Title: Edible Forest Gardens – Volume One: Vision and Theory Authors: Dave Jacke with Eric Toensmeier Publisher: Chelsea Green

My Experience:

I am a pretty voracious and quick reader, but it took me several months to work my way through Volume I. The writing style of the authors is very readable, and the content is fascinating and information rich, [...]]]>

Title: Edible Forest Gardens – Volume One: Vision and Theory
Authors: Dave Jacke with Eric Toensmeier
Publisher: Chelsea Green

My Experience:

I am a pretty voracious and quick reader, but it took me several months to work my way through Volume I. The writing style of the authors is very readable, and the content is fascinating and information rich, but as the title indicates it is a book on food forest THEORY, which means diving deeply into ecological theory and forest structure. While reading Volume I, I found myself often distracted by other, more “hands-on” literature, so I would read a few chapters of Volume I and then dive off for a brief affair with another book, only to return to Forest Gardens a few weeks later to take on another chapter. It took me a while to get through it but I am deeply, deeply grateful to the authors for putting together such an incredible resource. I think they wove a good balance between discussing the broader theory on forest dynamics, while zooming in to particular topics, such as vegetation layers, soil, roots, etc. I would highly recommend this book to those that are really serious about designing their landscapes, farms, or acreage as an ecosystem. It is a wealth of information and the authors have done an excellent job of providing the theoretical framework behind edible food forest design. For those of you that have a more casual approach to gardening and landscaping, or for those that just want some practical examples up front, Volume I might be more than you want to take on. I am just starting to delve into Volume II, which puts theory into practice and might be more geared towards folks that just want to read some instructions and dive in. I’ll be sure to report back when I have completed Volume II.

What I enjoyed:

Chapter 5 “Structures of the Underground Economy”: This chapter is by far the best thing I have read about soil, roots, nutrient cycles and fertility. It provides a broad scale view of the whole “underground economy”, yet also packs in an incredible amount of specific information on the different “engines” of the economy (microbes, roots, fungi, etc). It condenses much of the information that I have read over several books, articles, etc into one integrated framework without watering down or excluding vital information. It is truly a remarkable source of information on the world beneath our feet.

Analysis of Existing Food Forests: The authors take three existing food forests (one of which is Robert Hart’s forest garden) and they offer respectful critiques on what is working in the system, and where things could be better. It was nice to have the concrete examples to reference and anchor the theoretical and conceptual information that they were laying out.

Rethinking invasive species. There were two large sidebars devoted to the analysis and discussion of “invasion biology” that broadened my perspective on the contentious issues surrounding invasive species. They criticize the tendency to blame the individual “invader” and instead encourage a deeper analysis of what root causes allowed the “invasion” in the first place (human disruption might be a good first start!).

Everything Else! There is so much information in this book, and even though it gets pretty deep into theory and concepts, it is written at a level that is accessible to your average (but determined) reader.

When I was a kid our family just didn’t do radishes. In fact, we avoided a lot of the mustard family in general, no radishes in salad, no horseradish sauce, no mustard greens. On very rare occasions, wild harvested watercress would venture into a plate or two. But that was about it. Well…things changed [...]]]>

Raphanus sativus

When I was a kid our family just didn’t do radishes. In fact, we avoided a lot of the mustard family in general, no radishes in salad, no horseradish sauce, no mustard greens. On very rare occasions, wild harvested watercress would venture into a plate or two. But that was about it. Well…things changed for me last year. I read how Tobi Hemenway uses daikons to improve soil aeration and I also saw a video about Sepp Holzer in Austria and was inspired by his enthusiasm for the lowly radish. I’m quickly warming up to this spicy little vegetable. It has some great qualities!

Radishes are pretty tough and very easy to grow, I simply sowed a few varieties around the property and many of them germinated and grew through this year’s dry winter without any inputs on my part. A good portion of those abused radishes were really bitter, but in their defense, they grew where many other vegetables would have just given up and died. The best flavor came with those that received consistent water. I’m currently enjoying my late spring batch of French Breakfast radishes. They have a mild heat to them, but it is not overbearing. I also find the red and white contrast of the root to be striking. A great way to add visual interest to a salad.

Radishes germinate and grow extremely fast. Even the large daikon radishes only take 45 days till maturity and varieties like French Breakfast can be ready in three weeks. For the edible landscape, they can be valuable for filling in a space quickly and are great to mix in with slower germinating, slower growing plants. While the slower plants are getting started, the radishes will already be off to the races, putting down shallow roots, shading the soil and providing green filler for bare areas. In the picture below I used the classic radish and carrot combination, which is very effective for providing a constant harvest, yet also keeping leaf cover in an area over a few months. The trick is to keep the area evenly and consistently moist while the seeds are germinating in order to get an even ‘carpet’ of radishes and carrots. For this combination, I will top dress the sown seeds with coconut mulch, when I see the coconut mulch is dry, it is time to give the area another shot of water. While it can be tedious, your initial vigilance will yield a nice visual and edible pay off over the next few months.

citrus grafting demonstration

If you let them, or forget about them, radishes also have small but pretty flowers that grow between 2 and 3 feet tall. I had some Minowase daikons that didn’t set great tubers, and I kind of forgot about them until they burst into flower and continued to flower through the month of March. Radish flowers are edible: the flavor reminds me slightly of kale with floral tones. It is not a very strong flavor, but they are definitely a great garnish for salads or soups!

