On 30/04/2014 09:56, Nick Maclaren wrote:
I felt that I had got stuck in a rut, so am trying the following
this year:

Mouse melon (Melothria scabra)
Achocha (Cyclanthera pedata)
Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius)
Yard long bean (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis)
Cherokee Trail of Tears bean
Greek Gigantes bean

Any bets on my success rate? :-)

The yacon was bought as a tuber, and has sprouted, but the slugs
or snails got it, so I have watered with Slugclear and will see
if it now succeeds. The others are germinating - I am fairly
confident of the last two, but have my doubts on the others.

And, of course, only a third of the exotic vegetables I have
grown were worth repeating. Some were marginal (like Chinese
artichoke and oca) and I did for a few years, but others (like
Japanese burdock and cardoon) were disgusting. Curiously, the
former CAN be grown to be good, but I suspect that it needs warm,
wet conditions.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I planted 3 yacon last year, and the slugs had a field day despite slug
pellets, but when I checked in Jan there was one plant surviving, I
lifted it and brought it into the greenhouse.
It started to sprout in early March so at the start of April I knocked
it out of the pot and it came apart giving me 9 youngsters which have
been potted into 1 ltr square pots.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pscbdb3fef.jpg
I will plant out in early June and hope to keep the slugs away this year.
David @ a still dry side of Swansea Bay