Today I ’m drop dead to learn you how to rule rare eatable industrial plant .
I have this idea thanks to a somewhat negatively charged review ofTotally Crazy Easy Florida GardeningI find a few weeks back . Every once in a while , I get a less - than - positive review that makes me intend , “ hey , that ’s deserving answering ! ”
Joseph makes a good point . Some of the rarefied edible plants in my Word of God ARE hard to retrieve . You wo n’t be capable to get them from most mail order catalogue or from your local baby’s room .
The reason my book contains these plants is because it ’s a Word on TOTALLY CRAZY EASY FLORIDA horticulture !
I detest having to work really intemperately at grow food for thought … so to get out of all that work , I looked for serious cutoff .
What I did in the twelvemonth before I write the book was forgather together a wide variety of comestible plants and test them to see which ones were the easiest and most fat , disregardless of rarity .
Some works which are wide report to be “ easy , ” like comfrey , are NOT well-off to grow in Florida . It grew like a weed in Tennessee . Not here !
Many other plant are stupid easy to grow – but I never see them covered in Florida gardening Book , even though they should be well known . Crops such as true yam and cassava seldom make the grad – but you could bet they ’ll have lots to say on tomato , which are one of the harvest things to grow in a Florida garden .
I tested crops that rise in similar conditions to Florida . area with hot summers ( such as Southeast Asia ) , occasional freezes ( like the Mediterranean ) and mickle of humidness ( like the Caribbean ) have prominently in my hunt .
Snake beans and kang kong from Asia … yams from Africa … chaya from Mexico …
Most Florida horticulture books are focused on mostly European crops , because that ’s where most of our gardening traditions originated from . Many of those crop , which thrive in the New England State Department , are surd to grow down here .
So – where do you discover some of these uncommon edible plants ? Here are five sources .
Ebay is GOLD for Rare Edible Plants
Ebay is a good root for a variety of strange and esoteric works . I ’ve gotten some good matter there – and I ’ve gotten some flop . you may discover more than you think by searching the listing .
Go – take a look . Right now the Plants , Seeds and Bulbs section has over 200,000 listings . That ’s a portion of rare plants .
Here ’s what I fix when I typecast in “ edible plant ” :
Be careful .
You could blow your life ’s economy collecting rare works from ebay . Just watch out for all the uncanny , scammy flora sellers on there , as I cover in this video :
There are some great marketer in the US and Canada , but if you see stuff coming from China , Indonesia , India , etc … mind . A lot of those seminal fluid are detritus .
Etsy has also jump out into the scene over the last few years , and I find it to be even better than ebay now .
My daughterhas a come shop there , as do many other low nursery clientele .
Mail Order Nurseries
Mail order nurseries are a just position to find some rarified edible plants .
I ’ve induce some really cool plant life fromPeaceful Valley , fromBurnt Ridge Nursery , and fromWoodlanders , which carries some REALLY rarified comestible . They even haveAbelmoschus genus Manihot , the rare edible - leafed hibiscus I note in the leger as being slap-up for salads .
There are also some well - known nurseries I DON’T like , like Willis Orchards , Gurney ’s and TyTy Georgia . They volunteer a lot of stuff ; and , in my baseborn opinion , most of it stinks . TyTy Georgia nursery seems to put a peck more cause into pics of half - clad teens caress fruit than they do into actually develop good poppycock .
stave off .
One best-loved rare eatable plants source is my friendGrower Jim . He ’s have some really coolheaded thing for sales event , plus his blog is excellent .
Cody Cove Farm and Nurseryin Florida is also excellent , and the owner , Josh Jamison , is highly knowledgeable . Go to those two first before you go elsewhere .
Seed Companies
Baker Creekhas a great source catalog with some cool heirlooms in it .
Territorial Seedis a nifty one company as well , especially for those of you in the upper odd quarter-circle of the country . The owner is quite well-read .
I also likeSouthern Exposure Seed Exchange .
Burpee Seedsis a reliable ship’s company with nifty quality mastery .
On the other hand , I ’ve had unsound luck withSeedman.comselling seed that just wo n’t pullulate . Great leaning , but humans …
Local Nurseries
Intead if score Home Depot or Lowes or Walmart for buying plants , I extremely recommend you hunt down good local nurseries . Chances are , there are some niche glasshouse which share your special plant life interests . A reviewer contacted me and said that Quality Green Specialists was a good glasshouse for Florida . You’ll obtain their edible plants here – including olive tree . I have n’t been there , but in Florida , I wish the Mosswood Farm Store in Micanopy , Blue Star Nursery in Hawthorn , Taylor Gardens Nursery in Sparr / Citra , Spyke ’s Grove Nursery in Davie , Pietro ’s PawPaws in Ocala , and Chiappinni ’s Native Farm and Nursery in Melrose . There are probably more I ’m miss , too , but look around . strike the local places and support small nurseries . Orstart your own !
Ethnic Markets
You all live how muchI like hunting through heathenish marketsfor rare comestible I can get and disperse .
root likemalanga , yam , turmeric and gingers are usually uncommitted – and sometimes peculiarity like theChinese body of water chestnutas well .
you could also corrupt squashes and save the germ , not to name interested bags of dry out bean and cum . Pigeon pea , moth bean , favas and herbaceous plant seeds are unwashed find .
Gardening Groups
I ’m a penis of theGainesville Gardening & Preparednessgroup …
… and I ’m also friends with the organizer of Permaculture Ocala ( there ’s a Facebook grouping but I ’m not on Facebook or I ’d link it ) . I ’ve also connect a half - dozen other horticulture group onMeetup.com .
you could also join uncommon fruit chemical group and other local gardening clubs to chance people growing interesting and delicious plant .
Gardeners are well - known for sharing seeds , roots and film editing . Make friend . Go get ’em !
Online Communities
There are seed - trading sites across the net , such asHeirloomSeedSwap.com , the seed exchange at Gardenweb.com , andPlantSwap.net .
I ’ve also see some exchanging take place at the excellentPermies.comwebsite .
Go and hound !
H.E.A.R.T.
My friend Josh Jamison at H.E.A.R.T. in Lake Wales ( seemy video tour from a few yr back here ) has inform me that they now have “ asales greenhouse at H.E.A.R.T. featuring any rarefied perennial edible anyone could want . ”Check them out here .
Scrubland Farmz
Sam Singleton atScrubland Farmz nurseryis really , really good if you anywhere near his area . He has an incredible raiment of useful and comestible plants .
Green Dreams Florida
Pete Kanaris ’ nurseryhas also been recommend to me as a great seed .
Conclusion
What it all boil down to , my ally , is that if you ’re having a surd time find rare plants , you need to fall in ebay and start command , go make some friends in the plant community , hit up some heathen markets , or just spend some more sentence searching with Google .
Yes , I pass over some arduous - to - find stuff in my script , but it ’s by no means inconceivable to obtain .
ConsiderTotally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening : The Secret to spring up Piles of Food in the Sunshine Stateto be your Florida gem map , lease to you to a place of luscious edible gardening with small or no workplace .
I love Florida and I love Florida nurseryman .
I want you to have such derisory success that you garden for the ease of your life history .
I ’ve tested the craw already and many of you have already pen to partake your successes . The bike has already been formulate … you just need to go hunting and get it rolling .
