Alternative edible vegetables, for Permaculture use!

This is a post intended to show some useful and less well-known plants in Permaculture. These are edible perennial vegetables, that can often produce huge harvests, and are easy to grow, and can be used in a permanent forest garden Permaculture project. I included the links where you can order these. Have fun.

Ordering tropical, fruits, vegetables and seeds:

http://www.tropilab.com/tropicalfruit.html
http://www.seedsofchange.com (lots of seeds, but they don't send to Europe)

Alternative edible tubers

http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/kitchen/2003su_tubers.html
http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/altroots.php PFAF, database on edible plants
http://www.glasshouseworks.com/trop-o.html

These are some edible tubers, grown as crops in South America, in a similar way to potatoes:

• Yacon, tasty sweet giant tubers, that can be eaten raw like a fruit. These were grown as a crop by the Incas. The plant dislikes cold but can be grown well in temperate climates with warm summers, because the tubers would survive in winter. I have grown these last year and had huge harvests. http://www.realseeds.co.uk/unusualtubers.html
• Oca, Oxalis tuberosus, a common crop in South America, next to potatoes, the flavour is identical to spinach due to the oxalic acid, can withstand some frost, easy to grow http://www.realseeds.co.uk/unusualtubers.html
  
• Tropaeolum tuberosum, Anu: grown for 8000 years, a close relative to nasturtium, these tubers have a spicey flavour. Dislikes wet and hot climates, and can be grown in temperate climates, but takes time for the mature tubers to form (only by September), so it requires no early frost. http://www.burncoose.co.uk/site/plants.cfm?pl_id=4607
• Pachyrhizus tuberosus, Jícama, giant tubers, white, grown only over 6 months and harvest in September. Can be grown in temperate climates. survives some frost but not freezing temperatures. The tubers can be eaten grown but the aereal part is poisonous, just like the beans, to which is a relative. http://www.sandmountainherbs.com/jicama_yam_bean.html and http://www.bountifulgardens.org/products.asp?dept=43
• Ulluco, another unusual South American crop http://www.realseeds.co.uk/unusualtubers.html

Besides these rarities, there are other less-common vegetables, but which are worth to be grown in a vegetable garden, such as parsnips, sweet potatoes, ginger, jerusalem artichokes, swedes, scorzonera, parsley roots (Petroselinum crispum tuberosum), different kinds of radish, kohl-rabi and celeriac. We have grown most of these plants before, if you need advice just email me. You can also watch our pictures in previous posts.

Fantastic carrots!

Another interesting thing to know is that there are plenty of (natural) varieties of carrots. No, they are no hybrids, these are tradicional varieties, which are now rarities, but available through some sellers of heirloom seeds. These include white, yellow, orange, red and purple carrots.

All the cited tubers are of course perfect for vegetarians, vegans and even rawists, wishing to improve their dishes, because most can be eaten raw and fresh!

Yacon

At the PFAF website, which I recommend all of you to visit, there are other interesting suggestions for edible root vegetables:

• Apios americana, ground nut
• Camassia quamash, quamash http://www.vanmeuwen.co.uk/plant/61406
• Cyperus esculentus, tiger nuts
• Dioscorea batatas, yam http://www.china-food-wholesaler.com/buy-chinese_yam and http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/DIOSCOREA_BATATAS.htm
• Erythronium species, dog's tooth violets
• Lathyrus tuberosus, tuberous pea http://www.ediblelandscapes.ca/plantlist.html
• Lilium lancifolium, tiger lily
• Lomatium cous, biscuit roots
• Orogenia linearifolia, indian potato
• Perideridia gairdneri, yampa
• Psoralea esculenta, breadroot http://www.prairiehabitats.com/seeds.html and http://prairiemoon.com/store/template/product_detail.php?IID=496&&
• Sagittaria species, arrowhead
• Sium sisarum, skirret, i have both the tubers and seeds
• Stachys affinis, chinese artichokes: available in many suppliers
• Typha latifolia, reedmace, common cattail: this is a native species in European swamps, and I have seen selling before, but not yet online

You might wanna check also these two interesting links:

- Top20 Permaculture plants http://www.pfaf.org/user/top20plants.aspx

- Edible tubers: http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/kitchen/handbooks/tubers/tubers.html

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