What are some good edible perennials for dry, sandy soil?

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Permalink Reply by COPE Farms Caretakers Of Planet Earth on January 16, 2008 at 12:41pm

blueberrries are a good choice and in the winter they have beautiful colored foliage.
Elderberries depending on how much room you have they can get kind of leggy but you can also keep them trimmed neatly as well and they still produce well.
Blueberries dont take up alot of room easy to grow and provide lots of antioxidants. Plus at the price of grocery store blueberries its a real treat to walk outside and pick your own.

Also depending on how much room you have vertically you could try Jerusalem Artichokes. They make prety sunflowers and are good for diabetics and others. Its a tuber like a potato and can be fixed as such like mashed potatoes or other ways of cooking. They can get really tall think 4-10 foot tall. So thats why I said if you have room vertically. Somewhere they can go up beside a wall.

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Permalink Reply by Valerianella on January 16, 2008 at 12:54pm

If you are interested in vegetables, there is a number of wild vegetables (also called weeds), however they are still nice to eat.
- stinging nettle
- good king henry
- sow thistle
- dandelion
- yellow dock
- and many more
they are not the most common vegetables, but still very nice and very healthy, and very easy to grow.
From the more common ones, asparagus comes to my mind, but you will have to wait 4 years until you can harvest some.

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Permalink Reply by Plumtreed on April 7, 2008 at 2:20am

I can grow stinging nettle! It seems to be the price you pay to use sheep manure. Where you have sheep manure you have nettle.

I have learned how to make a liquid 'fertiliser' using nettle much in the same way that you can use comfrey. In fact I now just mix them together.

I guess you cook it like...spinach???:-(

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Permalink Reply by Pam on April 7, 2008 at 9:42am

Hi, those look interesting. Do you have any more information as to how to grow or eat them?

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Permalink Reply by Plumtreed on April 7, 2008 at 5:07pm

They are weeds that seem to just grow! Our sheep rest in the shade of the gum trees and, as you would expect, leave much of their 'droppings' in the same area. We use these deposits as fertiliser but this also includes seeds from grasses, weeds and all those things found in the paddocks. They then grow in the veggie patch as well as under the trees.

Don't have any idea how to cook Nettle but we make a 'tea' of them in a tin and use that as a fertiliser on the plants. Works especially well on green leafed vegetables, lettuce, cabbage etc.

Plumtreed,Oz

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Permalink Reply by lizshropshire on January 30, 2008 at 6:15am

As well as Jerusalem Artichokes the tall perennial Artichokes that produce the spiny flowers are great and very decorative, the foliage is silver/green with large deep cut leaves (very similar to cardoons, which where once eaten to relieve liver problems). Grown all over the med they are suitable for you soil type.
Liz

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Permalink Reply by malisa on April 4, 2008 at 10:00pm

My mom used to grow Jerusalem Artichokes. If they're what I'm thinking of, you eat the tubers and the flowers look (small) sunflower-ish. I've wanted to grow them but have never found a source for them. I'd love to grow them, any help would be appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Larry on April 9, 2008 at 3:19pm

I'm getting mine from Gurrnies, I'll see if I can remember to let you know how they do, they come as dormant tobers.

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Permalink Reply by Sharon on May 19, 2008 at 9:01pm

We grow two types of jeruselum artichokes and sell them on www.localharvest.org . We got the original starts over 30 years ago from Nichols herbs in Oregon. We also sell nettle seed and plants . Young nettle can be steamed with Lambs quarters and spinach for tasty nourishing spring greens or made into a soup or quiche . Burdock and rhubarb chard and celery and leeks might also be a good choice for that small space :)Sharon

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Permalink Reply by zic on April 10, 2008 at 3:13pm

During the hot summer, shade is perfect for lettuce, which will bolt in sun. (I know, it's not perenniel.)

Artichokes will work, but they may not survive winter.

And dry, sandy soil turns in to lush, rich soil when you add lots of composted organic matter.

I've seen a number of recommendations here for Jerusuleum Artichokes -- where I live in Maine, they grow best next to brooks where they keep their feet wet. I'd suggest checking the Johnny's Selected Seeds website on that before I purchased any. They ship the tubors (which need to be planted immediately,) in the fall.

Another poster suggested blueberries, but you say you've got hollies there already. Both like acid soil, so that might work. And it would also suggest strawberries, if you get sunlight before trees leaf out and the shade's not cuased by buildings.

Don't be afraid to try herbs in those beds, thyme oregano, etc. will grow in some shade.

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