Are you growing anything "unconventional" for the

Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » 06 Mar 2009, 19:47

By which I mean things you won't usually find in the supermarket.

I'll soon be planting:

Walnuts (Juglans regia)
Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia)
Crab Apples (Malus sylvestris) - may have to be grafted onto acid-tolerant rootstock
Yew (Taxus bacata)
Hazel (Corylus avellana)
Hawthorn (Crateagus monogyna)
Field Maple (Acer campestre)
Blackberries (Rubus fruticosus)
Wild Strawberries (Fragaria vesca)
Guelder rose (Viburnum opulus)
Dog Rose (Rosa canina)
Raspberry (Rubus idaeus)
Elder

All of which have edible components for both wildlife and humans

Much of these will be planted on sunny edges between existing sweet chestnut trees, the hazel will probably be planted in one patch of a couple of acres. Should look lovely in a few years.

Is anybody else planning on unusual foodstuff ?

fifthcolumn · Post by **fifthcolumn** » 06 Mar 2009, 19:55

Not doing it this year but I *attempted* to grow some mushrooms two planting seasons back. I thought it would make a great protein source and also make a really good "guerrilla gardening" tactic for the local forest.

But they didn't take, neither in the back garden nor in the nearby forest.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 06 Mar 2009, 20:08

*sigh*...I wish Chateau Renewable had room for a Walnut tree. Or a sweet chestnut, for that matter.

I think the most unusual things we're growing are blueberries and a quince.

Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » 06 Mar 2009, 20:08

fifthcolumn wrote:Not doing it this year but I *attempted* to grow some mushrooms two planting seasons back. I thought it would make a great protein source and also make a really good "guerrilla gardening" tactic for the local forest.

But they didn't take, neither in the back garden nor in the nearby forest.

It can take a while for the fungi to spread through the log. Ben Law recommends putting the spored plugs in the log then leaving for a year before "shocking" them into fruiting by soaking the logs in a pond for a day or two.

Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » 06 Mar 2009, 20:13

RenewableCandy wrote:*sigh*...I wish Chateau Renewable had room for a Walnut tree. Or a sweet chestnut, for that matter.

I think the most unusual things we're growing are blueberries and a quince.

You need a lot of room for sweet chestnut:

hardworkinghippy · Post by **hardworkinghippy** » 06 Mar 2009, 21:00

Not that much.

An acre would give you a good crop for eating and making into flour or pickling or dying sweaters.

Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » 06 Mar 2009, 21:04

hardworkinghippy wrote:Not that much.

An acre would give you a good crop for eating and making into flour or pickling or dying sweaters.

I have 17 acres of chestnut, part of which I'm putting onto short coppice rotation so that I can grow the other trees / bushes listed.

There's only so many chestnuts you can eat

hardworkinghippy · Post by **hardworkinghippy** » 06 Mar 2009, 21:08

...yes but if you have pigs, goats...you can eat them all year round and you can get milk, yarn, land cleared up...

If you have the space and some people don't.

Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » 06 Mar 2009, 21:12

hardworkinghippy wrote:...yes but if you have pigs, goats...you can eat them all year round and you can get milk, yarn, land cleared up...

If you have the space.

Do you keep them in chestnut woods ? I know that pigs fed on chestnut are considered a delicacy but I hadn't heard of goats feeding there.

Can goats eat holly too ?

I get shed loads of squirrels and rabbits, and the occasional deer, but goats would be great.

I'll ride out the crash on a wave of goat curry

Erik · Post by **Erik** » 06 Mar 2009, 21:23

RenewableCandy wrote:*sigh*...I wish Chateau Renewable had room for a Walnut tree. Or a sweet chestnut, for that matter.

I think the most unusual things we're growing are blueberries and a quince.

We have a quince tree growing out of a large pot at "Castillo Erik" and which is flowering spectacularly at the moment. OK, not such an unusual thing to be growing in Spain I suppose...

hardworkinghippy · Post by **hardworkinghippy** » 06 Mar 2009, 21:42

Quinces are lovely! They make a great jelly dipped in chocolate - wonderful !

Catweazle we feed the goats everywhere on the land at different seasons.

This is our land, the dark bits are wood and the square bits are cereal. The mess at the top right is the house.

There's a stream running through the middle.

None of the animals eat Holly except when it's very soft at the ends in Spring. We're careful about what we let them eat. If we want to protect a little woodland with new growth, flowers in seed or whatever, we shut it off. In a soggy winter they don't go down to the stream. Of course, everyone's banned from the woods in the Cep and Chanterelle season.

We get a good selection of game too.

fifthcolumn · Post by **fifthcolumn** » 06 Mar 2009, 21:43

hardworkinghippy wrote:Not that much.

An acre would give you a good crop for eating and making into flour or pickling or dying sweaters.

Wow is that a genuine hair shirt?

hardworkinghippy · Post by **hardworkinghippy** » 06 Mar 2009, 21:46

It's that look on his face eh?

eatyourveg · Post by **eatyourveg** » 06 Mar 2009, 22:13

Seven from your list, not planted, growing of their own accord, plus now gathering birch sap for birch wine.

Janco2 · Post by **Janco2** » 06 Mar 2009, 23:14

All but one on your list plus as many more as I can find and that I can fit in!