Photos: Charleston Food Forest Part 3 Left Back
This continues the tour of the Charleston Food Forest. (See Part 1: Right Front. Part 2: Right Back.)
This hazelnut bush is just turning colors.
Winter savory is a culinary herb.
This is a black currant bush.
This sign marks a patch of Russian comfrey, which grows in multiple places.
The Russian comfrey is that big fluffy green thing on the ground. It has large hairy leaves that stay green most of the year. Deep enough freezing can kill it to ground level, but it just sprouts again. And again. And again. You can slash-and-drop it three or four times in the warm season to make mulch or fertilizer. Comfrey is among the most popular permaculture plants because it has so many uses.
This apple tree is a Golden Delicious. It is among the least impressive varieties, likely planted because people would recognize the name. Apple Rankings cheerfully rates it 33 Horse Food.
This nasturtium is still blooming. Both leaves and flowers are edible with a spicy flavor.
This sign marks a patch of perennial leeks. I love leeks, which taste much like onions but milder and mellower, perfect for delicate recipes where a strong onion would overpower the other ingredients -- or if you just don't like hot onions. Perennial leeks produce little offshoots from the main bulb. These can be removed and replanted or eaten, similar to green onions. If you have enough, you can eat the bigger ones too, but always make sure to leave plenty in the patch so they keep producing. You don't have to replant them every year like annual leeks. Less work!
Perennial leeks look a bit like grass but have thicker onionlike bases.
Gooseberry bushes have formidable thorns. I probably wouldn't have put one in a small garden. But at least it's not right next to the path. You'd have to go out of your way to pick it. Gooseberries come in several colors of sour berries that are typically used to make jam or pie. Sometimes we get the pie up in Amish territory.
Backlit by the sun, these nasturtiums seem to glow.
A peach tree is surrounded by calendulas. Note that most peaches require a heavy schedule of spraying with agrochemicals from early spring before budding through fall after harvest, if you expect to get anything edible off them. This is not very compatible with advertising a garden as pollinator-friendly, despite the advice to avoid spraying while honeybees are servicing the flowers.
This sign marks a patch of Egyptian walking onions, aka top onions. In spring they have big leaves and send up stalks with gnarly bulbils. When the stalks flop over, the bulbils sprout, and that's how they "walk" over land.
This patch holds Egyptian walking onions. At the moment they have small green leaves. Those pale streaks are leftover stalks. I used to have some of these but haven't seen them in a while, although I do have a smaller wild onion that does much the same thing. Walking onions tend to be hot and spicy, but you can eat the root bulbs or the bulbils (ideal if you like hot things in salad).
This massive patch of seedheads is garlic chives. As they still have some seeds in them, I gathered some to plant with mine for sake of genetic diversity. I want my plants to have a happy hippy sex life. Although the sign claims that the tiny bulbs are not edible, this is an allium and the whole thing can be eaten. I suspect what they mean is "Don't dig up the bulbs because then they won't grow back." I am content with seeds. But if you have garlic chives growing all over at home and you want to eat the bulbs? Go for it!
The sour cherry tree, aka pie cherry, is just starting to turn colors. The fruit does indeed make excellent pies, especially if you don't care for desserts that are overly sweet. You can also make a sour cherry jam that is popular for cheese plates or on turkey sandwiches.
Squirrels have been digging in the mulch of the path.
This sign marks another black currant bush.
The leaves are starting to dry on this black currant bush.
This sign marks a garlic patch.
Garlic leaves look a lot like grass. The rounded ones are strawberries.
This is hardneck garlic, mixed with a lot of wild violets (which are also edible) and a few more strawberries.
This sign marks a sweet cherry tree.
This sweet cherry tree stands near the west end of the food forest.
This hazelnut bush is just turning colors.
Winter savory is a culinary herb.
This is a black currant bush.
This sign marks a patch of Russian comfrey, which grows in multiple places.
The Russian comfrey is that big fluffy green thing on the ground. It has large hairy leaves that stay green most of the year. Deep enough freezing can kill it to ground level, but it just sprouts again. And again. And again. You can slash-and-drop it three or four times in the warm season to make mulch or fertilizer. Comfrey is among the most popular permaculture plants because it has so many uses.
This apple tree is a Golden Delicious. It is among the least impressive varieties, likely planted because people would recognize the name. Apple Rankings cheerfully rates it 33 Horse Food.
This nasturtium is still blooming. Both leaves and flowers are edible with a spicy flavor.
This sign marks a patch of perennial leeks. I love leeks, which taste much like onions but milder and mellower, perfect for delicate recipes where a strong onion would overpower the other ingredients -- or if you just don't like hot onions. Perennial leeks produce little offshoots from the main bulb. These can be removed and replanted or eaten, similar to green onions. If you have enough, you can eat the bigger ones too, but always make sure to leave plenty in the patch so they keep producing. You don't have to replant them every year like annual leeks. Less work!
Perennial leeks look a bit like grass but have thicker onionlike bases.
Gooseberry bushes have formidable thorns. I probably wouldn't have put one in a small garden. But at least it's not right next to the path. You'd have to go out of your way to pick it. Gooseberries come in several colors of sour berries that are typically used to make jam or pie. Sometimes we get the pie up in Amish territory.
Backlit by the sun, these nasturtiums seem to glow.
A peach tree is surrounded by calendulas. Note that most peaches require a heavy schedule of spraying with agrochemicals from early spring before budding through fall after harvest, if you expect to get anything edible off them. This is not very compatible with advertising a garden as pollinator-friendly, despite the advice to avoid spraying while honeybees are servicing the flowers.
This sign marks a patch of Egyptian walking onions, aka top onions. In spring they have big leaves and send up stalks with gnarly bulbils. When the stalks flop over, the bulbils sprout, and that's how they "walk" over land.
This patch holds Egyptian walking onions. At the moment they have small green leaves. Those pale streaks are leftover stalks. I used to have some of these but haven't seen them in a while, although I do have a smaller wild onion that does much the same thing. Walking onions tend to be hot and spicy, but you can eat the root bulbs or the bulbils (ideal if you like hot things in salad).
This massive patch of seedheads is garlic chives. As they still have some seeds in them, I gathered some to plant with mine for sake of genetic diversity. I want my plants to have a happy hippy sex life. Although the sign claims that the tiny bulbs are not edible, this is an allium and the whole thing can be eaten. I suspect what they mean is "Don't dig up the bulbs because then they won't grow back." I am content with seeds. But if you have garlic chives growing all over at home and you want to eat the bulbs? Go for it!
The sour cherry tree, aka pie cherry, is just starting to turn colors. The fruit does indeed make excellent pies, especially if you don't care for desserts that are overly sweet. You can also make a sour cherry jam that is popular for cheese plates or on turkey sandwiches.
Squirrels have been digging in the mulch of the path.
This sign marks another black currant bush.
The leaves are starting to dry on this black currant bush.
This sign marks a garlic patch.
Garlic leaves look a lot like grass. The rounded ones are strawberries.
This is hardneck garlic, mixed with a lot of wild violets (which are also edible) and a few more strawberries.
This sign marks a sweet cherry tree.
This sweet cherry tree stands near the west end of the food forest.
