Egyptian Spinach

Note from the Author: This plant has never been covered on the blog before.

 

 

Notice the seed pod in the middle of the picture, this is about as big as they get.

The tiny yellow flowers are pretty, but not present enough to bother with. The pollinators still dig them.

Note the shape of the leaves.

This plant which was not grown optimally is lanky and loose but it's foliage is no less edible.

 

 

Common Name: Egyptian Spinach

 

Other Common Names: Molokhiya, Jute Mallow, Jew’s Mallow, Mallow Leaves, Nalita Jute, Tossa Jute, Mloukheyeh, West African Sorrel

 

Botanical Family: Malvaceae (The Hibiscus Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Corchorus olitorius

 

Description & Habitat:  It is unlikely that you will find this plant in the wilds of North Carolina as it is an introduced species. However it is possible you will find it in yards, old farms and in places where Jute was cultivated for the purposes of making rope. Egyptian Spinach is generally grown as a annual and on average the plant can grow to about five feet tall unless intentionally grown for the purposes of making fiber for ropes at which it can be up to thirteen feet tall. The leaves of this plant are borne in an alternate arrangement and are roughly elliptical in shape with a serrated margin and small thin spurs facing inward towards the stem. The flowers of this plant are tiny and yellow and seem to open sometime in the morning. Seed pods look a bit like a tiny okra pod but they only get an inch or three long and may curve at the tip. Overall this plant essentially looks like a weed despite its numerous useful traits.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  This plant has no toxicity

 

When & What to Harvest: The leaves and young seed pods are edible. Generally the leaves are what you want as they can be used fresh or dried as a tea or a soup thickener. The seeds even when mature are also edible though small.

 

Related Plants: White Jute (C. calsularis), is the other plant that supplies the fibers to make Jute Twine.

 

Recipe:  Normally I post one of my recipes here but I found one that looks so good that I’m sharing a link

https://harmonyvalleyfarm.com/recipes/stewed-egyptian-spinach-with-north-african-spices/

 

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://www.kikkoman.com/en/cookbook/glossary/moroheiya.html

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

https://www.southernexposure.com/products/molokhiya-egyptian-spinach/

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

Fresh Produce:

Figs, Magnolia

Peppers, Banana Drop Hybrid

 

Summer Vegetables:

Nightshade Greens, Gbognome

Nightshade Greens, West African Njama

 

Autumn Vegetables:

Collards ‘Green Glaze’

 

Herbs:

Chives

Egyptian Onions

 

Flowers:

Flowering Tobacco

 

Plants Coming Soon:

TBA

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Japanese Aralia

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is August 30^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

Bitter Sneezeweed II

Note from the Author: I previously covered this plant on February 18^th 2022.

This one has to be the prettiest specimen I've ever seen.

Coming out of a crack in the cement curb, Bitter Sneezeweed is a serious annual plant.

Mixed in with the weeds and tall grass of an overgrown field is where you might find these annuals. No other plant has a flower quite like Bitter Sneezeweed.

 

 

 

Common Name: Bitter Sneezeweed

 

Other Common Names: Yellow sneezeweed, Fiveleaf sneezeweed and Yellowdicks.

 

Botanical Family: Asteraceae (The Aster Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Helenium amarum

 

Description & Habitat: Typically you will find this plant along the roadside or in fields, by the edge of pastures and it pops up a lot in areas with very sandy soil. Bitter Sneezeweed has an upright habit and forms a sort of canopy as it takes on an overall ‘V’ shape when seen from the side. The bright golden yellow flowers are roughly shaped like a shuttlecock from badminton. The petals tend to arch downwards towards the ground while the florets in the center of the flower form a cone. The foliage of this perennial and native plant has a camphor-chamomile kind of scent.

 

Special Toxicity Note: This plant contains Helenalin which is a Sesquiterpene lactone and is the primary toxic compound in the plant which serves as its defense against grazing animals which also makes it squirrel and deer resistant. It also contains Dugaldin and phenol which makes it toxic to cats too so definitely not for use as a house plant but it thankfully is a bitter tasting which can discourage animal and small child consumption.

 

When & What to Harvest: Generally for medicinal use you can harvest the mature flowers, stems and foliage. The leaves when used in an infusion are said to be a laxative. Infusions using only the stems are supposedly used in a wash to help treat fevers. The mature flower heads when dried were used to treat Colds and headaches while if made into a tea they were said to treat worms in the intestine. Lastly and perhaps most promising is that the plant contains Helenalin a compound that has shown great promise in anti-tumor use.

 

Related Plants: Common Sneezeweed (H. autumnale), Purple-headed Sneezeweed (H. flexuosum).

 

Recipe:  (None, this plant is not for culinary use)

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/helenium-autumnale/

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/bitter-sneezeweed

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

Fresh Produce:

Blueberries, Rabbiteye

Figs, Magnolia

Peppers, Banana Drop Hybrid

 

Summer Vegetables:

Nightshade Greens, Gbognome

Nightshade Greens, West African Njama

Okra, Baby Bubba

Okra, Iraqi Bamia

Pepper, Ghost

Pepper, Serrano

Pepper, Hungarian Wax Banana

Pepper, Bull’s Horn

Pepper, Mad Hatter

Pepper, Purple Bell

Potato, Adirondak (Purple skin with blue-purple flesh)

Spinach, Egyptian

 

Herbs:

Basil, Holy

Basil, Sweet Genovese

Chives

Yarrow, Parker’s Gold

 

 

Flowers:

Flowering Tobacco

Hibiscus, Luna Red

Marigolds

 

Plants Coming Soon:

Green-Fruit Nightshade Greens

Rainbow Quinoa

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Stevia

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is June 28^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

Garden Tour 2025

 This week instead of posting about wild forage plants the blog is going to cover some of the highlights of the 2025 garden tour which was on Sunday the 25th.

