Ulluco: 500

This has been another exciting year on the ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus) front.  Last year, I was able to collect almost 100 ulluco seeds, which is a rather rare event.  The last published work in English that reported production of ulluco seed was in the early 1990s, although there are some publications in Spanish that at […]

Mashua: How to hand pollinate

In the northern hemisphere, outside of the tropics, where day length exceeds about 13 hours, we’re just entering the part of the year when mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum) flowers.  Some varieties are starting now, while others won’t begin until after the autumn equinox (September 23).  Most commonly, mashua self pollinates, because it begins to shed viable […]

Ulluco: Ulluco Seed 2: This Time It’s Boring!

Sequels are almost always disappointing and the followup to last year’s ulluco seed discovery is no exception.  I had hoped by now to be able to report germination of some of the seeds that I collected last year, but I can’t do so conclusively.  I think that a couple of seeds have germinated and then […]

Sea kale: What’s that sticking out of your thong?

Sea kale has a rather remarkable ability to re-sprout from its roots.  One of the popular ways of propagating sea kale relies on this tendency.  Sea kale root cuttings, or “thongs” as they are commonly described, provide a fast-growing clone of the parent plant without all the fuss of starting from seed. Until recently, I […]

Oca: Mini tubers from 2013 seedlings

A side note to start with: Northwest Edible Life invited me to do an introduction to Andean root vegetables, which has gone up today: http://www.nwedible.com/2014/03/andean-root-vegetables.html I’m really pleased with how it turned out.  Northwest Edible Life is a great blog and definitely worth checking out if you’re reading here. —– This will be just a […]