Summary
In this video, James Prigioni shares five crops that he and Tuck will never grow again due to various reasons such as low yield, taste, invasiveness, and difficulty in processing.
Highlights
- 🌳 The Flying Dragon Hardy Orange Tree is not worth growing due to its spiky thorns, low fruit yield, and bitter taste.
- 🍂 The Autumn Olive is messy and not exciting to harvest. It is also invasive and not as tasty as its cousin, the Goumi.
- 🥕 James had difficulty growing a successful crop of carrots due to pests and soil conditions.
- 🥬 The Kale was susceptible to pests, grew too large too quickly, and tasted bitter.
- 🌶️ The Ghost Pepper was too spicy and difficult to use in cooking.
- 🍆 The Eggplant had a low yield and was prone to pests and disease.
- 🐛 James and Tuck also struggled with growing Zucchini due to its fast growth and susceptibility to pests and disease.
Maybe someone else already pointed this out. Aronia is very high in vitamin C, which is why someone [Russians? Germans?] planted them when they were blockaded from being able to access citrus fruits in war time. Aronia juice is still found mixed into bottled juices to kick up its vitamin C level.
I grew a ground cherry this year and I was really disappointed in the taste. I don’t think they’re very tasty.
Goji berries are used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat liver conditions, not so much as fruit.
“These carrots are making me Thirsty!” Tuck t shirt idea. Ala Seinfeld
Good video all this exotic fruits tend to be very difficult to grow and needs expert care stick with known fruits small berries are pretty easy to grow.
When I lived in New York, I looked forward to the autumn olives every fall. Once ripe, the fruit is delicious straight off the tree. Nevertheless, it is invasive and I'm not sure I'd want it as a garden plant, either.
Ground cherries are great!!
The dragonfly orange seems like the one we normally use for cooking in the philippines and not like normal oranges. It serves like lemon and for marination of meet. ❤️ #tuck
Thanks. I agree with you. Garden space is too valuable to waste.
I agree about the Goji berries! I'm here in northern NJ in 6B and I planted some seven years ago in my garden (for the birds to eat) and they've barely grown and haven't got more than 5 berries each, such a waste of space! Next year I'm digging them up and planting blackberries instead!
I can’t wait for next year (home with two broken legs) I can only assume my plants dying was a blessing. I would have driven my family nuts getting them to harvest. Next year, I want them involved but on their own terms.
We have a Jujube in our yard in southwest AZ, doesn't require any supplemental watering to get by, but if you want much fruit is needs a bit. We also have wolfberries, a native version of the goji berry, they fruit without watering and are quite good if you let them get all the way ripe. Just pointing out that some plants can be more practical in certain environments. I'd be paying well over a thousand a month in water to grow all the stuff you grow.
Goji berry is not only for the fruit, also the leaves are edible.
One of my favorite hiking parks has been invaded by autumn olive… invasive!
I know this is probly gonna sound strange but instead of hand pollinating have you ever thought about tying a piece of meat to the tree, as the meat rots it will attract flies and as you walk past it the flies will disperse to different parts of the tree going on the flowers helping to do the pollination for you
What do yo do in the winter and the part of the year when fresh food from the garden is more dormant?
Do you process, freeze or dehydrate anything at all?
Emperor mandarin grafted onto flying dragon roots is amazing.
Excellent video, thanks
Lore makes us want what we needed then, very badly, but do not need or have the time to deal with now. Foods to preserve were so critical in old agriculture before modern supermarkets stocked with produce grown thousands of miles away. Now preserving food isn't the only way to get micronutrients and probiotics in winter.
I do kind of like aronias even in fresh, but they do need few frost night so that they gains some sweetness. In late autumn in Finland when the days are still warm and sunny, but the nights are cold they become quite tasty. And they seems to yield much here.
The thing about exotics and unusuals is that more often than not they don't work out, however it's great to try and plant a few things out of your normal wheelhouse every season you might find something that works well, for instance I decided to plant a honeyberry/blue honeysuckle bush a few seasons ago and it has worked out great for me, it's not a common plant here in Australia but I'm growing it in one of our rare colder areas so I think that's why it has taken, I have friends and family clamouring for the jam I make with it.
Tuck!!!