 

The day of the tour was the first day this California Poppy bloomed. California Poppies as their name suggests are native to California and one of the few species of true Poppies native to the USA.

This Dessert Kiwi which has been on this blog a few times has finally bore fruit and it was a feature of the Tour this year because of it.

Mexican Petunias bought their AAA game this year and although they wont be blooming until later in the summer they drew some attention.

The Bear's Breeches looked great this year.

This is a section of Cattle Panel that is being used as a trellis for some Luffa Gourds.

A modern representation of Verticulture, using the grow bags to grow herbs, fruit and flowers to soften the surfaces of my rain barrels.

The new Perennial Ground Cherries are huge!

Lemon Drop x Sweet Banana Peppers are growing madly.

Giant Mission Marigolds were not ready for the tour flower-wise but the large plants and foliage drew attention.

I always get asked how bit the Raspberry Dressing Sorrels can get, and this should answer it. With age they can get 18-24" long leaves.

Last year's Malabar Spinach came back from seed, I did not see that coming.

Petite Nigra figs are branching out and looking good!

Ch-Ch-Chia! Salvia hispanica the for really-reals chia.

The Vegetable bed's shadier side. Taiyo Sunflowers, Upland Rice, Purple Millet, Texicoa Sorghum, Summer Savory, Brown Sugar Tomatoes, Garnet Chicory, Italian Chicory, and a number of surviving Collards.

The other side of the Vegetable Bed featuring Lemon Cucumbers, Swiss Chard, Iraqi Bamia Okra and a few surviving collards.

An interesting companion planting experiment, Iraqui Bamia Okra with Orange Mint.

Peruvian Tomatoes, planted with Marigolds and a Chia in back.

This is most likely a true bumblebee on my oregano.

Here is another angle of the same bee harvesting from the oregano.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Common Vetch II

 Note from the Author: I previously covered Common Vetch on September 23^rd 2022.

 

 

This small specimen has a flower color that is noted as rare by NC state.

Found downtown by the Transportation Museum in Fayetteville.

 

 

Common Name: Common Vetch

 

Other Common Names: Garden Vetch, Golden Tare, Vetch.

 

Botanical Family: Fabaceae (The Pea Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Vicia sativa

 

Description & Habitat: Common Vetch is considered an annual winter wild flower that is commonly used as a cover crop in agriculture because of its ability to fix nitrogen in the soil. It is also used as forage for livestock as it grows quickly and it also can feed populations of wild animals such as Deer, Rabbits, and is a host to the larva of several Butterflies and Moths. In general this plant benefits from having something taller than itself to climb on and thus is grown in vineyards and orchards to suppress weeds and reduce herbicide usage. The leaves of this plant are considered to be in alternate arrangement and have pinnately or bipinnately arranged leaflets that are elliptical in shape.

 

When & What to Harvest: Unlike other edible members of the Pea family with Common Vetch you want to harvest only the leaves. The seeds contain Cyanogenic glycosides which cause neurological damage specifically in animals with a single stomach like people, horses and poultry. Ruminant Livestock may be able to safely digest the pods and seeds.

 

Edible Related Plants: Common Vetch (Vicia sativa subsp. nigra), Sand Vetch (Vicia acutifolia), Narrow-leaved Vetch (V. angustifolia). I have to make note of the fact that Common vetch has a lot of subspecies and ‘angustifolia’ and ‘subsp. nigra’ are both subspecies of Common vetch.

 

Similar Dangerous Species:  There are a lot of potentially dangerous lookalikes, to the point that there are a few too many to list here.

 

Recipe:  Vetch & Catchweed Bedstraw Pesto

 

3 ounces of Pine nuts

1 teaspoon of dried black garlic/ (if fresh 4 cloves of black garlic.)

1 tablespoon of Robust Olive oil (you can use more if it’s not enough)

2 cups of Common Vetch Leaves and Catchweed Bestraw shoots or new foliage (you can add henbit or chickweed if needed)

4 Ounces of grated Parmesan & Romano cheese

 

1. Wash your greens thoroughly and remove any foreign debries

2. Chop your greens finely.

3. Pulverize the Pine Nuts.

4. Combine the greens, the nuts and the other ingredients in a food processor or blender.

5. Run your blender or food processor until the individual ingredients are unidentifiable

6. The resulting pesto can be added to any pasta dish at leisure but make sure to store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/vicia-sativa/

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

https://victoryseeds.com/products/vetch-common

 

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.

 

Spring Plants:

Chicory, Italian

Chicory, Garnet Stem

Ground Cherries, Perennial

Okra, Baby Bubba

Okra, Iraqi Bamia

Pepper, Ghost

Pepper, Serrano

Pepper, Hungarian Wax Banana

Pepper, Bull’s Horn

Pepper, Mad Hatter

Pepper, Purple Bell

Rice, Upland

Spinach, Egyptian

Tomato, Cherokee Purple

Tomato, Chocolate Cherry

Tomato, Midnight Snack

Tomato, Lemon Boy

Tomato, Brown Sugar

 

Herbs:

Basil, Holy

Chives

Morenga

Savory, Summer

 

Ornamental & Flowers:

Castor Bean, Giant

Flowering Maple, ‘Orange Hot Lava’

 

Soil Amendment Products:

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 18 Gallon Tote*

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 3 Gallon Bag

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 1 Gallon Bag

 

*The 18 gallon tote is by special order only and is delivered to any address within the Fayetteville city area.

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Upland Rice ‘Hayayuki’

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is May 10^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.