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hendi_alex
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What is the most unusual vegetable that you plant each year?

I'm pretty boring, with nothing more unusual than Asian cucumbers, green Asian egg plant. We love the cucumbers. To me the egg plant is not really unusual but is by far the most productive that we have ever grown.

We planted edamame each year for several years, but about three years ago, some stinky little Japanese bugs got introduced to S.C. and our plants tended to get literally covered by the little metallic critters. We gave up the soy beans at that point. The bugs are still in the yard by the thousands or tens of thousands, munching on our wisteria and fig trees. They must be suckers as I don't see any munching damage and the fig crop hasn't seemed to be affected, but the outer foot of each branch will have hundreds of the bugs mostly covering the stem out to the tip. Thankfully they seem to go somewhere during the hot part of the summer, and their numbers in the yard and garden decrease dramatically.

We tried tomatillos but were not impressed with our results so gave up on them.

Years ago we planted kohlrabi and may revisit it some time in the future.

So how about, what is your unusual crop, and how do you rate it in terms of 'must have'?

SOB
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Around my area people look at me funny when I tell them I grow peanuts. They tend to grow great but they are kind of a pain. This is only my second year and I still need to find an easier way to shell them other than by hand. If I can come up with that then I'll grow a ton and make peanut butter.

This year I'm also trying some yellow yard-long beans that my wife wanted. She grew up in the Philippines and said they grew something similar.

Lastly, this year I'm trying some little orange/white pumpkins that I think are pretty cool.
https://www.territorialseed.com/product/ ... mpkin_seed

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jal_ut
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Thought about this all night.

Kohlrabi is rather unusual I think. I have fair luck with it. If I can get it to an inch tall without the bugs eating it ......... I just planted some yesterday, the early crop failed.

Mixed gourds, on my gosh what a variety of fruits I got. Only grow them one year in five I guess. It is just for a lark.

In this country watermelon is unusual, at least one that will get ready in our short season. I have found that the variety Charleston Grey works for me and I have been saving seeds for years from the earliest ones, and I think the strain is getting better.

Image

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hendi_alex
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Watermelon is my greatest gardening frustration. Here in South Carolina, you can drive by the poorest, driest sandy soil and it will be covered in watermelons. I plant in my sandy soil and the vines just shrivel and almost never make a full sized water melon. Just don't have a clue as to why my water melons don't do well. My luck with cantalope is slightly better, some years, but am challenged there as well.

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TheWaterbug
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I don't consider them to be unusual, but my family/friends/neighbors seem to be surprised by my artichokes.

They're smaller than commercial ones, but every bit as tasty.

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watermelonpunch
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jal_ut I'm in awe & much admiration!!
Do you have any tips somewhere regarding the watermelon?? :)
This is my 2nd year with a garden and 2nd trying to grow watermelon. Last year didn't go so well.

Growing watermelons around here I think is kind of odd. Also because of the short growing season.

But I'm determined!!! It's my favourite food!!! :)

Otherwise, I'm kind of boring, at least so far. ;)

Though I feel like kind of a weirdo because I'm NOT growing tomatoes this year. I have a small vegetable plot, and frankly they didn't make the cut in what I could fit & manage. Not a big fan of tomatoes actually either.
But around here, seems like EVERYONE who has a vegetable garden grows tomatoes!!!
In fact, lots of people around here grow NOTHING BUT tomatoes!

My retired neighbor, who has her own small vegetable plot too... thought it was unusual that I was growing snow peas!! She was confused last year that I had vegetables growing big before she had even tilled. She thought it even more interesting that I was harvesting them at the start of October.
From what I understand... snow peas are not too common around here either...
I started growing them because my MIL grows them and she was teaching me... and as it happens, snow peas are my husband's favourite vegetable.

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!potatoes!
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I'm way into weird stuff.

