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Thread: Permanent garden plants...... Survival gardens.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Default Permanent garden plants...... Survival gardens.

    Permanent garden plants...... Survival gardens(?)
    (disclaimer....Images shameless stolt from the interwebs as it raining and stuff isn't up yet much...

    Thinking about what I have in my garden that pretty much take care of themselves with little on no attention other than trying to control them.

    Many are called "weeds" by some...just means "plants in the wrong place in the minds of a organized person."
    Many although are not perennials...will readily seed themselves.

    My favorites:
    Walking onions, egyptian onions.....
    Horseradish....
    Chives.. (onion and garlic chives)
    Mints...spearmint.
    Rhubarb...

    Walking Onions - Allium Cepa Proliferum - Eternal Heirloom

    Even the scientific name tells you they are hard to kill.....proliferate and eternal ...making this a good addition to a permanent garden.
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    Walking onions will sneak up on you, when you are not looking and take over the garden.
    At the end of the leaves bulblets grow in clumps and when they get too heavy...they fall over and "Walk"
    Or you can pick the clump, break it up and plant ...propagating........they will grow on a gravel walkway.
    Sent some to a friend...lady at UPS store asking if I was sensing hamburgers...smelled up the store

    Horseradish ...
    Love making my own grounded up root...

    Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana, syn. Cochlearia armoracia) is a perennial plant of the Brassicaceae family (which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, and cabbage). It is a root vegetable used as a spice.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseradish

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    Also can be invasive...as the least little broken off part of a root will sprout and start a new plant....

    Chives.....Green garnish...gives a little onion or garlic taste year around.
    Can grow inside or in pots....but will sneak into corners of the garden next to posts and rocks...kinda hides out till needed.
    Chives is the common name of Allium schoenoprasum, an edible species of the Allium genus.
    A perennial plant, it is widespread in nature across much of Europe, Asia, and North America.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chives

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    Mints...Mentha:....I have found spearmint also very invasive...LOL...best in pots or container.
    Lots of verities....

    Teas and favoring....and just to chew on...
    Mentha (also known as mint, from Greek míntha,[2] Linear B mi-ta)[3] is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae (mint family).[4] It is estimated that 13 to 18 species exist, and the exact distinction between species is still unclear.[5] Hybridization between some of the species occur naturally. Many other hybrids, as well as numerous cultivars, are known.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentha

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    Rhubarb...
    Grow this because all the old gardeners I grew up with had some(?)...that where I got my cutting....
    Figured it must be a secret of a long life as they were all old...LOL

    I like it as it's one of the first plants up in my garden.
    We use in pies...and did try making the wine....( I need more practice..LOL)

    Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) is a species of plant in the family Polygonaceae. It is a herbaceous perennial growing from short, thick rhizomes. It produces large poisonous leaves that are somewhat triangular, with long fleshy edible stalks and small flowers grouped in large compound leafy greenish-white to rose-red inflorescences.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb

    So anyone else have a favorite grows with out any care and what do you use it for?
    Last edited by hunter63; 03-30-2017 at 11:53 AM.
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    The chives in the photo are Garlic chives and have a white flower. Chive chives have tubular leaves like miniature onions and a pale purple flower. I like them both but the garlic chives are definitely more invasive.

    Chives are supposed to be great companion plants for fruit trees. Gonna try some this year under the cherry trees. Maybe keep the rampant chipmunks out. Doubtful.

    Walking onions are great fun. I tie mine to a stake so the bulblets don't hit the ground and make roots. They seem to get a little bigger that way. Those top bulbs are great for pickling, a spicy sort of onion. The bottom bulbs and leaves bleh, too bland.

    I have a nice bed of raspberry plants going as a permanent thing. Plus a whole bunch of semi-dwarf fruit trees. 4 apples, 2 tart cherry, 4 crabapples, 1 stanley plum, 1 appricot and 2 pear trees. My peach tree had its roots eaten out from under it. Voles I think. Problem with dwarfed trees is they only last a short time. 20 years or so at best. A standard tree will last twice that. I have a couple of pawpaw seedling trees, one of which is finally putting on some growth.

    Last fall I planted out 3 blight resistant filbert bushes. We'll see if they made the winter.

    I have a small patch of native mayapples. Haven't yet been able to beat the skunks to the fruit. They can eat it when green but humans have to wait for full drop-off ripe or they'll make you sick.

    And I have 2 medlars. Which are an acquired taste. You let the frost hit them good then let em sit on the counter until they get soft. Once you get over the fact you are eating rotten fruit, they taste pretty good. Had to move the blueberries I had growing out on the sandy side of the yard.. They aren't doing well. They're in pots right now and I'm trying to get some growth back on them.

