Most people think of Bermuda grass as “the tough grass.” But it’s not just that, it can beone of the most invasive weeds in the world, which may have something to do with its other name “devil grass”.
So here’s the scoop, for those of you are aware of it’s aggressiveness through personal experience, you can continue to hand pull it out of your garden forever, (or you can ignore it’s incessant creep into your garden beds and tree wells, and just give up altogether as many gardeners are consigned to do), or you can sacrifice a season of planting to permanently eradicate it and never have to deal with it again!
In the 20+ years that I have been in the landscaping industry and over the course of the last decade of consulting only one person has taken me seriously enough to get rid of it before installing anything (including contractors who knew better). The rest were impatient, planted too soon, and continue to deal with it to this day. Maybe I am not convincing enough, which is one reason I am attempting to spread the word through this post. Get the stuff out now!
What is Bermuda Grass?
“Never make a plan without knowing as much as you can of the enemy. Never be afraid to change your plans when you receive new information. Never believe you know everything and never wait to know everything.” ~Robert Jordan~
“The most efficient way to lose a fight is to act without knowing your enemy.” ~Frank Matobo~
Before attacking your enemy, it is imperative to know them. Bermuda grass, contrary to what may seem obvious, doesn’t hail from the island of Bermuda, but from South Africa. Why is this important information?
The climate in South Africa is similar to the sunny low deserts of Arizona, except for a couple of things. First, the average temperatures don’t dip quite as low as they do here in the winter, and second, the majority of the continent of Africa has basically one rainy season, and the rest of the year it is very dry.
As a result Bermuda grass loves sun, and has adapted to be very drought tolerant, surviving 9 months or more (up to several years) without water by forcing itself into dormancy when growing conditions are not suitable. When growing conditions are suitable (lots of sun and water) it grows very fast, actively storing sugars and nutrients in it’s rhizomes.
Bermuda does have a virtue. It is a bio-accumulator plant. Minerals and nutrients mined by it’s root system are brought to the surface and sloughed off as the plant sheds old material or dies. These nutrients will become available for your new plantings once you remove the active rhizomes of the grass.
Although many of us have made some efforts to eradicate it (like removing surface soil, or chemically spraying it), we are often tempted to think that our Bermuda problem has been resolved, but in reality, it is just… “sleeping” only to roar to life with some sun, heat, and water.
Such a grass was a perfect breeding stock for the agricultural industry, which has developed many different varieties over the years since its first debut into the landscaping scene. Before getting rid of it it may be helpful to know what kind you have and what it’s strengths and weaknesses are.
Seed-type v.s. Tiff-type Bermuda grass
Bermuda grass, for the purpose of our discussion of removal, can be organized into two main types. Seed-type, and tiff-type. One is grown by seed and the other is a seedless hybrid that is propagated only by “stolons” or pieces of the plant. Because this type rarely produces viable seed, this type is purchased primarily as sod.
I like to refer to seed-types as “common” Bermuda, and tiff-types as “hybrid.” Common varieties are much harder to get rid of than hybrid varieties, but both are generally not welcome in gardens and tree wells. And frankly, I don’t even recommend them for lawns, myself. We can go into detail on what we do recommend for “lawns” in another post.
Seed-type or Common Bermuda
Common Bermuda varieties are usually very vigorous and often have roots that “mine” for nutrients and water up to many feet deep. If your grass is a seed type, congratulations, your Bermuda is going to be a lot harder to get rid of (but even MORE worth it!).
Pasture Bermuda is a type of common Bermuda grass that was bred to create large amounts of biomass to feed grazing animals. Unfortunately for those who are trying to remove this one, the depth of the rhizomes mirror the achievable height of the grass (4-6 feet tall/deep), and the feeder roots go much deeper.
You know you have some variety of common Bermuda grass if the un-mowed grass forms seed heads in the summer that resemble 2-3 inch wide inside-out umbrella ribs. Yes, those are seed heads and represent this plant’s ability to propagate and spread long into futurity.
The Ag industry realized at some point the terrible potential of this grass so many hybrid varieties have been developed that are much less aggressive and can make a decent summer lawn.
Tiff type or Hybrid Bermuda
Hybrid varieties are seedless. You can find this type at many garden supply stores in the warm weather. It is the sod we are all so familiar with. Breeders were able to cultivate characteristics into the grass that were desirable for a drought tolerant, manicured tiff-type turf. It is also “softer” because the leaf blades grow closer together and the grass doesn’t grow as tall. Thus, it also does not possess as deep of a root system, nor is as hardy to drought and other environmental factors.
Sod varieties of Bermuda are the ONLY types I have ever recommend to people who insist on a traditional summer lawn. It never goes to seed, and can be easier to manicure, maintain, and control. Because once you pick your grass, its quite a commitment.
Unfortunately, common Bermuda seed is much cheaper to buy than sod varieties, and is sold as “summer grass” seed as opposed to “winter grass” seed in many nurseries and garden centers.
I personally prefer to take all Bermuda out, plant winter grass and other “lawns” earlier, and let it go later. This way I can enjoy a softer green during the cool season, and rarely have to mow the lawn in 115 degree weather!
Some of you may say “Why have a lawn at all?” Well, I am not just growing food, I am growing kids too, and they grow well on lawns.
Regardless of your motives, removing Bermuda can be a challenge.
How to get rid of Bermuda for good
There are several ways to get rid of Bermuda grass that work depending upon your specific area and application. I recommend taking an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach, which considers attacking the problem from many different angles, working from least toxic to most toxic as necessary.
First, and most thoroughly, you can remove it through good old fashioned digging and sifting out rhizomes. This is generally my recommended method. This is how gardeners get buff!
Second, mulching often comes up online as a recommended method of removal by organic means, but be warned, from experience this only works for hybrid varieties with shallow root systems, and generally only after tilling the roots up or in conjunction with other eradication methods.
Third, solarization is the suffocation and “cooking” of Bermuda grass during the hottest months of the year. Again, this will kill only the rhizomes in the top few inches of soil and will leave that soil largely sterile, as most microbes will also perish in the process.
The last method, and ironically the most common, is using chemicals. While I may recommend the use of chemicals in some applications, I urge caution and education. Chemicals, are rarely sufficient on their own, and if they are entirely successful, you may be left with residual doses in your soil.
Also bear in mind that some varieties may have developed a genetic resistance to some chemicals, making complete eradication by this method not achievable. For more information on this subject we will be discussing the use of herbicides in another post.
In smaller garden and areas intended for the planting of trees I recommend digging and sifting first, then you may consider mulching or spraying whatever you missed. If you are thorough, you may not have to spray at all.
Digging tips
When digging, you first need to know what you are looking for. The rhizomes are not too difficult to identify. They are thick, usually white or pale yellow and have joints. They generally grow in a horizontal direction unless they have been disturbed. These are the only ones you absolutely must remove. Any joint left in the soil has the potential to resurface with a vengeance. If the soil moisture is consistent then the rhizomes are generally tough enough to be able to dig out in identifiable chunks, making the process not too complicated. If the soil is too dry, the rhizomes will be extra brittle.