I grow yacon, a south american tuber crop that I love. crispy, sweet, juicy...stores well, and gives us some homegrown 'fruit' most of the winter. it's must-have for me.

groundnuts, (not to be confused wth peanuts) a native tuber that are usually quite small, but some larger-tuber producing varieties have been developed fairly recently. texture is between a chestnut and one of the dryer baking potatoes, and slightly sweet. really nice. the vines get tall.

turkish rocket, a perennial brassica that makes a lot of slightly fuzzy 'raabs'.

I like a lot of the plants in the Physalis genus, which includes tomatillos, a number of things referred to as ground cherries or husk tomatoes (some perennial), and goldenberry/cape gooseberry. they're not so weird to me anymore, but they're not common...

there's probably more.

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digitS'
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Alex, I think we may have talked about this before but I also grow a green Asian eggplant . . . usually :roll: . And, Asian cucumbers have a home in my garden, just about every year except this one :? . I must have been fairly well determined to be boring in 2013 but it isn't entirely my fault. The green Asian eggplant seed failed. (I do have several purple Japanese eggplants and a green one but, it is from the U of New Hampshire.)

For some reason, we have 3 (yes, 3) varieties of American slicers (cucumbers). There's also a lemon cucumber and a Beit Alpha type that I especially like.

I have grown soybeans for edamame the last 4 or 5 years. I wasn't even sure if I could do that because I have never seen a soybean field anywhere near here. Apparently, this isn't soybean country but I've been able to find a variety that grows well and am trying a new 1 called BeSweet this year. I really like edamame but had never tried it until I grew it for myself :) .

Kohlrabi, I usually have. It isn't my favorite but I kind of like it. Kohlrabi makes a nice change from radish and I didn't like turnips the last time I tried them, about 40 years ago.

There are usually quite a few Asian greens in my garden. This year, it is dang near limited to bok choy. I like the baby bok choy but that is kind of a funny way of describing it - baby. It is only in reference to size compared to other bok choy varieties. I, like Asians, will eat bok choy right up until it flowers and enjoy it at any stage.

Senposai is something I just planted today and it is a little late even for here. I think it will be okay and not bolt to seed too quickly. I will be eating that komatsuna/cabbage cross as a flowering stalk, like broccoli. My hope is that it will be around in the middle of summer but it has bolted a little too early, some years.

Really, the senposai may become a 2nd choice to Portuguese kale. I grow Scotch kale but tried the Portuguese kale last year. Yum! Then, I forgot to order seeds for it in 2013 :( ! I enjoyed harvesting the leaves, last year. It must be a lot like collards but I can hardly remember my attempt to grow collards. Portuguese kale is probably a good northern substitute for that southern veggie.

Oh, I've got dry beans again this year! Soldier and Jacobs Cattle and it has been a very long time since I've grown beans for drying. The last couple of years, I've harvested some of my Rattlesnake pole beans late, rather than taking them all as snapbeans. They are pretty darn good in chili and I decided that I'd like to have some more like that.

Steve

cynthia_h
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Well, I don't consider them "unusual," but others don't discuss them here at THG, so maybe they are...odd. :wink:

I grow fava beans. I've planted them on the winter solstice, in March, and in October. Hmmm...maybe this year I'll plant them on the summer solstice! That'll cover all the bases, I think. My favas in Palo Alto failed this year, but not from lack of care. They were blooming quite happily in late April; the bees were visiting when I saw the plants that day (MIL's house, my Square Foot Garden box in her back yard).

I showed the 9-year-old oldest son of MIL's caregiver how to water the veggies and the two fruit trees. He was fascinated and quite proud at being entrusted with this responsibility. :) The chard was coming in well, and I showed him (and his mother, the caregiver) how to harvest chard stalks/leaves for cooking. My original impetus for putting in the 4'x4' box had been to grow tomatoes in a warmer climate zone than I have at my house, but now it's more for the caregiver and her children (and my MIL) to have access to fresh-grown produce.

