Transcript Heat Loving Food Plants

Heat Loving Food Plants !
Houston, TX
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Big veggies are great.
However, for a maximally useful and nutritious home food garden,
the plants to grow the most of are ……
HERBS and GREENS!
And don’t be shy about using….
HERBS AS GREENS !
Herbs don’t just taste great, they are nutritional powerhouses!
(for example see: parsley nutrition)
THE STAGE:
Example of a large summer garden in Houston, TX: mostly herbs and greens.
And now, some of ……
THE PLAYERS:
Lambs Quarters
Chenopodium album
Texas, US, Eurasia
Harvest by pinching tender growing tips ~2”. Will get bushy and 4-5 ft. tall.
The more you pick, the more you get. Annual.
• Greens related to spinach and beets.
• Contains all essential amino acids!
• Supports skippers, moths, and
sparrows.
Source: Wild or Seeds of Change.
‘Magenta Spreen’ C. gigantium
‘Huazontle’ C. berlandieri
Jerusalem Artichoke / Sunchoke
Source : Grocery store
Helianthus tuberosus
• High in Potassium, Iron, and
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Inulin.
A type of Sunflower.
Harvest tubers after plants die back
and after cool weather arrives
Tubers can be stored over winter in
the ground and harvested as needed
Plants will come back next year from
unharvested tubers
Chicory in bloom!
Cholesterol Spinach
Gynura nepalensis
Harvest by pinching tender growing tips ~4-6”.
Will get bushy and 2 ft. tall.
The more you pick, the more you get.
Perennial.
Source: Cuttings
• Related to Okinawa spinach.
• Great cooked as greens or raw
like lettuce
• Perennial.
• Grows in some shade.
• Cholesterol reducing,
demonstrated in rats.
Sweet Potato Vine
Ipomoea batatas
Harvest by pinching tender growing tips ~3-4” and cutting vines and using the leaves.
The more you pick, the more you get.
• High in vitamins A, C, and
calcium
• This is a special type of sweet
potato grown only for its
tender leaves
• All sweet potato greens are
edible and nutritious, use the
tender growing tips of
regular sweet potato plants
• Good in some shade
• Tender perennial
Source : Cuttings, Grocery store?
Egyptian Spinach, Molokhia
Corchorus olitorius
Harvest by pinching tender growing tips ~3”.
Will get bushy and 4-5 ft. tall.
The more you pick, the more you get. Annual.
• Loved by the pharaohs
• Cook as greens, very tender, and also
delicious in soups
• Relative of jute.
• High in beta-carotene, iron,
calcium, and vitamins C and E.
Source : Kitazawa Seed Co.
Lau / Bottle Gourd
A variety of Lagenaria siceraria
• Young gourds can be used
as a vegetable
• 4-6” of tender growing vine tips
and young leaves from two
feet of the growing vine tips make
delicious sautéed greens!
• Annual
Source : Kitasawa Seed Co.
‘Early green-skined’
‘Long opo’
Bitter Melon / Bitter Gourd
Momordica charantia
Source : Kitsawa Seed Co.
• HIV, diabetes, and
immune response.
• 1 cup = 70% daily vitamin C.
• Young gourds can be sliced
thin and sautéed with onions
and salt.
• A delicious, bitter, vegetable
• Annual
‘India Hybrid’
Turk’s Cap
Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii
North America
Source: Nurseries
• Flowers and small
fruit edible.
• Larval host plant for
Gray Hairstreak.
• Nectar for hummingbirds.
• Perennial, will do well
in shade or sun
Hyacinth Bean Vine / Lablab / Flat Bean
Dolichos lablab
Source : Kitasawa Seed Co.
‘Shirohana Fujimame’
Cook before eating.
Contains some cyanogenic glucosides.
Also in the seeds of : apples, apricots, cherries, peaches,
plums, and quinces,
Also in : almonds, sorghum, lima beans, cassava, corn, yams,
chick-peas, cashews, kirsch, and flax seeds.
Iodine and protein protect.
Cooking Inactivates.
• Tender perennial
• Cook pods when young or fresh seeds
Chaya
Cnidoscolus aconitifolius
Also contains some cyanogenic glucosides.
Source : Cuttings.
• Harvest young leaves
•Exceptionally high in
protein, calcium, iron,
and vitamin A.
• Nutrients are 2- to
3-fold greater than
any other leafy green.
• No pests.
• Cook before eating. Simmer
submerged in water for
10-20min until tender.
Use as spinach or in soups.
• Perennial
Papaya
Carica papaya
Source : Grocery store or
Echo Seeds.
• In the top 3 fruits, nutritionally.
• Harvest all summer
• Can eat green or ripe,
and seeds are edible.
• No Pests!
• Overgrown herb, not a tree.
• Male, or female, or bisexual
Grow bisexual ‘solo’ type
• Homegrown papayas are delicious!
• One of the most productive and fastest
producing fruit trees!
• Tender perennial
And of course…….
Eggplant, Basil, Long Beans,
Winged Beans, Peppers,
Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes,
Okra, Edible Chrysanthemum,
Climbing Spinach, Cow Peas, Mexican Mint Marigold, Oregano ……….
For a slide show on simple food gardening and composting:
Click Here
For additional information on growing and harvesting , for recipes,
and to post questions or comments:
http://hsfg.forummotion.com/