The feeder roots however, are thin and wiry, and head downward from the joints. These are not a concern and will not re-grow. That said, as I have been teaching my kids, “when in doubt, dig it out!”
1. WATER FIRST
Making sure that your patch to be removed has had moisture a few days in advance does a few things. First, and most importantly, its easier digging in softer soil. Second, the rhizomes will have sucked up some moisture and be more pliable and easier to follow without breaking off. Dry rhizomes are brittle and make removal in nice sized chunks more difficult. Don’t dig in mud though or you may damage your soil structure. Prepare a day or two in advance with a long-slow soak and then a partial dry-out period.
2. USE A SIFTER
If you find yourself questioning your life’s priorities and purpose as you tear up your backyard in an effort to eradicate a little weed, you may consider making it a little easier on yourself by acquiring or making a sifter. Mounting a screen onto a table-like frame that can be placed above the work area or a wheelbarrow may save your back. The best I have found is a wire mesh or expanded sheet metal with 1/2″ diameter holes. Just shovel the dirt onto that, shake with your hands, shovel, or trowel and it will catch most of the roots and rocks, just keep a sharp eye out for the occasional joint that slips through.
3. DON’T BRAKE IT OFF, FOLLOW IT
When digging out deeper rhizomes, try to not break pieces off. Instead, follow them down until you find the end. Follow it like you are carefully tracking the source of a disease! If you break it off prematurely and fail to get it all, it will send a vertical rhizome from the deeper area to the surface making the new rhizome thinner and harder to trace in the future.
4. WORK FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER, BE METHODICAL
Work from one end to the other. As you dig, place each clump of dirt that needs gone through in a “clean” spot and immediately go through it, this way you don’t loose your place and you are left with a pile of Bermuda free dirt!
5. DON’T LEAVE ANY BEHIND, BE THOROUGH
You have got to be thorough. Any joint left in the ground after your first attempt at removal has the potential to resurface and take over if left unchecked. Don’t leave any behind. From experience, such a rhizome can travel 15 feet or more before resurfacing in just a couple of months.
6. DON’T GIVE UP!
You are going to want to give up. Battling Bermuda is hard work if you are going to eliminate it. Just remember what you are working for… A BERMUDA FREE YARD! I promise it’s worth it! You will never have to stress about Bermuda grass again if you force yourself to get it out now.
Mulching
As I said before, mulching may work in certain situations with hybrid Bermuda varieties, but it will require tilling/fine cultivation first to break up the grass’s ability to store and transport sugars to the foliage.
Bermuda needs sun. Think photosynthesis- the plant converts sunlight to sugars. If the grass is continually buried in a coarse mulch each time green pokes through, it will substantially weaken it, but blocking sun alone, will likely just force it into dormancy.
Bermuda is a grass. Grasses need a constant supply of nitrogen during their active growing season. In order for microbes to break down carbon, nitrogen is used up. Deep mulching (1-3 feet of woodchips or straw) will not only block out sunlight, but the grass will also have a hard time competing for nitrogen in such a carbon-rich environment (think of the process of making compost). Therefore, this method, if done right, should not be applied where fruit trees are already existing- they also need nitrogen to survive and will struggle along with your Bermuda grass.
From my experience, this method works best in tandem with the other methods.
Solarization
Have you ever heard of a solar oven? Using sunlight to “cook” Bermuda grass also works.
Solarization is the process of placing thick, clear greenhouse plastic over a large patch of bermuda for several months, sealing the edges with dirt and rocks. Thus, probably not an option in a front yard with an HOA because its not very pretty.
Bermuda begins actively growing when the night-time temperatures are consistently in the mid-sixties. For us in Phoenix metropolitan Arizona, this is usually early to mid-April.
Bermuda begins storing sugars for winter beginning in mid-August through about mid-October. Placing your lawn in a solar oven from mid-April to mid-August or September and then tilling it up does some substantial damage. Just be prepared to work on the remaining rhizomes that do emerge thereafter.
While solarization is considered an “organic” method, what will kill one organism will also hurt others. The cooking process leaves 3-4 inches of soil microbially “dead”. This takes quite a bit of time and organic resources to restore, though something that us gardeners are usually not afraid of.
The other downsides of solarization include an often-incomplete kill, (which is why this strategy works best in conjunction with others) and an ugly plastic sheet in your yard all summer that is sun-damaged itself by August and will need thrown away.
Using Chemicals
If you are attacking pasture, or some other aggressive form of Bermuda grass and have chosen to take the chemical route, this is what I recommend:
1. USE GLYPHOSATE
Despite all the litigation surrounding it right now, glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is the only chemical I recommend. There are many herbicides that are much more toxic, and way more resistant to breaking down in your soil than glyphosate. To hopefully answer all your questions and concerns we will be doing another post on chemicals in the near future. To put it briefly for now, glyphosate is minimally toxic in comparison to other herbicides and breaks down in your soil.
2. WAIT UNTIL THE WEATHER IS RIGHT
The best time to spray is in the summer during its active growing season. The most effective kill will be from August through September, but don’t wait all summer to get on it, by then it will have taken over.
Don’t spray before rain. The chemical is only absorbed through the foliage of the plant, not the roots. If you spray and then it rains, you will have wasted your chemical and time. The chemical needs a minimum of 3 hours, preferably 24 hours prior to getting wet.
Spray in the early morning hours. The majority of the chemical is absorbed through the pores of the plant called the “stomata”. These pores will be much more open in the early morning hours and in the late evening hours.
3. WATER, BUT DON’T MOW FIRST
Because the chemical is absorbed only through the foliage and is inert at the root zone, it is much more effective to spray grass that is high and green- there will be more foliage to take the chemical in. Let it grow a little tall before spraying.
Watering the grass will stimulate the stomata to open up. Give it a little water a day or two before you spray, but don’t water after or you’ll be washing off the chemical.
3. DON’T STOP UNTIL IT’S DEAD
One application of chemical will rarely suffice. You will likely have to be on top of it the whole summer to be sure it’s completely dead. A good rule is to water, then spray, wait till it is all dry and dead, mow off the dead, water, then spray again in a week or two.
If you spray once and forget, the grass will go dormant and seem dead but may come back more resilient to glyphosate the next season. Bermuda allowed to go to seed after a spray application will produce some offspring that will be glyphosate resistant.
Is all this REALLY worth it?
Bermuda can teach us lessons. As you spend time digging out Bermuda, you will find out much about yourself. You will discover your true ability to push forward through obstacles to create what you envision. You may also learn lessons. Resilience. Preparation. Adaptation. Hard work. Gratitude (there are worse weeds out there). Accomplishment.
I learned these lessons at 17 years old when I spent the summer tackling my first real Bermuda removal project. I envisioned a beautiful entertainment area from what was then a yard overrun with Bermuda grass and weeds. A hot summer with a pick and shovel taught me much. The task was monumental, but it became spiritual.
