Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Planting ground nuts (apios americana)

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Jason Gerhardt <jasongerhardt@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Planting ground nuts (apios americana)
  • Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2015 18:37:40 -0700

You've got it right, Bob. Eric has used Hog Peanut to replace the crosnes
as a ground cover. I was at his place last October and he had Hog Peanut
growing as a ground cover all over. I took a bunch of the little tubers and
seeds, but neither would grow for me in CO. Too dry, and too much UV for a
partial shade lover. I'm currently implementing the Naropa Food Forest with
my students, 7,000 square feet of water harvesting food forest on the north
side of a two-story building. Excited to trial all these things again in
the shadows.

The Apios Institute <http://apiosinstitute.org/> website is a great
resource for these types of perennial plants and polycultures.

Jason

On Mon, Nov 9, 2015 at 1:07 PM, Jason Gerhardt <jasongerhardt@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks for sharing your Apios experiences, Bob! I've tried growing Apios
> americana for years in CO, with no success. Too much UV and too dry, not
> the right rich floodplain soil they seem to prefer too. Eric Toensmeier is
> now growing Apios in tubs/large containers due to their far spreading
> nature. However, he is on a small urban lot. People with more land could
> afford to let them run.
>
> On Stachys affinis...I've been growing them for years and it is a winner
> for me in Colorado. They grow easily. I let mine flower because the mint
> family is great for pollinators. I still get a good harvest of good sized
> tubers. They are drought hardy too. The only annual maintenance required is
> harvesting. Since they are so productive they will crowd themselves out
> leaving very small roots. The perennial three sisters of j-chokes, crosnes
> (S. affinis), and apios is still somewhat ill-fitted however. Apios is
> better as a harvest once every two years plant, whereas the others need to
> be harvested each year.
>
> My two cents,
> Jason
>
>
> --
>
>
> www.realearthdesign.com
>
> 720-496-9744
>



--


www.realearthdesign.com

720-496-9744




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page