Edible Landscaping

I've been trying to add more edible plants to my yard's landscaping and stumbled across what seems to be a great resource:
www.ediblelandscaping.com

You can order a free catalog from their website filled with all sorts of tempting fruits, nuts, berries and assorted other pretty yet edible plants. Note: I have not ordered anything from them and I don't know if I will. With the information in their catalog I think I can find similar plants in local nurseries. The website and catalog are definately a good resource though, especially since they are free.

-Blast

Given the devastating drought, I would find some good ethnobotony books devoted to the indian and tejano uses of native and heirloom cultivated plants. One of the most complete, and easilly most nutritious food sources on earth are acorns. And here people sweep 'the mess' from the streets. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

In the Great Plains area (more specifically, tall grass prairie) the lowly Sunflower reigned supreme as a cultivated food source for native tribes. It was made into bread, among other things.

I'm on my second crop this year, and the yield of seeds is unbelieveable.

Excellent idea. I, for one, have never really thought about this since there is so much edible stuff already growing around here. I am going to bring this subject up to friends and family. Thanks for posting it and the link, Blast. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I planted a relative of the sunflower, the Jerusalem artichoke, (Helianthus tuberosus L.), also known as sunchoke. Rather than edible seeds you get an edible tuber. The Wife loves the flowers!

I'm not sure how good they taste but they are native to much of the USA.

Lee, you will love the artichokes.

You can do anything to them that you can do to a potato. I highly reccommend steamed or especially grilled, with a splash of olive oil on them.

One note: as your plot ages, the roots get larger. In 2 or 3 years, they can be nearly as big as yams. Your first crops will be tiny little roots and seem like hardly worth the bother to clean, but they are. Tasty little devils.

Second note: Don't eat too many at one setting until your body adjusts. Beano won't help.

Third note: The 'chokes will take over if you don't ruthlessly dig them back to their plot.

Last note: Dry 'choke root, and grind into flour. Mix with parched and ground yellow corn. soak in water with some wood ashes (adds vitamin A, some lime will work, too) bake like bannock bread, flat or balls (balls boiled with jerked meat and some salt, yum)

The dried stems are good tinder, they can be retted to make fair cordage, and the leaves are good to drive off bugs and mites in containers.

Thanks for the link!

Fallshirmjager, thanks for all the 'choke tips!, I'm looking forward to trying them soon.

While doing more research on edible landscape plants I stumbled upon another website:
Plants for the Future

The neat thing about this site is you can type in the name of a plant (common or latin) and it will tell you if it can be used for food, dyes, tea, cordage, etc! Using it I've discovered I already have a landscape filled with edible plants.

-Blast

As I go about my daily business, I find myself muttering outloud, "Hmmm, I wonder if that (berry, bush, leaf, root, twig, bug, gopher) is edible?" Wonder why folks look at me funny?

I know the feeling, librarian. But, paraphrasing something said about me the other day by a girl I know: Cringing at something I said about eating insects, she still said to others around us if the biggest pile ever hit the fan she would rather be with me than anybody else due to what I know about survival. Made me feel better.

Thanks for the new link, Blast!

Tell me more about how to prepare acorns. I have several oaks and have tried to soak and boil the bitter little snots into something I can eat a couple of times with no luck.

Gentlemen (and ladies) My DW (Shari) has put pinenuts in our BOB now that's something I wouldn't have thought of they are readily available here in Ut but don't know about the rest of the country


BTW she vacuum seals them before putting them in the bag <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

One thing you need to be aware of is where you are harvesting the wild edibles. As most of the population (US anyway) lives in urban or at least suburban environments -- its important to be aware of what possibly toxic substances that tasty treat may have absorbed from its immediate environment. Circumstances like how close to traffic, what kind of run-off exposure, proximity of potential pesticides (say that 5 times fast!), and any soil contamination. Keep in mind that many urban parks and green spaces are there because they are covering over toxic areas that are too dangerous to build houses on. Its back to the same fundamental idea of survival: be aware of what's around you. That wild-salad is just not worth it if you have to follow it up with an activated-charcoal chaser.

Lily,

I agree completely, one must know the history of the area to know if the edible plants are no longer edible. That's one benefit to making your yard into an edible landscape. You can control what toxins are dumped there.

Also, welcome! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I grew up half way between Minneapolis and St. Cloud (my grandpa's farm is now a big outlet center <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />). I much prefer Texas as you don't have to shovel sunshine!

-Blast

Hey. I planted Jerusalem Artichokes this season. They are actually a variety of sunflower that has an edible root/tuber. They are native to the USA. One thing about them is that you can start a patch of them and forget them. They grow to 7 or 8 feet tall and self propagate underground, rather than through seeds. You can start a plot of these in a field or on a hill and forget about them until needed.

For best value for landscaping, herbs are the ticket. Medicinal herbs are superior to pharm drugs in many cases. Other herbs can provide nutrition and herbs are generally water thrifty.

Be sure that the plants you intend to use are suitable for your area & climate. If you have the choice between mail order and local plants of the same type, you might want to stay with plants proven in your local area.

You also might want to look into Permaculture (permanent agriculture). Bill Mollison has several good books out, which is aimed at the DownUnder/Oz crowd, but many of the facets fit very well up here in the temperate zones. Some people think you need acres to do permaculture, but if you can't do it on your lot, you probably couldn't do it with acreage. Start at your back door and work your way out.

Some websites that might provide some useful info:

ATTRA (National Sustainable Agriculture Information in the U.S.): http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/perma.html

Holistic Agriculture Library: http://soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/01aglibwelcome.html

Forest Farm Plant Nursery: http://www.forestfarm.com/

Ever wondered what to do with human waste in a longer-term 'situation'? Joseph Jenkins has the answers for safe disposal. His book the Humanure Handbook is online, drawings and photos included: http://www.joseph-jenkins.com/online_pubs.html He's got more answers than you'll have questions.

Worm farm waste systems: http://www.wormfarm.com.au/

Sue

I find these pretty tasty, (shagbark hickory)
they taste like "wild hickory nuts" 8^)

Tried some a year ago & was stunned at how good they are - the ones that I tried were close to walnut flavor, but even better if you ask me.

ditto - I tried several times & gave up as the flavor was making me nauseous. They will be a last ditch food source for me.

I heard about them on another website & this was my 1st year growing them & my wife also likes the flowers as well. They are a little different than potatos, but almost better as they have a slight nutty flavor. Better if you pick them after the 1st hard freeze or put them in the fridge for a few days.I've been putting some of them into stir frys & loving them. I'm going to let them take over an entire end of my garden.

These fall into the category of "Guerilla Gardening" as how many people in our society would even recognize this as a food source after a TEOWAWKI scenario?