We had a friend a few years back who made a commendable effort to remove their Bermuda grass, but then decided that they had to get their potted trees in the ground before the heat of summer. They determined to just dig it out where they wanted trees now, cover the rest with wood chips and work on it piece-meal from there.
Not surprisingly they are still dealing with it. It has now taken over their tree wells, garden beds, and is coming up through the bottom of their pots. What a pain!
I have another friend who took me very seriously. As a university professor with a young family he was a very busy man, but he was determined. He built a sifter. He set up a tent. He worked his tail off all summer and within two years he had a thriving garden of beets, watermelons, onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers. He was picking apples, apricots, bananas, blackberries, grapes, figs, mulberries, papayas, plums, and pomegranates… in a Bermuda-FREE yard in just two years.
We have done the same thing and received the same results. Bermuda grass is a PAIN. Do yourself a favor and do the work from the start. I PROMISE you will be glad you did. If you have Bermuda grass, dig it all out. Period.
I get it. No one really wants to spend all of that effort, which is why few have done it. I’m starting all over in a new yard, and believe me, I am fighting off the urge to start sticking trees in the ground and planting garden beds. But the Bermuda has to come out first. We will plant our paradise, but only AFTER we dig out the grass. Until we accomplish task number one we just have to be patient and work hard.
We can do this. For questions and encouragement, use the comment section below.
I am a typical stay-at-home mom. My husband works. I stay home with four obnoxious littles, running the older ones to and from school, cleaning up stinky messes etc.
Jason is an ex-landscaper. He went to school to escape digging trenches. He knows just about everything there is to know about growing things and designing a landscape. He also spent almost all of his free time for years studying edible plants and building healthy soil.
We have a dream. Our yard is a blank slate. We want to turn it into an edible paradise.
The thing is…
We didn’t always have a yard. For the past nearly 8 years, Jason was going to school while we raised our 4 kids in a small apartment. For a very long time we were apartment dwellers, a very loooong time! Jason was in school for what felt like forever!
Now for the first time, we have our own dirt. I can’t even begin to tell you how much we have dreamed of this day! I almost snuck a basil plant in one of the outdoor apartment planters that had been vacant for a while, but then they took the planter out!
Have you ever heard of “Guerilla Gardening?” Its where people go out to a public landscaped area, pull out the landscape plants and put in food producing plants! We were soooooo close to doing it. But instead, we mostly turned to foraging.
Foraging While Apartment Living
When we lived in the apartment, foraging was our thing. Nearby in common areas we found Moringa (that some other guerilla gardener had planted), grapefruit, oranges, lemons, and pecans in parkways, but we dreamed of the day we could have a yard of our own to grow a garden and some fruit trees.
NOW we finally we have some dirt to grow in! Jason can identify any plant that can grow here, so we began teaching our kids what was edible and what was not. I can’t believe how many toxic plants are in the average landscape!
It feels amazing to be able to go out and pick some ‘Oro Blanco’ grapefruit for breakfast, or to pick a lemon for that recipe, but we want to be able to grow our own fruit.
Jason’s Experience
Jason has gardened from the time he was young. He grew up doing landscape installations and maintenance with his dad, later worked for a nursery, then for an irrigation parts distributor. He supported our family through college while working as an independent gardening consultant.
During all this time he endlessly researched plants and soil. As a family we love gardening and foraging, and have utilized friends and family’s dirt since we have had none of our own.
Here in Arizona growing things in the often harsh climate can be a challenge but it has its perks, like a year-round growing season, and sub-tropical climate. So we have taken advantage of it to grow bananas, guavas, mangoes, strawberries, apples, pears, ground cherries, and lots of things you can’t buy at a supermarket.
Most of the planting and research was conducted on the site of Jason’s parents’ home and their neighbors, which are now each developing their own thriving paradise of edibles.
Starting From Scratch
But now it is finally time to test this in a yard from scratch. So this is our journey as we transform our new yard into an edible paradise.
How long does this take? What are the phases? Is it possible for anyone to have a gorgeous edible landscape in just a few years, and with low cost?
Here is a look at what we are up to this week:
Our Vision
We would love to grow an abundance of produce for our family in a beautiful backyard paradise. A beautiful yard that will produce good healthy food and be a great place to enjoy with family and friends. I’m excited to see where this journey takes us!
The Phases of Our Landscape Plan
Big projects like this are best done in phases. We have broken our plan down into 5 phases. Right now we are (obviously) on Phase one. Here’s what our basic plan is:
Phase 1: Remove undesirable plants and hardscaping, like oleander, bermuda grass, and the footer of a less-than-functional brick border.
Phase 2: Hardscaping and irrigation preparation. This is where we will be installing irrigation sleeves, putting in a new patio, building a new planter, and setting the grade for our new irrigation manifold boxes.
Phase 3: Installing walkways, and preparing the soil around borders.
Phase 4: Installing the sprinkler system and drip system (yes, we will have some lawn!).
Phase 5: Plant! Install trees, shrubs, and plant a garden! Then incorporate soil amendments (to be discussed later), spread compost and wood chip mulch over all exposed soil surfaces.
So basically we are removing undesirable plants and hardscaping. Preparing for a new hardscape installation and new irrigation system. Installing the hardscaping and irrigation. Building the soil. And finally planting plants! The last part is beautification: Wood chip mulch, groundcovers and maintenance.
When all is said and done, we will be able to enjoy harvesting daily from our own beautiful paradise.
That is the plan anyway. Feel free to join us on the journey. What are your yard dreams? feel free to share, we would love to hear about it!
Sweet potatoes have been around for centuries. Domesticated sweet potatoes were present in Central and South America more than 5000 years ago. People obviously liked them and shared the bounty with others because now they are found all over the world including the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia. The first Europeans to taste sweet potato were some of the members of Columbus’s expedition when they landed in Haiti in 1492. Now, most of the world can enjoy this sweet tasty versatile food in their kitchen, and garden.
We first discovered the joys of growing sweet potato plants a year after we got married. Marin had just returned to Arizona from New York missing the greenery and ivy that grew wild there. The hottest part of an Arizona summer was just beginning, and not a season of weather we generally look forward to.
That May we plunked a leftover piece of a purple sweet potato in the ground. We put it right under the eves of the house not far from where the A/C unit left a constant condensation drip. Most plants this time of year wilt no matter how much water you give them and seem as if they will turn to dust if you touch them. But for this sweet potato, in the miserable summer heat, oh joy of joys! It thrived and quickly became a lush groundcover reminiscent of the ivy Marin so fondly remembered in New York! It took off and filled that entire border area so well that we had to trim it back drastically every time we mowed the lawn!
We have learned much about growing and using sweet potatoes since then and now we highly recommend this incredible plant for anyone who is growing an edible landscape! Not only are the tubers tasty and colorful and the greenery beautiful, but it is a two-for-one crop. Sweet potato leaves taste great too!
Sweet potato or Yam?
This topic usually needs some clarification. The many different types of “Sweet potatoes” and “yams” found in markets in the continental United States are generally the same species, Ipomoea batatas. “Batatas” is the name that the native people in Haiti called them when Columbus arrived. The Spanish later changed the name to Patatas, and then when introduced to the common potato, they also called that patatas. Now we call them sweet potatoes because they resemble a potato, but the Ipomoea was there first!