    The small bed of cranberries I finally figured out if you wipe your hand over the top of the bushes when they are in full flower you get a really heavy fruit set. Photo of part of the cran bed from 2015 in full flower. The bed is about 6'x 8' and I get about 4-5 pounds from that. You can grow them on dry land as a productive ground cover but they don't take foot traffic and you shouldn't let their roots dry out. Picking them will make you realize how smart it is to float them. PITA and it's usually about 35° and raining when you decide to pick them.
    crans.jpg

    And I have a bunch of concord grapes growing on the chain link fence. Sweet. Photo also from 2015 season.
    grapes.jpg

    I decided to try to get rid of the sunchokes. Wish me luck. And while I love blackberries, the ones I have are thorned, like razor wire, and they are rampantly invasive. I find them growing yards away from the original planting now.

    I have 2 small stone pines on the gravel side of the yard. I'll probably be dead before they get old enough to set cones for pine nuts.

    This year's plan is to start a medicinal/herb garden using the customary plants found in old monestaries. Lots of small seed flats out in the frame, planted last fall to get cold stratified for spring growing.

    if the snow isn't too deep this weekend, I'll see about getting some more pics.
    Last edited by LowKey; 03-30-2017 at 08:28 PM.
    If we are to have another contest in…our national existence I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, but between patriotism & intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition & ignorance on the other…
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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    I have had the worst time with paw paws. The first set died from too much sun. I kept them shaded but it was a hot and sunny summer. The second set had a neighbors limb fall on one and broke it off. I let the shoots grow and now I have a paw paw bush sort of thing. Maybe they will put fruit on some day. (fingers crossed). But they are growing.

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    For something that used to be a common native, pawpaws sure are picky. My fear is waiting 10 years to finally see a fruit and hate the way it tastes.
    If we are to have another contest in…our national existence I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, but between patriotism & intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition & ignorance on the other…
    ~ President Ulysses S. Grant

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    LK...that is an impressive list of plantings..... Congrats.....

    I agree about sunchokes very invasive, I have gotten rid of tham as well.
    Ditto with city blackberries, they gat away and became a nunsense......But have a lot growing wild at "The Place" in fence lines.

    Couple of comments...
    Blue berries need acid soil......
    I have used planting "in" flats directly into the ground....helps control them.
    Dill comes up by itself.....as does camomile...
    Asparagus died out....
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    My blackberries have been pretty good neighbors. They have stayed put. My raspberries are my unruly kids. Those things are trying to run into the next block. I'm actually thinking of pulling them up because they are uncontrollable.

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    Well I like my sunchokes .What else do I have here in middle Tennessee ? Horseradish, asparagus .blueberries ,jostaberries ,serviceberries , elderberries , grapes , hardy kiwi ,hardy pomegranate ,hardy banana , fig ,apples , goji , wild ginger, mints ( a long list of these ),yarrow ,comfrey, lots of cooking herbs ( last to me we counted was 34 different herbs). Then you get in to wild plants not in the garden that I in courage .

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fixit View Post
    Well I like my sunchokes .What else do I have here in middle Tennessee ? Horseradish, asparagus .blueberries ,jostaberries ,serviceberries , elderberries , grapes , hardy kiwi ,hardy pomegranate ,hardy banana , fig ,apples , goji , wild ginger, mints ( a long list of these ),yarrow ,comfrey, lots of cooking herbs ( last to me we counted was 34 different herbs). Then you get in to wild plants not in the garden that I in courage .
    Great list.....and knowing what they are.
    Ideally depending on location...the ID'ing of various plant and their uses... where they naturally grow....can be a great addition to a traditional garden.
    I gonna include Morels and Hen of the woods mushrooms....wild strawberries.

    Many are picky... and only grow where they want to grow...at least the wild varieties...
    Sometimes its best to just forage for them.... locate, pick and use...and leave them there.

    I gave up my asparagus in my garden....several reasons....but continue to forage in a few spots that haven't been lost to developments.
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    The list sounds impressive but the yard is a might of a mess. Working on it though. I think of it as a long term edible landscape project. I forgot about the beach plumb hedge on side garden. That's about 8 plants marking the road view front edge of what's going to be a container bed. And the strawberry bunkers on the front edge of that garden.

    Found some alpine white strawberry volunteers out in the lawn last summer that I'm going to move to a shaded bed. Those are one of the few fruiting plants that will take light dappled shade. Surprised the heck out of me to find them but darned tasty things and the birds don't touch them because they are white, not red. The former owner of this lot had some interesting things planted around and I'm always finding surprises. Like the partridge berry and wintergreen in an old stone raised bed that used to ring-around a tree.

