Food Forest Garden in Late Summer
Tromboncino squash!
It’s the star of the garden this year! I let it vine onto our partially dried apple tree and now we have to climb up into ladders to gather the squashes!
Compared to zucchini, tromboncino is much more strong: it’s immune to vine borers,it rapidly thickens its stem so no slugs or snails can chew it! ( in the beginning I wrapped it with tin foil just in case).
It needs regular watering.But it doesn’t wilt right away when not watered.It behaves more like a pumpkin for sure.
Cushaw Squash
I planted many types of squash and pumpkins this year and one of them is cushaw. It’s drought and heat tolerant.
We also eat the leaves!
Crossed Patty Pan squash
The year I collected the seeds of patty pan squash, it must have crossed with a zucchini and this is the result! I like it and the taste is good too!
Okra
This one got out of hand! They grow very quickly,it’s best to pick them when they’re quite small.
But I’ll save this one’s seeds!
Pigeon Pea (cajanus cajan) or Gandules
A perennial bean plant that is quite popular in India and South America. It’s my first year growing it.I think I’ll save seeds this year and have some little taste of the beans.
In syntropic systems it’s used as a nitrogen fixing biomass plant.Next year I’m planning to plant more throughout the garden.
Aztec Grain Amaranth
This is a giant amaranth that can grow over 2 meters! It’s so much fun to look at it.It’s gorgeous!
It’s a grain plant but I’ve been nibbling its leaves too now and then. Once past the seedling stage, it’s an easy plant to grow and takes up only vertical space (altough some of them,including this one, laid down during a rainstorm). It provides some shade and protection to other plants around.
I tried to use one as a bean trellis but they didn’t get along much.The beans grew much too quickly!
Mexican Sunflower (tithonia rotundifolia)
A beautiful flower!
It takes about 2 months for it to grow and flower. It’s not as drought tolerant as I thought. It needs regular watering.
I’m planning to grow more of it next year, it’s makes me happy to look at it!
It’s not edible, but butterflies like the flower and birds like the seeds. It’s also used as a biomass plant,but it’s not a vigorous and self caring plant in my climate.
Willow Leaf Lima Bean
I never grew lima beans before. But I heard this one was drought and heat tolerant, so I gave it a try! I didn’t water them for a long time and they grew perfectly well. But I noticed that it started to fruit only after days were shorter.
Red asparagus cowpea
Also called Chinese red noodle bean, is a tough,sun and heat loving yardlong cowpea. At first it didn’t grow much, but once the weather really warmed up, it quickly flowered and beans showed up! The beans elongate each day very fast.If you forget to pick one,it becomes a giant!
At least its color makes it easy to spot it!
It’s tasty and handy in stir fries!