Here’s where the names “sweet potato” and “yam” gets confusing. The tubers that we eat may be classified by their two different characteristics of texture when cooked. These two distinctions are those that become moist-and-sweet when cooked, and those that remain somewhat dry and flaky (resulting in different ideal uses in the kitchen). Some varieties are able to convert more starch to sugar during cooking and will be more moist and sweet. These are often marketed as “yams” while the varieties that are comparatively drier and starchier are usually differentiated as “sweet potatoes”. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always apply and they may be marketed with interchangeable classification. Generally, the drier ones are not as readily available to home gardeners and are less common in markets due to less popularity, giving rise to markets using the appellations “yams” and “sweet potatoes” more fluidly.
To complicate matters, “true yams” of the genus Dioscorea are often sold in international markets in bins right next to bins full of Ipomoea sweet potatoes and yams. Sometimes they go by the name “yams” and other times they go by “ñame”, the common name of yams in many Latin American countries. Another species of Dioscorea is called “yamaimo”, or “Chinese yam”, one of the varieties of Dioscorea from China or Japan. Occasionally there are other Dioscorea species available as well, but as true yams are a very interesting topic, we will save that discussion for another post. True yams are generally not as sweet as Ipomoea cultivars, which is why the differentiation “yam” can be so very frustrating. Note: while the leaves of sweet potatoes are edible and delicious (as will be discussed later), the leaves of most Dioscorea species are toxic, and even fewer of the tubers are safe to eat raw.
Choose it:
Relatives
In addition to the sweet potatoes that we are familiar with, the genus Ipomoea also contains several perennial wild types and relatives globally. Upon inspection, you will see that they all bear the signature flower of the common garden morning glory and moonflower, which are members of the genus though generally not considered edible without extensive preparation. In North America, there are a few that can get quite large (known colloquially as “manroot”) and are supposedly best when the roots are carrot size. One such is Ipomoea pandurata known by some indigenous American peoples as “mecha-meck”, and another is I. leptophylla. I. aquatica, also known as “kang kong” or “water spinach”, is invasive, and in some places illegal, aquatic species grown in Asian communities for its delicious greens. There are many other edible and medicinal species of Ipomoea around the world including I. mauritiana, I. costata, I. simplex, and others. Identification and methods for processing Ipomoea vary according to species and we will not go into detail here.
Ipomoea batatas, our common tetraploid sweet potato, only exists as we know it in cultivation. While not particularly cold hardy, in theory, it could potentially be crossed with some of its cold-tolerant wild relatives such as I. pandurata. Worldwide there are somewhere between 6500-7000 different varieties of the familiar domesticated sweet potatoes, with new ones coming out all the time. In the United States, there are roughly 100 popular ones. Here are some of the more common sweet potatoes that we have grown.
Notable Cultivars:
‘All Purple’ (120 Days to harvest); Dark purple flesh with purple skin. Hardier than most. A fast and strong Grower (deep and long brittle roots may need containing). Roots are dry and starchy, slightly sweet, and store well. Best tubers are grown from slips. Will become fibrous and inedible if left in the ground too long.
‘Beauregard’ (90 days to harvest); Orange flesh with red-orange skin. Vigorous vines. The early-maturing variety produces high yields.
‘Centennial’ (100 days to harvest); Orange flesh with copper skin. Fine-grained. Early. Semi-bush vines produce tapered roots. A commercial standard in U.S. High yields and a good keeper. Performs well in clay soils.
‘Georgia Jet’ (90 days to harvest); Deep orange flesh with red skin. Moist. Very fast-growing semi-bush type.Early producer.
‘Ginseng’ (120 Days to harvest); Orange flesh with pale orange skin. Vigorous semi-bush vines. Prolific producer. Dry, but sweet. Distinctively lobed “trident” shaped leaves.
‘Hernandez’ (120 days to harvest); Orange flesh with light red skin. Reddish-purple-stemmed. High yields from vigorous vines may produce some “football-sized” tubers in each bunch. Mid-season. Very sweet and moist when cooked. Great baking potato.
‘Jewel’ (100 days to harvest); Orange flesh with copper skin. Moist. Vigorous semi-bush vines produce uniform roots that are good keepers. Mid-season.
‘Red Japanese’ (95 days); White flesh, with red skin. Dry but sweet. Popular in Asian markets. Vines of average vigor are disease resistant. Heavy producer (if watered well). Midseason. Cultivars we want to try:
‘Okinawa Purple’ Deep purple flesh with light beige skin. Slow vines. Very late.
‘Okinawan’ Purple flesh with pale purple skin. Slow vines. Very late.
‘O’Henry’ (100 days); White flesh with white skin. Sweet and creamy. Short busy vines. Early producer. Heirloom.
‘Porto Rico Bush’ (110 days); Copper skin covers sweet, moist, Deep orange flesh with copper skin. Moist. Compact bushy vines.
‘Vardaman’ (110 days); Deep red-orange flesh with yellow skin. Bush variety with burgundy-bronze new foliage. Midseason.
‘White Hayman’ (100 Days); White flesh with cream skin. The flesh is starchy and sweet and turns more yellow when cooked. A good substitute for “Irish Potatoes,” but with a sweeter flavor. Vigorous vines produce large uniform roots. Midseason. Heirloom.
New foliage of ‘Red Japanese’ sweet potato vine
Sweet potatoes come in many different foliage colors and textures. All ornamental varieties that can be purchased from your local garden center will have edible and nutritious leaves, which is why they are perfect for an edible landscape! (though very few will produce a tuber and even fewer that do will prove palatable). We often see the purple leaves next to the chartreuse green leaves that make a perfect pop. All are edible, but some are sold for their glamorous foliage, others for their tasty roots, and still others are cultivated specifically for their tender, flavorful greens.
Plant it:
Soil Preparation
One of the most important things to consider when planting sweet potatoes is that they require a loose and “roomy” soil 8-12” deep to grow good tubers. Fail to provide this, and other aspects of planting and soil preparation will matter little, as your tubers will be no bigger, and of no more culinary value, than a doorstop.
Propagation Methods
The most common method of propagation is by “slips”. Slips are vegetative shoots that come from the tuber itself. These can be obtained by rooting a tuber, or a piece of the tuber, in a jar of water using toothpicks to suspend it partially submerged in the water. Keep the water fresh. The new shoots that result within a few weeks in a sunny windowsill or under a grow light can then be removed, and themselves rooted in water. Good slips will have sturdy, thick stems, be 6 to 9 inches long, and have at least 5 leaves. One medium-sized sweet potato should yield about 12-20 good slips.
Within a few days of placing slips in water, they will have inch long roots and will be ready to plant. These will have the highest likelihood of forming beautiful spuds. In areas with a long growing season, such as ours, you can also remove shoots from an actively growing plant and root them in water for transplant, though some sources say that the resulting tubers may be more fibrous- I have not noticed. Whichever method you choose, lay the sprigs sideways an inch or two under the surface 18” apart and top with compost and organic mulch.