Well, he did a bang-up job of keeping the chard--and the fruit trees--healthy. :D When I walked into the back yard yesterday, the chard had bolted to approx. 5 or 6 feet tall, including seed towers! :shock: A couple of amazingly large-stalked plants (main stalk approx. 2 inches [5 cm] in diameter) had fallen over ON TOP OF the fava plants. Not even well-cared-for, watered fava plants can survive being broken off approx. 4 inches above soil level. :(

The only surviving plant was a volunteer, some 3 feet outside the garden box. It had one large pod and two small pods of beans on it. I showed "Helper" how to pick the pods, peel them, and then peel the beans. DH, "Helper," and I ate the four favas right there in the back yard. (I ate the first half of the first bean, just to make sure they were OK; "Helper" had never had favas, and I wanted his first taste to be a good one.)

After we put the massive amounts of seeds into the yard-waste container (no active composting at the Palo Alto house; extremely passive composting only) and the stalk/end-of-season-looking leaves into the BioStack, the SFG box was ready for new plants. I'll be acquiring some for next Sunday, our next scheduled visit.

I'll try tomatoes, squash, and...favas! in Palo Alto, and favas here in El Cerrito. Not enough heat for tomatoes and squash here at the house, and I've stopped renting the off-premises 4'x8' container where I grew tomatoes. :( Long story, but it was actually more trouble than it was worth, believe it or don't. :shock: *and* :(

So. Odd vegetable: fava beans. And maybe rapini / broccoli raab / rabe, the yummy vegetable of many names.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

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RogueRose
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Mine is the Peruvian Corn...which still aludes me. Last year they grew like a weed. Grew to 24ft tall. But ears and tassels came out at different times so I didn't get the kernels. Some of the ears got pollinated by my sweet corn so I got some but it's not the same. I planted a different peruvian this year so we'll see. I'm hoping this summer is a lot more normal weather-wise. So far it's growing nicely....we'll see.

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hendi_alex
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Steve, what is your source for Portuguese Kale? I grow collards each year and also grow red Siberian Kale, but am always looking for another good candidate for the greens patch.

Cynthia, do fava beans grow similar to sweet peas, not handling the heat of summer very well? Do you shell and eat them just like lima beans? My wife makes a lot of hummus. I read that they can be used as a substitute for garbonzo beans. Perhaps will try some fava beans next year, maybe planted early March for a late spring early summer harvest.

I am enjoying the posts in this thread. Replies are giving me lots of homework, to search and review new candidates for the garden.

mattie g
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I don't grow anything "unusual," since I'm kind of a picky eater and I don't know of anything that would be considered unusual that I'd be willing to give up some of my limited gardening space to experiment with!
RogueRose wrote:Mine is the Peruvian Corn...which still aludes me. Last year they grew like a weed. Grew to 24ft tall. But ears and tassels came out at different times so I didn't get the kernels. Some of the ears got pollinated by my sweet corn so I got some but it's not the same. I planted a different peruvian this year so we'll see. I'm hoping this summer is a lot more normal weather-wise. So far it's growing nicely....we'll see.
:shock:

I thought my 12' tall tomato plants were big!

*dim*
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I'm trying cucamelons at the moment .... Part of the James Wong Homegrown Revolution Range.

Easy to grow. Vigorous climber/trailer. Pest and drought resistant. Grape-sized 'watermelons' that taste of cucumber with a tinge of lime. Tastes like: Cucumber & citrus.


Image

I've planted spinach tree (Chenopodium giganteum) ...grows over 8 foot tall in a year and the leaves taste and look like spinach ... young leaves are eaten raw in salads, and the larger leaves are cooked like spinach:

Image

and I've planted an Orach red .... these leaves are eaten raw in salads ... grows 1,2 meters tall ...

Image

and I've planted a Sorrel bloody dock ... grows 2 foot tall and is eaten raw in salads or can be cooked:
Image

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hendi_alex
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We have grown sorrel before, as a decorative, didn't even know that it is a food crop.

As mentioned in the prior post, lots to research. Like a kid in a candy store!

*dim*
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hendi_alex wrote:We have grown sorrel before, as a decorative, didn't even know that it is a food crop.

