Unusual crops

[meadow]

Always up for a challenge but not for that. NO ONE that I know will eat a purple or black tomato. Try something else.

Then they're missing out! I had my first black tomato last year -- Black Cherry -- and was surprised to find that it actually has notes of black cherries! I thought it was just a clever name for a cherry tomato. Oh my, it was delicious! Doesn't produce much, and takes a long time in our climate, but it is worth it for that flavor!

 

[Zeedman]

Love parsnips fried. Boiled, mashed by themselves, fairly plain. Biggest problem is getting a stand....

That was the problem I had too. And then thought that I didn't like them anyway, because I tried to eat them like carrots. A good stew vegetable though... and maybe I'll have to try them fried. This time, I'll try to find a good way to eat them before I grow some.

 

[R2elk]

Then they're missing out! I had my first black tomato last year -- Black Cherry -- and was surprised to find that it actually has notes of black cherries! I thought it was just a clever name for a cherry tomato. Oh my, it was delicious! Doesn't produce much, and takes a long time in our climate, but it is worth it for that flavor!

If you plant the right Black Cherry they are prolific. The Black Cherry I got from Fedco was much, much better than the one from Burpee's.

They hide very well in the foliage and can be difficult to find when they are ripe.

 

[baymule]

I’ve grown the Black Cherry tomatoes, they are delicious. Favorite tomato is Cherokee Purple. @seedcorn you don’t know what you are missing!

 

[seedcorn]

We eat with our eyes first. They look yucky! (Is that a word?). So I will live with not knowing......

@Zeedman I nuke them to get them soft, then brown (literally) in butter & eat. They are good in stews as they add a sweet flavor.

@baymule pick something else, we can have a contest in memory of

 

[ducks4you]

I planted them, they didn't come up. THAT'S How I know they were dead.

 

[ducks4you]

Keep Talking!!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Okay.
Let me think. I have tried

Chickpeas-not a great success. They grew, but I have sort of the same problem with them I have with regular peas; since the temperature her goes from "Too Cold" to "Blazingly Hot" rather rapidly, crops that like cool weather (like chickpeas) tend not to have a very long season to work with. Add onto this that generally, the only ones that really thrive are the kala types (grinding chickpeas) and you need a lot of those (and a lot of space to grow them) to make them worthwhile (a bit like trying to grow grain here, I suppose. I can do it, but don't have the space to grow it on a scale where I would have enough seed at the end to DO anything with. I once worked out that, if I dug up the whole yard and planted it with wheat, and it all grew optimally, I'd have enough to make one small loaf of bread a year.)

Jalatomato- Did this once. Got one plant, flowers, no fruits (you evidently need at least two to cross pollinate)

Grass Peas - Same issue as the chickpeas. I still grow them, but mostly for the pretty flowers (which mean that I am also selecting for versions that are less good to eat and more poisonous, since those generally have more colorful flowers.)

Fiber plants (Egyptian river hemp, Sunn hemp, Kenaf etc.) - Have grown all of these as part of my "find an odd seed in something, plant it and see what comes up.". All grew okay, but since all are rather day length sensitive and flower late, getting seed from them is usually impossible (Except for the Kenaf, I was able to carry that inside and it produced over the winter in a pot.). Plus the space problem again, and I wouldn't know how to get the fiber out of them anyway.

 

[heirloomgal]

I’ve grown the Black Cherry tomatoes, they are delicious. Favorite tomato is Cherokee Purple. @seedcorn you don’t know what you are missing!

I love that tomato too @baymule . Mortgage Lifters maybe instead?

 

[heirloomgal]

@Pulsegleaner , How do you KNOW that the tomato seeds died? Did you toss them? I didn't have the patience BUT I sprouted tomato seeds from my GF that were 35yo.
If you Haven't thrown them away, make a terrarium, like out of a cleaned out milk jug, put it where you won't forget it, like the top of the fridge, and check 2x/week to see any progress. I let My seedlings dry out but 7/~15 seeds Did sprout.

There is something to this - I've planted tomato seeds and they sat there doing nothing for a month. I recycled the starting mix for some peppers, and 2 months later the tomatoes sprouted under the pepper pants. Took 90 days, but they sprouted.