I have also simply placed a sweet potato in a brown paper bag on the back porch in late April until it sprouted and then planted it. Tubers still result and it’s less effort!
Planting Season
The best time of year to plant sweet potatoes in our area is March to June, usually whenever you would also be planting okra. They both love that heat!
Grow it:
Microclimates
Sweet potatoes are a tropical vegetable and appreciate the long, hot, humid summers. When it’s too hot for me and most of my garden, sweet potatoes thrive. The ideal location for growing thriving sweet potatoes is a position in the all-day open sun, though they can grow (with smaller tubers) in locations that receive a partial day’s shade. While sweet potatoes do not prefer reflected heat, most varieties can take it, as long as they have sufficient water.
Companion Planting
We have found in our own gardening experience that they make good companion plants for our banana trees, as they have the ability to shade the soil and improve fertility in the surrounding bed. They would also work well as a companion plant for ginger, canna lily, lemongrass, garlic chives and any other complimentary strap-like foliage that can hold up to the groundcover’s desire to “cover” its companions.
Landscape Uses
Sweet potatoes make a marvelous summer ground cover to shield, protect, and nourish the soil. They look great covering a sloping mound, or greenery butting up against a lawn or a walk. Every container for effective curb appeal must have 3 features: a “thriller” in the center to catch the eye and provide a focal point, a “filler” to buffer the base and provide additional color, and a “spiller” to give the pot a skirt of foliage; a wall of greenery. In a sunny spot or hanging over a wall, sweet potatoes fill this function with stunning excellence. You may even be graced with some of the gorgeous morning-glory flowers late in the season.
As part of their effectiveness as a cover crop, they have also been found to have an allelopathic relationship against certain weed species. Of particular mention is their skill at making the soil environment less suitable for yellow nutsedge, an annoying perennial weed in warm weather climates that is very difficult to eradicate in cultivated and uncultivated areas alike.
Because sweet potatoes are a water and nutrient storage organ for the plant, they form as the long days wane and require regular watering for sizeable tubers. The plant is, however, fairly drought tolerant and will survive periods with little moisture, though the tubers may be of poorer quality. Sweet potatoes will produce the best tubers if they are watered regularly, starting with daily dosages the first week after planting and slowly weaning back the quantity throughout the season, while still maintaining consistency. Make sure that the watering is deep during hot, dry periods for best tubers. However, if plants receive too much water late in the season many varieties will crack and attract pests such as earwigs and woodlice, which will cause further damage to your tuber crop. The resulting tubers look more like garden goblins than those smooth sweet potatoes that you buy in the store. The trick is to find that balance.
Feeding
While fertilization during the active growing season is not generally necessary because of its nature as a biodynamic nutrient accumulator, it is essential to start with a soil that has good tilth and have some level of organics and phosphorous. For extra vigorous plants, you may consider an occasional application of compost tea or liquid organic fertilizer as a foliar feed after the plants have been in the ground for a month or so. Be conservative, as too much nitrogen will result in excessive growth that will be a prime target for pests such as flea beetles, aphids, caterpillars, and crickets. While this largely doesn’t affect your tubers, if you are also planning to make meals out of the leafy vegetable part, this may present a problem. In short, feeding is helpful, but not too much!
Maintenance
Pruning should be moderate. If you find that the plant is escaping its bed and traversing areas you would rather it not, simply pick up the vines and throw them back into the bed. By evening the leaves will likely reorient and you may not even be able to tell what you did.
Mulching
We have found that a 2-3” layer of wood chips works wonders as a surface mulch for this plant. The chips keep the moisture in and evenly distributed while simultaneously providing a slow feeding as they break down. It is valuable to have a buffer layer of compost under the wood-chips to ensure that the plants are not starved of nitrogen. The added bonus is that the tubers form near the top of the soil just under the chips. Simply reach down under the mulch and pull up a tater for lunch (although it won’t have been cured yet)! This is an ideal way to maintain the aesthetics of the groundcover in the landscape and still get a harvest. The other advantage of this is that it prevents the vines from rooting in as they go across the ground. Instead of getting a million tiny tubers, the energy is spent on the tubers you will be harvesting.
Harvest it:
When to Harvest
Sweet potatoes take about three to four months to reach maturity. Know your variety- If you let them go too long they may start to get tough or invite pests, but they are usually ok to leave until the first light fall frost. You can begin harvesting them as soon as they are big enough for a meal. Usually, sweet potatoes are ready to harvest when the leaves and ends of the vines begin to yellow. Some of the late-season varieties are best harvested after the first frost has turned the leaves black. If you are harvesting late, dig them out and leave them to sit on the ground with the dirt on them for another couple of cold nights to improve the flavor. This practice will depend upon the variety.
How to Harvest
Start by cutting the vines back to a six-inch shrub. This allows you room to work and a landmark for your digging. Most varieties will be found 4-6 inches deep in the soil with some vigorous varieties (like the ‘All Purple’) found deeper. If the tubers were grown in a raised bed or hilled they may be easier to dig out. Use a spading fork or broadfork to avoid the common mistake of slicing through tubers with a shovel. Loosen the dirt in a wide berth around the crown of the plant providing room around the roots so you don’t damage your crop. You may want to carefully lift the plant and use your hands to dig up the tubers, as they bruise easily. After digging up the tubers, shake off any excess dirt, but do not wash the roots.
The leaves are best in the early and mid-season but may be picked all summer long until the frost gets them in the late fall. Do not harvest too much, however, or you will be doing so at the expense of good tubers.
Processing/Curing
Sweet potatoes need to be cured to develop maximum sweetness. Essentially this thickens the skin and heals over scratches that occurred during harvest. To begin that process a neighbor friend of mine recommends leaving the sweet potatoes out on the porch for the night after harvesting in cool weather, dirt and all. She said that’s what made them the sweetest!
Initially, they should be kept in a warm place but not too hot- about 75-85°F, ideally with a humidity of about 80-90% for 1-3 weeks. Warmer than that and they will sprout; too moist and they will spoil; drier than that and the skin won’t toughen up enough. Do not wash them however, as any residual moisture on the roots can cause them to spoil faster. Maintain good air circulation to prevent spoilage during curing. Placed in paper bags on the back porch in the shade with a wet towel on them works, placed one layer in a plastic grocery bag with holes on a sunny windowsill works, or in a storage tub on a rack with some water in the bottom works. Whatever your method, you have options. In the warm south where fall is still very warm (like here in Arizona) a garage or a shady garden shed works well for the location to cure them.
If you live in a more humid part of the United States an outdoor location in the shade works because the latter part of the summer usually includes humid weather. Some people pack them in crates of clean damp sand, but it is better if they have air circulation and are not touching. For this reason, you may opt to leave them in a single layer and use a small fan to improve the air circulation to prevent spoilage.
