I would say learn to work with the plants that can survive in your climate, don't spend too much energy trying to keep the coolest, rarest plants happy. They tend to fade away with time and lack of effort, while another less ideal species in terms of usage may take on a life of its own without too much care if it's happy in your climate. Natives are best.
Some love cacti and I have a number of them now, but honestly I'm not as impressed with them in my wet and cold climate. Syrian rue has impressed me, as has passionflower.
Drying/canning food like tomatoes when there's more than you can handle in the middle of the summer might seem like a chore, but it's really really nice to have tasty odds and ends once when the season ends.
Also it's worth starting a couple really fancy tomato varieties early on since they can get huge. Also focusing on cool rare food plants is highly valuable, I have recently learned about hopniss vine (Apios americana), wild North American beans (Phaseolus polystachios), I don't have the climate for them but Tepary beans (Phaseolus acutifolius).
Desmanthus illinoensis is a very promising species to me, both as food and medicine. Seeds of all sorts are full of protein and fat and very valuable in the diet.
Sunchokes (Helianthus tuberosus) have been prolific for me, and as I understand have about as much calories as potatoes, but survive winters outside here.
Author
Topic: Ooh La La (Read 5789 times)