Another thing I discovered is that young radish seed pods are delicious! I let my Minowase daikons go to seed and found that I actually preferred the taste of the young seed pods to the radish itself. They still had the spiciness of the radish, but with some additional flavors from the seeds and seed pod that I really enjoyed. The seed pods were prolific, and I am kicking myself now for not eating more. Once the pods started to mature, both the flavor and texture suffered. Right now I am letting different varieties of radish go to seed now to see what the seed pods of other varieties taste like. The pods themselves look interesting initially, but for my daikons, as they matured the pods grew heavy and caused the whole stem to droop towards the ground. I’m going to save the seeds and pray that they didn’t do some crazy cross with a wild mustard in the area. Guess we’ll find out next year…should be interesting.

Radishes can have multiple uses throughout their brief growing period. Their flavor is not for everyone, but I think more people should give them a try. Make sure you try a young, garden-fresh radish to be sure you get the full experience. And for those who might be on the fence about radishes, try this simple raw radish herb spread that I whipped up recently. It is really good on toast (prepared like you would garlic bread) or as a last minute addition to a stir fry. I imagine that it would also be a good seasoning for roasted or BBQ beef dishes, but I have yet to test that theory. Anyway, here you go. Enjoy!

Radish Herb Spread – makes about one cup

1 bunch of garlic chives
2 large garlic cloves
5 or 6 medium radishes (I used French Breakfast)
1 or 2 tsp white vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and chop until the vegetables are nicely minced. Let sit for an hour to let the flavors set, then use wherever you might use minced garlic. The oil and vinegar should preserve the ingredients for at least a week if refrigerated.

Lemon thyme is one of my go-to plants in the garden. The variagated variety has beautiful foliage, the smell and flavor of the leaves are wonderful and it tolerates a wide range of growing conditions. In the ideal setting it would prefer well drained soil [...]]]> Lemon Thyme (Thymus citriodorus variegata)

Thymus citriodorus variegata

Lemon thyme is one of my go-to plants in the garden. The variagated variety has beautiful foliage, the smell and flavor of the leaves are wonderful and it tolerates a wide range of growing conditions. In the ideal setting it would prefer well drained soil and full sun. However, the plant pictured above is in a moderate amount of shade (it gets about 2-3 hours of noon sun) and has grown well over the six months since I propogated it from my original plant.

It is drought tolerant, and in my experience lemon thyme tolerates a fair amount of abuse as well. I have moved the original plant after it was established. I have divided it twice. On a couple occasions after accidentally pulling off some woody material, I just treated the accident like a start and stuck it into soil, kept it moist and viola, I had a new thyme plant! Very easy to propagate. The picture below is the original plant. It is looking leggy right now, but that is most likely due to the fact that it is winter and it is still recovering from getting moved in fall. Come spring if I keep it trimmed down (very likely since I use it constantly), it will gain a nice compact, bushy form about 6″ to 8″ high.

Lemon Thyme (Thymus citriodorus variegata) in February after two rough years (still looking pretty good!)

Lemon Thyme (Thymus citriodorus variegata) in February after two rough years (still looking pretty good!)

Ornamental Uses

Lemon thyme has a semi-creeping upright growth habit and will form a low mound as it matures. The young leaves are bright lime green, they then turn to a darker green and ultimately mature (about a year later) into the variegated foliage. It is a beautiful accent plant, useful in borders and is great in a rock garden. If there were a perfect place to put lemon thyme, it would be at the edge of a waist-high rock wall. Its colors would make it pop out against the stone and the leaves just beg to be touched and smelled. You can see in a couple of these pictures, the dark greens and bright yellows are a nice contrast to the bamboo border of one of my beds. It is also a useful companion plant for vegetables, as the oils in thymus spp. discourage some pests and inhibit harmful bacteria and fungi.

Culinary Uses

Anywhere that you use mint, try using lemon thyme either as a substitute or as a complimentary flavor. Also, for dishes that ask for thyme, you might try using lemon thyme instead. It has a very unique flavor and I like throwing a few leaves of it into practically anything because it brings an interesting accent flavor. Best of all though, it is wonderful in herbal teas. I make a  mint, sage, basil, thyme and green tea fusion that is probably one of my favorite drinks ever. As one of the “world’s healthiest foods“, you can’t go wrong!

Lemon Thyme (Thymus citriodorus variegata)

Lemon Thyme (Thymus citriodorus variegata)

For more information on thymes in general you can check out this article . There are many varieties of thyme, each with their own unique characteristics and flavor. It is definitely a plant worth experimenting with.