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Post by binnylou on Jun 14, 2018 14:13:44 GMT -5
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Post by tom π on Jun 14, 2018 15:06:23 GMT -5
Smilax (rotundifolia) grows in my yard as well. I am afflicted with Smilax bona-nox. Here is a comment from a fellow sufferer: "I have read many comments about this plant, and have come to the conclusion, the only way to kill it, is dig it up. I started that, but these are growing in the middle of my azaleas. They are been in the ground, about 50 years, and these vines have taken them over. So, it appears my solution will be, cut the azaleas back, and cover the roots with black plastic, let the sun kill the azaleas, then dig the roots up with a track hoe, then replant after I have gone through all the dirt for any remnant of this plant. If anyone has found a different solution, to take them from the middle of my bushes, I have an open ear!!!!"
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Post by gardendmpls on Jun 14, 2018 20:06:37 GMT -5
"In addition to its medicinal potential, Smilax can be made into numerous recipes. The young shoots are excellent eaten raw or as you would asparagus. Berries are delicious raw or cooked into a jam or jelly. Roots can be ground and dried and used like flour. The roots can also be used like any root vegetable β boiled, stewed, or roasted. Roots were also ground and used in Sarsaparilla or as an addition to flavor root beer. Additionally, they were also used to thicken soups, sauces and stews. Young leaves can be eaten both raw and cooked like spinach. This beneficial plant has a host of health benefits, being high in vitamins and starch as well as several important minerals. "
The above is from an article by Bonnie L. Grant, Certified Urban Agriculturist. She mentions it is also called greenbriar, and they used its roots to make the pipes also known as briars. In my plant experience, I would presume that if you start to eat it, or open a pipe manufacturing business, it will decide to disappear.
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Post by tom π on Jun 14, 2018 21:14:24 GMT -5
The above is from an article by Bonnie L. Grant Bonnie is welcome to come and graze in my yard. I also have edible flowers and an occasional puffball. Here is the article that probably enthused Bonnie: www.eattheweeds.com/smilax-a-brier-and-thats-no-bull/I have eaten smilax both raw and cooked. It isn't worth the trouble except for hunter-gatherer/survivalist types. Byron in the comments says that smilax does not make a good pipe bowl.
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Post by wheelgarden1 on Jun 15, 2018 13:50:06 GMT -5
I have a particular rare-ish native Smilax next to my driveway that I have allowed to spread in its shady area. Unlike most Smilax ("sawbrier") generally seen around here, this is a lush, 6-foot tall group with big, dark green, glossy, semi-evergreen leaves and pink-to-red berries in the fall. And, of course, the thorns...but it's out of the way, and beautiful all year long. I used to know the particular variety name, but it escapes me.
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Post by lisaann on Jun 16, 2018 18:27:21 GMT -5
I was given this "gift" by a relative. I enjoyed his company and felt obliged to plant it That is frightening. Was he a priest or something? A religious figure sometimes make people do things they know are not right, but the people do it anyway because they are afraid of these terrible people. Hope you find help! If we can help, tell us how!
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Post by tom π on Jun 16, 2018 20:30:35 GMT -5
Was he a priest or something? Thanks for the sympathy. I chopped up about 20 smilax seedlings today. I see from his obituary that my relative was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. www.legacy.com/obituaries/rockymounttelegram/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=16287520He was Japanese American. I knew about the Japanese fondness for aggressive vines (wisteria, kudzu), which smilax is, but didn't think, so I partly blame myself. Smilax is insidious. It grows inside shrubs and is well camouflaged, but the eventual give-away is the tip of the vine and its tendrils poking out the top of a shrub like a periscope. That is, to find smilax, don't look at the ground. Look in the air above the shrubbery.
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Post by deckman22 on Jul 1, 2018 11:37:02 GMT -5
Turns out another gardener at the local market had some similar funky cucumbers as I did. We had both bought straight 8 seeds from the local hardware store so the seed company must have gotten their plants cross pollenated with cantaloupes. I noticed the one volunteer cantaloupe plant I had this year looks very similar to the funky cucumbers, the fruit and the vine itself. Oddly enough both produced good fruit, the cantaloupes are better than last years and the one vine has produced 20 melons. The funky cucumbers taste good but, have a thicker skin and more round like a cantaloupe. No one will buy them at the market so I made a bunch up into pickles.
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Post by binnylou on Jul 1, 2018 11:41:18 GMT -5
No one will buy them at the market so I made a bunch up into pickles. When life gives you lemons....
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Post by desertwoman on Jul 1, 2018 16:36:51 GMT -5
The funky cucumbers taste good Do they have a sweetness from the cantaloupe influence?
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Post by ecsoehng on Jul 6, 2018 11:55:53 GMT -5
Here is mine for the year. I wish I would not have planted my peach trees near my veggies. Who knew peach trees could get Verticulum Wilt and die mid fruit? Sigh. Not a one year mistake either. More like a 5-year mistake.
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Post by desertwoman on Jul 6, 2018 11:58:45 GMT -5
oh darn ecsoehng, How will you correct it?
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Post by binnylou on Jul 6, 2018 12:02:20 GMT -5
ecsoehng, Oh, no. How many peach trees? And I'm feeling bad just with not having a peach crop this year.
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Post by ecsoehng on Jul 6, 2018 12:10:00 GMT -5
2 peach trees, one is about all the way dead and the other is about half dead. I will still hold out hope for the half-dead tree. There isn't much you can do that I know about. Two Halls Almond trees (these are peach that don't actually fruit) in the front yard are not sick. I was reading some rootstocks are more resistant so I will need to plant two new trees in the front, as far away as I can, that have more resistant rootstock. It will be years to peaches though. The two apple and the two pear trees are not susceptible.
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Post by ecsoehng on Jul 6, 2018 12:22:56 GMT -5
All caused by the ridiculous amount of rain we had this spring followed by now humidity and temps in the upper 90's.
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