, as many lines failed to attract – blame it on the internet?
Suspect a deer of nipping the top of one of the young macadamias. 🙁

[Spastic Hamburger]

I think it may have been the small sign the HoA used as it was just an index card. They said they talked to them the other day and I put in my larger sign so hopefully that fixes the problem. We’re at the tail end of the growing season though so it’ll take a while for the new stuff to do its thing

Most places don’t sell plants on the Internet, partly due to restrictions on biologicals across borders. Sad to hear they closed down 🙁

I tried planting tomatoes a few years back but they didn’t take. I do have a vine, either a melon or a squash, that grew up out my compost heap. Not sure what it is but it hasn’t bloomed at all so I’m not sure it’ll do anything 🙁

You could try lightweight fencing. Would need to be tall to keep them from reaching, though. There are some wildlife friendly tips here that may be worth a try. Maybe raid the comb? Unhelpfully, one tip everywhere is, “Don’t plant stuff deer eat.” That doesn’t really help!

[Spastic Hamburger]

Not fixed. Despite being told not to mess with area and the new sign, they killed off the brand new ground cover. I even pulled all of the weeds the other day. I’m not happy. I’ve sent a pretty annoyed email to the HoA telling them to get this resolved before the erosion starts causing my driveway and building to collapse. I’m close to demanding compensation. No way should I be paying for this each week when the lawn crew keeps killing it off

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by Spastic Hamburger.

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