Storing
After curing, sort sweet potatoes and discard those that are bruised, sprouting or molding. You can then place them in the sand or wrap the tubers in a breathable newspaper and pack them in a box or basket for long term storage in a root cellar, basement, pantry, or garage. The ideal location for long-term storage would maintain a temperature range of 55°-60°F and 60% humidity for a minimum of 6 weeks. Storing in this way will improve the keeping quality and flavor yet more. If the storage location falls below 55 degrees for too long the centers of the potatoes may develop hard, white spots, but If it remains too warm, 60 degrees or higher, the potatoes may soften and shrivel and start to sprout. Stored properly, the tubers should last for up to 6 months.
Some people recommend putting an apple in each box of sweet potato tubers to prevent them from sprouting. This is probably because an apple releases ethylene gas as it continues to age. The gas acts as a growth suppression and fruiting hormone. Personally, I think that I would rather not find a rotten apple in my sweet potatoes a few months down the road, especially since The ripening enzymes found in the sweet potatoes themselves can accelerate the ripening process of other fruits and vegetables.
Without going through the effort for long-term storage you can keep sweet potatoes in a cool room for a few weeks in root form and a little longer in the fridge. For long-term cold storage (up to a year) they really should be diced or sliced, then cooked, or cooked then mashed before vacuum sealing and freezing. Adding some lemon juice to them will help maintain the vibrant color. We have found that slicing, roasting and freezing them works great for long term storage and convenient for later use.
The leaves work well frozen if you plan to use them within six months. For safety reasons we recommend blanching the leaves and then straining quickly and dropping them in ice water, then pat dry prior to freezing or dehydrating them. For leaves taken from our own yard we usually just rinse them and throw them in a freezer bag or use them directly.
Use it:
Tuber versatility
Sweet potatoes can be used in curries, chutneys, casseroles, desserts, roasted, sauteed, boiled, baked, or cooked in a crockpot with other vegetables. They often make a superior substitute to pumpkin in dishes as well. Their uses are nearly endless. The drier, starchier varieties are sometimes used as a potato substitute, while the moist varieties don’t make good potato substitutes, but rather lend their own unique virtues to the culinary experience.
One of the best traditional uses is of course baked. The tubers should be washed clean, poked with a fork several times, then coated in olive oil and placed on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400°F for 40-60 minutes. Do not wrap in foil so that the sugars can caramelize. When they are done they will be soft when you squeeze them. Watch out it’s hot! Or you can cook them in the microwave on high for 4-6 minutes. They will be soft once cooled.
Eat your Greens!
Aside from the sweetest and tender root that is so familiar on our Thanksgiving plate, the leaves have a variety of uses in the kitchen as well. The leaves are great for stir fries, green smoothies, salads, and casseroles. One amazing quality is that the leaves hold flavor better than any green I have come across. If you season them well and saute in the flavor, they can be put into any dish such as quinoa or rice as a savory spinach substitute. One of our favorite recipes using the leaves is Savory Garlic Chicken Bake on a thick bed of sweet potato greens. While they do not disintegrate when cooking like spinach does, they cook down a lot and it is easy to use a whole bag full in one dish.
‘Red Japanese’ sweet potato vine
Feel it:
The Tubers
These naturally fat-free vegetables are rich in protein, fiber, sugars, and carbohydrates, but are lower in calories, and have a lower glycemic load than traditional Irish potatoes. The vegetable as a whole has a strong anti-inflammatory effect, whereas yams and Irish potatoes are moderately inflammatory.
An average sized cooked tuber without salt contains 37% of the recommended daily value of Vitamin C, along with Vitamin K, and B Vitamins Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Niacin (B3), Pyridoxine (B6), and Folate (B9). This dish also provides 438% of the recommended daily value of Vitamin A, which comes in the form of carotene. Carotene, once quickly converted into Vitamin A, has powerful free-radical fighting properties. Additionally, it is rich in other antioxidants, anthocyanins, chlorogenic acid, coumarins, and other nutrients.
Let’s not forget the minerals! It contains approximately 28% of the recommended daily value of Manganese, as well as high concentrations of absorbable Calcium, Iron, Potassium, Phosphorous, Magnesium, and Copper.
The Leaves
We love our summer greens! Part of our beloved morning routine includes going out in the morning to forage greens from our landscape, including sweet potato leaves, for our morning green smoothie. This tradition is largely to take daily advantage of the nutritional supplement provided by the greens that we are using.
Sweet potato leaves have many of the same nutrients as the tubers and are a great source of vegetable protein, Calcium, and Iron, and are highly anti-inflammatory. They are a very good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and B Vitamins Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Niacin (B3), Pyridoxine (B6), and Folate (B9). As a green leafy vegetable, they are also high in Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Manganese. Vitamins A, E, D, and K are fat-soluble minerals essential for building strong bones, cartilage, teeth, and hair.
Sweet potato leaves contain a small amount of oxalic acid, which adds to the pleasant flavor, but not enough to harm and therefore may be used raw as well as cooked. The leaves are also a great source of dietary fiber and very beneficial for maintaining the digestive tract, as evidenced by the slightly mucilaginous texture. There is also strong evidence that many nutrients in the leaves are anti-mutagenic, therefore showing potential as a wholesome anti-cancer food.
Final Thoughts
The sweet potato plant is one of the best options for a great edible landscape, not to mention one of the easiest groundcovers to grow! We hope this information leads you to a bounteous harvest in your progress to paradise!
How are your sweet potatoes growing? Any ideas, suggestions, or recipes that have worked for you? Please comment to share!
It’s midway through our hot desert summer here in Arizona. This year (2018) seems to have been especially dry and hot. Despite the lack of moisture and oppressive heat, there are some plants and trees that don’t seem to mind the long wait for late summer monsoon rain. Among those is the ever-ubiquitous mesquite tree. This tree has an extensive root system that travels great distances and depths following the slightest amount of moisture.
This being said, most of the roots are shallow and when overwatered the top outgrows the roots and the evidence is found throughout the valley after a monsoon storm in toppled trees that had taken advantage of a regimen of overwatering that resulted in excessive top growth and minimal root support. Many of the trees that experience this are large enough that it is impossible to straighten them and they are merely trimmed up and left to continue growing their crooked ways. Though this gnarliness is admired by many, it often represents a scar of excessive moisture.
History
A hundred years ago during the dawn of modern-day settlers to the low desert valleys, there were once dense mesquite forests known as “bosques”. These bosques occurred anywhere where there was moisture found in the soil (and expanded their region as agricultural ditches, flooding, and cattle ranching spread the ideal range of the trees. The mesquite forests formed an extensive network of fibrous roots that resisted erosion, nourished the soil, and protected each other from toppling in winds. As groundwater was depleted by continual pumping and surface water was continually diverted from rivers the riparian areas that once extended as much as three miles from the Gila, Salt, and Verde rivers began to dry up and vanish, and so did many of the original bosques with their twisted black trunks, shady umbrella of branches, and abundant wildlife.