As mentioned in the prior post, lots to research. Like a kid in a candy store!
have to be a bit careful with the sorrel ... some people can get stomach cramps from that, so I will be a bit reluctant to try it in salads, but I only found out after I planted it ....

I also want to try a moringa tree sometime .... lots of buzz about this tree on several forums, and very hardy:

and here's a video:


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digitS'
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hendi_alex wrote:Steve, what is your source for Portuguese Kale? I grow collards each year and also grow red Siberian Kale, but am always looking for another good candidate for the greens patch...
Alex, I bought the seed from Johnny's:

www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8501-beira-f1.aspx

Pinetree and Renee's Garden also sell Portuguese Kale seed.

Yes, I have purple orache, also! I had some today mixed in with the spinach for lunch. You know, the spinach this time has a lot of leaf miner problems. The orache is a close cousin and every bit as tender -- not 1 leaf miner!

Steve

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applestar
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This is not mine, but when I looked for an appropriate thread, this one popped up as a possibility—

One of the youtube channels I look at occasionally is a husband and wife team that have been gardening at community garden on I think Shikoku Island, Japan (might be Kagawa Prefecture) for several years.

They have an annual challenge with each other to grow ONE sakurajima daikon each and compete for size/weight.

They just harvested the daikon that were started in September/October last fall — as the plants grew, the couple discovered that the wife’s daikon didn’t have the right kind of leaves for sakurajima daikon, and had speculated that since these were from saved seeds given to them by a fellow community gardener, hers was an accidental cross with normal daikon.

Look at what they ended up with. LOL
(the contest was also sabotaged when the husband’s was likely to have been infected back during the excessively rainy October last fall. They speculated that maybe hers survived due to hybrid vigor.)


pepperhead212
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I'd say that the vegetables that I grow that the least people I know have grown, or even know about, are those bottle gourds, as well as those other Asian gourds I've grown. I started growing these because I simply can't grow summer squash here - SVBs show up before I even get any squash. I've tried several other varieties, that were either prone to pests or disease - fuzzy melon and tinda gourd are a couple of them. Ash gourds are good, and sometimes called fuzzy melons, but are larger, and they store well - I stored one in my basement just over a year one time. Actually, all these things are fuzzy! This is probably something to keep off those insects, which are prevalent in those tropical regions. Here are the bottle gourds:
ImageAnother long one, 15 oz, 46 oz and 40 oz, bottom to top. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Image16.8 oz long variety cut open, with barely a hint of seeds showing, and no sponginess. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

There are also a lot of bitter melons I've grown, but more people knew about those. This season I have seeds for 3 new varieties.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I can't say I have anything particularly unusual, but I have things that are ethnic plants that not everyone recognizes. Not all of them are technically vegetables.

Indian curry tree
Bilimbi (pickle fruit)
Pitaya (dragon fruit)
ngo gai (culantro)
I like the Asian mustards so I am always trying new ones (Tokyo bekana, chijimisai, semposai)
perpetual spinach, komatsuna, tatsoi, cutting celery, mizuna I have grown a few years.
Pandan
Katuk (sweet leaf)
galangal
edible flowers daylily fulva, nasturtiums, tagetes lucida, amaranth
vanilla
miracle berry.
roselle
Kaffir lime tree (grown for the leaves)
California Bay and Laurus nobilis

pepperhead212
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imafan26 Question for you - how is that pandan to grow? And does it have to be grown from plants, or are there seeds? I've noticed more plants available in recent years, and getting cheaper. That is another Asian plant I'm considering, so thank you for any suggestions on it.

