Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

VERY interesting, 400 trialed. So I did a little search.
http://cipotato.org/roots-and-tubers/oca-ulluco-mashua
http://cipotato.org/roots-and-tubers/maca
http://cipotato.org/artc/cip_crops/factsheetyacon.pdf
Huauzontle (Aztec Broccoli ) http://www.realseeds.co.uk/cookinggreens.html

Also came across this historical gem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Vavilov
    "Hitler's army had already closed in on St. Petersburg (then Leningrad)—a desperate city that had lost more than 700,000 people to hunger and disease. The Soviets had ordered the evacuation of art from the Hermitage, convinced that Hitler had his sights set on the museum. They had done nothing, however, to safeguard the 250,000 accessions of seeds, roots, and fruits stored in the world's largest seed bank. So a group of scientists at the Vavilov Institute boxed up a cross section of seeds, moved them to the basement, and took shifts protecting them. Historical documents later revealed that Adolf Hitler had, in fact, established a commando unit to seize the seed bank, perhaps hoping to one day control the world's food supply. Although suffering from hunger, the seeds' caretakers refused to eat what they saw as their country's future. Indeed, by the end of the siege in the spring of 1944, nine of the institute's self-appointed seed guardians had died of starvation."[7]

paul
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On 12/6/2013 5:44 PM, John D'hondt wrote:

Quite a few plants from the high Andes do well here. Tubers like potato, mashua, occa and yacon do very well. (ulluco is not a great success) Seed crops are not completely reliable but again quinoa and aztec broccoli from the Andes outperform more traditional grains conciderably.

 

I have over the years trialled at least 400 unusual crops and some 10% were worth keeping.

John

. I don't see how much can grow to harvest in those conditions. But as we say, don't put all your eggs in one basket, so evidently when you have enough variety there something will still make it.

Seems every year we try something that turns out a waste of space, but other things keep producing and selling. We try to ramp up whatever people wanted last year, but also try to grow new foods to have more they can't resist and so sell more. Doesn't always work. What really tastes great and sells doesn't always justify the space and effort it takes, yet some customers expect them so it's a dilemma. Like our Marconi sweet peppers. We still have some under cover in one greenhouse bed, but not enough to baby through the coldest months. As perennials they might regrow come spring. Snow cover here for 2 weeks now and I woke up to -10 F this morning and won't go out all day. Which things will survive is only a guess.

paul