Tree of Life
The native mesquite tree varieties have long been valued as an ethnobotanical gem by ancient peoples who used every part of the tree. The wood of course, for cooking and construction, the thorns for needlework, the bark for fiber, the sap as an adhesive, emulsifier, and cosmetic, the leaves for mulch, the pods for a high protein flour, and the flowers provide excellent bee forage for some of the most prized honey on earth. Shallow-rooted and heat-sensitive crops may be planted below the canopy, benefitting from filtered light, leaf compost, and abundant nutrients. The lightweight and airy canopy allows heat to dissipate at night and the stomata on the leaves open up allowing evapotranspiration to continue through the night, thereby cooling the ambient environment. The ancient peoples of the Southwestern desert understood and appreciated the mesquite tree for all that it provided them for their survival and so it earned the title “Tree of Life”.
The Pods
Among all of the valuable offerings of the mesquite tree, our focus today is on its sweet pods, which will be the emphasis of the remainder of this post. I have long been aware that mesquite pods produce a nutritious flour and have even had some recipes made from such, but not all mesquite species produce valuable pods. Many species, particularly the non-native and ubiquitous Chilean Mesquite (Prosopis chilensis) and its hybrids, do not produce particularly edible pods; some producing very few or none whatsoever. Unfortunately, to complicate matters, mesquite species will often naturally hybridize, thus tainting seedlings of the more desirable species such as Honey Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), Velvet Mesquite (Prosopis velutina), and Screwbean Mesquite (Prosopis pubescens) with undesirable genetics.
The pods of each are unique. The pods of the honey mesquite are usually straight or slightly curved, plump, and often show off purple markings making them especially attractive. They express sweet honey-lemon overtones in flavor and result in a very pleasant flour. Screwbean mesquite is known to provide excellent dry flour without too much fuss, and velvet mesquite provides its own unique sweetness.
It is best when harvesting pods that you select trees by actually sampling the pods of different individual trees (and even at different seasons), as there is definite genetic variation among members of the same species. Get tasting and find your favorite tree!
Despite having a knowledge of the mesquite trees many virtues, I was still personally resistant to turning to mesquite as a food source for many years. My idea of a beautiful and abundant landscape has a reluctant allowance for thorns, tough food pods, and a lot of processing. My experiences with mesquite flour in recipes are mixed, and decidedly only tasty once combined with regular wheat flour and lots of sugar.
The other drawback of mesquite trees in the landscape is the mess. Amid the hot dry air and crispy plants in the middle of the summer, our landscapes here in the desert are often made less attractive by the sheer quantity of debris that is shed by plants trying to conserve moisture. To add to the copious quantities of leaf litter (that is made even more abundant during monsoon winds) we have an overabundance of mesquite pods dropping from nearly every single (unhybridized) mesquite tree. For most people, this is truly an annoyance and they feel a general sense of dread just thinking about braving the desert heat in June or July to go out and clean up the mess.
I was one of those people who told myself that I would never have one of those annoying, messy desert trees in my landscape. But this summer I have had a paradigm shift that began with a determination to help my sister’s family with summer yard work. Every June I again ponder upon the best way to deal with the mess of pods under the mature honey mesquite tree in her front yard. If I put them in the compost they inevitably sprout little thorny trees in the garden. I also can’t stand the thought of putting a high carbon natural product in the landfill, and would love to see this resource put to good use- I don’t have any goats.
Harvesting
This year I decided that with a little extra effort added to the cleanup of the pods, I would give mesquite flour a try. Since then I have come to find out that in the dry heat of June is usually the very BEST time to harvest them. Before I tell you what I did with them I want to make it clear that timing your harvest is important. The ancient timing of mesquite harvests was always conducted prior to the arrival of the summer monsoon thunderstorms, which usually begin sometime in July. In June the pods drop and are usually plenty dry for milling, but ensuring the dryness of the pods is only one concern. While it is much easier to mill very dry mesquite pods because green ones tend to gum up your equipment there are also other things to consider.
Because there is an increasing interest in returning to the culturally significant practice of milling mesquite flour there is also an increasing concern surrounding an invisible fungus that takes up residence in the pods once the rains arrive. The fungus is known as Aspergillus flavilus and can lead to the formation of aflatoxins in the seedpod. Based on tests that have been conducted to identify the presence of dangerous levels of aflatoxins, it is fairly easy to avoid aflatoxin exposure by simply ensuring that the pods have never come in contact with moisture. Those pods that do have a very high likelihood of being contaminated. They may be harvested dry and ripe directly from the tree itself or from the ground if you know the area is clean and has remained free from moisture during the development and drop of the pods. One method is to lay down a sheet to collect the pods as they drop. This practice is usually necessary over the extended period of time that the pods are falling from the tree.
Processing
PREPARING THE PODS BY HEATING OR FREEZING
The processing of the pods turned out to be WAY easier than I had expected. But don’t get ahead of yourself. You will see, as you collect your pods, that there are likely many holes in them. These are exit holes of the harmless bruchid beetle. That doesn’t guarantee the presence of any additional beetles or larvae inside your pods, but more likely than not, they are there. That is why the next step is to either deep freeze the pods in your freezer for a day or two, or heat the pods. It is pretty easy to simply place the pods in an enclosed bucket and store the bucket in your car for a few days. A hot day in June or July in Arizona in a car usually does the trick. Inevitably, there are usually some escapees though, and if your container isn’t well-sealed you may have a large influx of small pesky-though-harmless beetles flying around. Fortunately for those of you that are feeling queasy about adding this kind of protein to your diet, don’t worry, the instructions below should ensure no bug protein (or very little!) in your recipes.
MILLING THE PODS WITH A VITAMIX
First I tried our hand mill, which worked well, but just took a lot of time (though not as much as the ancient practice of stone milling!), and then we tried the Vitamix blender. Just a note: If you do not want to pit your blender or food processor, just start blending slowly and work up to your settled on speed. If you follow the instructions below for glass and hard plastic blender pitchers you likely will not experience problems with pitting, but I do not guarantee anything. Once the pods are ground, just put the flour through a sifter and voila! You have beautiful mesquite flour, ready to use. To ensure long-term freshness, store the flour in your freezer.
For obvious reasons, utilizing our Vitamix blender turned out to be so much faster than the hand grinder. Two large handfuls of pods seemed to be about right. Any more than that and it was too much for the blender to mill evenly. I found from experience that at full speed the seeds will pit the blender, and blend a larger quantity of the fibrous tough seed husk and seed into the flour, imparting a coarser texture and more musky and bitter flavor. Ultimately, what we found works the best was to start the Vitamix at its lowest setting and work up incrementally (blending about 10 seconds at each setting) until you get to level 5.
What is great about using this method is that you have little risk of pitting your blender pitcher, and you end up with only the finest flour, leaving the husk and seed intact with the chaff (and the bruchid beetles!) winnowed out early on in the process. Dump the contents of the blender into a bowl repeating the process until it is full, then it is time to sift.
MILLING THE PODS WITH A HAND-CRANK MILL
For the preppers among us, a hand crank mill has a particular attraction and can be pretty handy, though a little more labor-intensive. Use the same setting you would use to make your cracked wheat hot cereal. It is best to break the pods into two-inch pieces or less prior to loading them into the hopper. You will find that as the sticky, tough chaff begins to bind the grinding wheels it may be necessary to reverse the crank to loosen the binding. Do this as repeatedly as necessary throughout this process.