    Watch out on those morels you might find in old apple orchards. There've been reports of arsenic/lead poisoning. Lead arsenate used to be a very popular orchard spray in the early to mid part of the 1900s. Beware of buying property that used to be an old apple orchard too. Get a soil test as part of the Purchase and Sales agreement.
    http://www.fungimag.com/winter-2010-...vit-morels.pdf

    yeah, I hear ya on the acid soil. The cranberries had a prepared bed. Dug out 8" of glacial till soil that was replaced with 1/2 peat, 1/4 sand and 1/4 old soil screened to remove rocks. They love it. I did the same for the blueberries but probably should have gone deeper, plus they were on a sand fill and the acidity must have leached out pretty quick. If I can get growth on them, I'm going to use them for a border on my garden opposite the cranberries. I didn't want to put them there before as it is a little too close to the neighbor (didn't want birds dropping blue bombs on his cars) but I'm putting up a fence that side this year so putting a net over the bushes will be less of a task.
    Last edited by LowKey; 04-01-2017 at 02:31 PM.
    If we are to have another contest in…our national existence I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, but between patriotism & intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition & ignorance on the other…
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    LK, if you ever get ripe mayapple, be careful of the seeds, they're somewhat poisonous. Dried root is resellable, not much when compared to sang, but far easier for a 10 yr old to find. (toss it on the roof for a week, and pray it don't rain). I'm thinking I remember the seeds being used for either a laxative or purgative.
    Last edited by minitruck83; 04-04-2017 at 11:58 AM.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    There are quite a few mayapple in the area I turkey hunt.....I swear they are a green spike at 6:00 AM and with be up starting to open by noon.
    Never though about eating them.....Hummm
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    My sister thinks may apples are obscene little plants. If they are old enough to flower, they are a little odd-looking when they first break thru the leaves.
    Though nothing beats Mutinus caninus in that attribute. Once had a patch of those things sprout out of an old pile of bark mulch. Looked like a really bad accident had happened. LOL.

    On the subject of fungi, has anyone tried any of the mushroom spore or plug kits for outdoors. H63, you mentioned morels and chicken of the woods. Probably not this year but was thinking of putting in a mushroom bed. There's a morel kit online that caught my eye over winter.
    If we are to have another contest in…our national existence I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, but between patriotism & intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition & ignorance on the other…
    ~ President Ulysses S. Grant

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    My mother would make jelly from mayapples.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LowKey View Post
    My sister thinks may apples are obscene little plants. If they are old enough to flower, they are a little odd-looking when they first break thru the leaves.
    Though nothing beats Mutinus caninus in that attribute. Once had a patch of those things sprout out of an old pile of bark mulch. Looked like a really bad accident had happened. LOL.

    On the subject of fungi, has anyone tried any of the mushroom spore or plug kits for outdoors. H63, you mentioned morels and chicken of the woods. Probably not this year but was thinking of putting in a mushroom bed. There's a morel kit online that caught my eye over winter.
    Yeah....Baby Portabella....several bags over the years....last batch didn't do real well as I didn't get them started in time....Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

    We were out of town for a month....did OK but earliers bags grew much better...
    Had thread around here somewhere...?

    And the shikii(spelling because of software)...logs.....
    These did fine.... but wasn't there all the time.... so lost a few ...but did last a few years.

    Will have to see if I get any this year....
    Bought the logs at the farmers market with the plugs in it already...
    DW thought I paid $20 bucks for a "stick"....LOL

    This is the pic of the most gnarly willow I have where the hen of the woods grows...sometimes...
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    I don't really count mushrooms as permanent garden plants....more of a crop of opportunity...forage when available.....helps to know where they are.
    Or you have to plant spores in a proper medium... same as an annual crop.
    Last edited by hunter63; 04-05-2017 at 10:30 PM.
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    My Mayapples started blooming this week .

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Fixit.....what location?
    Ours bloom in.........wait for it....May...LOL
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    Southern middle Tennessee.

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Gotcha.......What zone?
    We are in Zone 5
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    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
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    Twilight zone ! No wait zone 7 .

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    Zone 7. I wish. I'm on the colder side of zone 5.
    The snow is almost melted off my MayApple bed. Most of the yard is still covered. The garden is clear. I've found going out and throwing a bag or two of compost on top of the snow on a sunny day goes a long way toward melting that stuff off. I get the $2 bags of cheap Compost + Manure (heavy on compost, not so much manure at 0.5-0.5-0.5) It adds to the tilth too. It may be thawed enough to plant peas today. Haven't been out to check yet. Waiting for it to get a little warmer and finish my morning coffee.

    H63 those shroom kits seem to work for you. I will definitely take a closer look at them. As for growing outside, I've noticed in the fall the local rodent population eats some of the scarier looking mushrooms around here. Can't imagine how happy they'd be to have morels served to them. Maybe a box bed with a mesh cover is in order.
    Last edited by LowKey; 04-08-2017 at 08:01 AM.
    If we are to have another contest in…our national existence I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, but between patriotism & intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition & ignorance on the other…
    ~ President Ulysses S. Grant

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