imafan26
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Pandan is a variety of screw pine. I know the larger panadanas do produce fruit and seeds, but the dwarf screwpine (pandan), I have never gotten it big enough to fruit.
Dwarf pandan is grown for the leaves which are used to flavor rice, extracts of it can be used to flavor desserts. I usually don't make extracts. I can buy the extract at the Asian market in the spice section. I also get banana extract there as well. I grow the pandan from cuttings. I keep mine in pots so they don't grow that fast. Even when they are on the ground, they sprawl more than go upright. They are a little like sugar cane, they walk out slowly. It is a tropical plant so it won't tolerate frost, but it does well in a container so it can be taken inside. The only problem I had with it was ground mealy bugs which eventually killed the original plant. I have a few of them now that are healthy.

pepperhead212
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Thanks, imafan. Good to know there are dwarf ones. And that they grow from cuttings. I knew it was one more thing I'd have to bring inside - hopefully, the southern sun is enough in the winter, like it is with the kaffir lime, curry, and bay laurel.

How often do you have to re-pot them? And how large a pot would be good? Can you separate the cones (or whatever you call them)?

I love the flavor - like a vanilla, with something else added. Unfortunately, the "extracts" available here are artificial - ok, but not the same. I have to buy it frozen, and Foodsaver individual portions to use it in. But I know fresh would be better, as with all of them. A favorite and super simple rice pudding of mine is just some black sticky rice, water, a little sugar, and some pandanus leaves, tied together, and simmered about 50 min.

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applestar
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Pandan is on my list to add to my plant collection one of these days. Taking notes. :wink:

imafan26
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Pandan is a dwarf screwpine. It is a variety. Normally pandanas is a large tree. In the ground they got about 5 ft tall but sprawled out more than that. When they get too tall I cut of the top and root it. The base will grow back much like a ti will. The ones I have now are in 7 gallon pots and they have 1.5 inch stems.

pepperhead212
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Thanks for all the info, imafan!

imafan26
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I used to grow gourds. I don't have space now. There is a patch at the herb garden and I usually am able to find some there. I actually prefer the calabash gourd which is rounder. Usually, we save seeds from gourds to plant them again so except for the general terms, most of the time I don't know the varietal name.

The long gourd is called upo by some ethnic groups. There are two kinds, the hyotan which is hairy and a smooth variety. Other names are Hercules war club. There are more varietal names now than before and some of them are dark green with white markings. Togan, also called Chinese winter melon, is another one.

My dad used to grow them on the fence. We never picked them till they were three feet long. However, my neighbor said that is too old to pick them. He is right. If the gourds are picked at a foot or less, the seeds are considerably smaller. When the gourds are older the color of the skin lightens up, and the seeds are hard and large so you have to cut out the seeds. When the gourds are young, the seeds are immature so you don't have to remove them to eat it.

I made pork and squash yesterday with a gourd my friend grew.

I also grew cee gwa, luffa gourd. Only, it was not grown to make sponges. For a long time I did not know cee gwa was the same as luffa or loofa, as it is sometimes spelled. Cee gwa is chinese okra. It is very productive, but it is a bit slimy to eat. We only ate the immature ones and never let them become dry on the vine, so I grew them occasionally for years and never made the connection that they were the same plant.

I remember another plant I have grown that is different and has become popular recently. Moringa, marungay or drumstick tree. I did plant it once, but it will only grow tall and I don't want a 30 ft tree around. The leaves and fruit are nutritious and used in Filipino dishes. Most Filipino single family homes have this tree and it is usually hacked up since the branches are harvested often.

pepperhead212
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I grew those "ridged gourds" long ago, a.k.a. loufa gourds, when full sized, harvesting about 10" long, and they were good. I learned quickly that it was also prone to getting SVBs, so they were not something I grew again! I got few of the round varieties, like calabash, and the shorter one in my photos (don't remember the name) also didn't produce like the long ones. Those usually have 3 per plant growing to full size, and as soon as I pull one, or more, the small ones, lying in wait with blossoms attached, take off!

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applestar
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Not OT but followup to above — found a cute video:wink:
Capybara eat Huge radish [sakurajima daikon]

catdaddy66
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This year it will be pattypan (scalloped) squash. Got tired of crook neck and zucchini (still have a freezer full!) so I thought this would be an interesting change.



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