I found that when I used the hand crank mill for mesquite pods often the tough seed husks flatten with the seed still inside and the flour is still ground fine enough for use after sifting. It is the seed and inner husk, after all, that imparts the slightly bitter muskiness characteristic of mesquite. It is this muskiness that tends to be a stronger and more unpleasant acquired taste. The flour without the husk and seed is quite pleasant to most.
SIFTING THE CHAFF FROM THE FLOUR
Using a regular can flour sifter would probably work the fastest to separate the flour from the chaff, but since we didn’t have one we just used a small kitchen sieve instead. Ideally, your flour sifter would have a mesh size suitable for baking flour (The can sifter that we mistakenly purchased online had a mesh size that turned out to be roughly suitable for cornmeal- not really what we were going for). Sift the blended mixture and dump the remaining chaff into a separate container and the resulting flour is sweet, nutty, and gluten-free!
The sifting process for either milling method will essentially be the same using a blender or food processor.
If you want a healthy fiber-rich protein meal, take the chaff and sift it through a colander after you have completed the initial sifting process (that left the largest material- the seed husks behind). Then put the fines back into the blender a second time. This can be run through the sifter or sieve one last time to obtain the fiber-rich protein meal.
Nutritional Value
Mesquite is well known as a superfood with great nutrition, some of which are fiber, protein, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, and zinc. Many recipes have you cook the mesquite flour, however, we have recently learned that mesquite is easier to digest raw than cooked (and the flavor is milder). We will be adding it to our breakfast green smoothies!
If you liked this post be sure to subscribe! Have you ever milled mesquite or have any recipes for us to try? Feel free to respond in the comments section below!
Happy Homesteading!
RECIPES
Mesquite Pancakes:
Marin found a basic recipe online for mesquite pancakes, and the kids loved it! You can also use it as you would cornmeal, it has a similar (though softer) texture, but as is the case with many types of non-grain flours, mesquite flour benefits from the gluten in wheat flour to help it stick together.
Keep in mind that mesquite is already super sweet and does not need much-added sugar in recipes. For the pancake recipe, she used half mesquite and half flour. Be aware that mesquite flour has a high natural sugar content, so these hotcakes tend to burn easily!
Mesquite Syrup:
What to do with the leftover chaff? Before you discard all that chaff, be adventurous! According to some sources, with a little purified water and patience boiling, it can be processed into a sweet syrup! We are going to try this next. Stay tuned for more mesquite adventures!
Update: We tried the mesquite syrup! But not with the chaff… All we did was put 1 pound of the whole pods in a crockpot with 1 gallon of water and steeped it overnight on high (lid on). In the morning we just took the lid off and let it sit on low for a day or more until the consistency was syrup. For this process, we did not add any sugar, but we added a bit of stevia and vanilla to make it tastier. Definitely a very “mesquitey” acquired taste. We will be trying some new recipes to see what works best.
We came across this beauty by mistake mislabeled at a local plant sale. It is no wonder that this plant is well known among flower gardeners. Jewels of Opar, known as “Fame Flower,” “Waterleaf”, “South American Ginseng,” and “Pink Baby’s Breath” is a purslane relative native to the Caribbean and southern portions of the United States. It’s sprays of tiny pink flowers that become ruby orange seed capsules can be a great addition to your edible landscape!
A bit of History…
Jewels of Opar has been used for centuries! Its seeds were collected by indigenous peoples (can be compared to flax seed). In the Chinese medicinal practice known as Tu-ren-shen it has been used to tone digestion, moisten the lungs, and promote breast milk. Here’s some trivia, soldiers in WWII ate the leaves as food!
Description
Jewels of Opar displays beautiful sprays of tiny pink flowers that bloom in the afternoon. As the season progresses these give way to ruby orange seed capsules that hover over lush green plants! Don’t be fooled by its daintiness! This is a tough little heat tolerant perennial that can grow in just about any soil. When cool weather greens such as lettuce begin to get bitter at the end of the season, jewels of opar stays tender and sweet with mild flavor and a hint of lemon. Thisgreen is an energy packed succulent that thrives in our hot summers, and comes back for several years.
This is one of our favorite Summer-greens because that’s when we’re craving cool foods like salads, sandwiches, and smoothies, to which this plant lends itself well. This crunchy succulent is excellent for picking and eating right off the plant and tastes great as a lettuce or spinach substitute!
Nutritional value
This power packed succulent green is crammed with healthy goodness! Jewels of Opar is a great source of omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and is rich in iron & potassium. In fact, it contains such high levels of iron that scientists studying it developed the mantra, “a leaf a day keeps anemia away.” It has antifungal and antibacterial properties as well. In fact it is so amazing that I had to make a list of all the things it has been used for.
As an effective herb for treating lung diseases and ulcers
Enhances vitality
Used topically to treat edema, skin inflammation, cuts, and scrapes.
The juice soothes sore muscles and acts as a muscle toner
In China the roots are cultivated as a ginseng substitute
Used to treat diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, and pneumonia
Induces lactation, works as reproductive tonic and restores uterine functions postpartum
Used in Indonesia for liver and kidney problems
Treats diarrhea
It should be noted, these greens are great in moderate quantities. If consumed in large amounts may cause vomiting and shortness of breath in some people. Even so, we had a small handful in our green smoothie every morning for months during Marin’s pregnancy with amazing results.
TAKE NOTE: Because this plant is so effective at extracting minerals from the soil, it has been used in phytoremediation sites in soils that are contaminated with nitrates and metals. It will absorb toxic metals, from the soil, so don’t grow it in a contaminated area.
Cultivation
Jewels of Opar readily self sows in gardens, and you can collect the seeds yourself to plant where you desire. As an edible landscape plant it looks beautiful as a border flower. From June until frost they send out panicle after panicle without deadheading even as the older ones mature. We have found that it grows very well direct sown or from cuttings in direct sun or partial shade. They need plenty of water initially since they are a succulent, but may tolerate drought once established. They look beautiful in a flower bed as you start to see the delicate stalks pop up. Tolerant of poor soils and heat.
Design
Jewels of Opar makes a gorgeous delicate filler flower for borders and containers. having several packed into one space is beautiful when sprays of delicate pink flowers start to bloom. Jewels of Opar provides features of interest throughout most of the year.
In sunny spots, it looks good paired with perennial border plants such as society garlic, garlic chives, Thai basil, penny royal and oregano. For afternoon shade settings, pair with flowers such as nasturtiums, pansies, violets and strawberries.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Jewels of Opar tastes great as a snack right off the plant, but we especially enjoy it in salads and green smoothies! In fact, this is one of our sneaky ways to get our kids eating greens. They love picking and eating the leaves!
Without a doubt, Jewels of Opar wins. Absolutely one of our favorites. I like to think of it as a nice pick me up in the quiet peaceful morning when I’m out enjoying our edible paradise.
If you have any question or comments please share!
