Morning Glory

 

Morning Glories that have escaped cultivation often look like this.

This color pattern in cultivation is called 'Grandpa Otts'.

The issue with your basic morning glory is that they produce a lot of seeds and can get out of hand very quickly.

 

Common Name: Morning Glory

 

Other Common Names: Common Morning Glory, Tall Morning-Glory, Purple Morning Glory

 

Botanical Family: Convolvulaceae (The Bindweed Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Ipomoea purpurea

 

Description & Habitat:  Aside from being known as a garden staple for its flowers available in a variety of cultivars for color and size, this plant is native to Mexico and Central America. Morning Glories are named thus because their flowers open early in the morning and often fade by noon, additionally their family is commonly called the ‘Bindweed’ family because they often entwine other plants as they grow up their stems. Individual vines can be almost ten feet long. In general Morning Glories are considered a noxious weed because of their high potential to become invasive and difficulties in eliminating them. Visually speaking, this plant will have rounded heart-shaped leaves and the stems are covered with brown hairs. The flowers are roughly corolla or trumpet shaped and generally are blue to purple or white in color. Bicolor varieties exist as do red (Scarlett O’ Hara) and yellow (Yellow Obscure) varieties. Generally this plant can be found in fields, in the yards of old residential properties and in disturbed patches of soil. It may also appear by the roadside, in pastures and other places that humans have cultivated gardens.

 

 

When & What to Harvest: Morning glory foliage and flower are not edible, and thus far I can find no credible publication that indicates it is. However it is noted that the seeds contain a hallucinogenic compound called LSA which is said to be similar in effect to LSD.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None known.

 

Related Edible Species: Sweet Potato Vine and Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas)

 

Recipe: Not applicable.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

 

 

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 next weekend here is the list.

 

Soil Amendment Products (New!)

Live Mushroom Compost – 3 Gallon Bag

Live Mushroom Compost – 1 Gallon Bag

 

 

Garden Plants

Cutleaf Coneflower, Large

Cutleaf Coneflower, Medium

Spanish Bayonet

Marigold, Naughty Marietta – Yellow

Marigold, Naughty Marietta – Orange

Madagascar Periwinkle, Blackberry

Madagascar Periwinkle, Cranberry

Salvia, Victoria

Zinnia, All American Mix

 

Coming Soon:

American Aloe

Spineless Prickly Pear

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. 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): Blue Sea Holly

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is July 6^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

When it Geraniums It Pours

 Welcome back to the Lost In the Farmer’s Market Blog. At the current time we have a long-running series that covers useful, edible and medicinal ‘weeds’ that you can commonly find in the southeastern states of the United States. While our survey area is just within Cumberland County North Carolina it’ is possible you can find some of these forage plants in other places. This series was begun to give folks a detailed look into the resources they might not have known were right there in their lawn. Given that the world situation is not that great and there are already shortages of critical grains and fertilizers forage foods may be the most useful answer on a local level. LITFM will keep this series going as long as we keep finding wild resources to photograph and write about. If you have any questions or comments about our articles please leave a comment either here or on our YouTube Channel (The link is at the end of the article). Thank you for reading, and remember just one thing, you can’t eat lawn grass.

 

 

Carolina Geraniums can appear in any lawn or on the borders of beds.

These forage-worthy plants are well-suited to North Carolina's climate and can be easily found by May.

 

 

Common Name: Carolina Geranium

 

Other Common Names: Carolina Crane’s Bill.

 

Botanical Family: Geraniaceae (The Geranium Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Geranium carolinianum

 

Season to Harvest: Whenever this plant is present which can be both cool and warm season.

 

Habitat: Carolina Geranium can be found in lawns, outdoor potted plants

 

Parts to Harvest: The leaves, roots and the flowers.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None known.

 

Related Edible Species: Bloody Crane’s Bill (Geranium sanguineum).

 

Description: Carolina Geranium is a summer or winter annual herb that is diffusely-branched and may be semi-erect in posture. The stems are greenish-pink to red and have fine but dense hairs on them. The leaves of Carolina Geranium are borne on long petioles and the leaves themselves are finely dissected into lobes. It in structure looks like a much scrawnier version of the cultivated Geranium (Pelargonium sp.).

 

How to Harvest:

 

Recipe: Carolina Geraniums are quite bitter which is useful as the whole plant but more specifically the root is astringent, can be made into salves and is styptic. Parts of this plant can be used as a gargle for throat problems. Additionally this plant is packed with tannins which can help in various recipes, brewing and this makes it taste bitter. It also has use in halting diarrhea by way of a medicinal tea. You make this tea by boiling 1-3 table spoons of Carolina Geranium root for about thirteen minutes in a cup of water per teaspoon of root. While the flavor will be a bit rough if imbibed straight you can take several cups of this tea per day to fend off the aforementioned gastrointestinal ailment.

 

 

 

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 by 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.

 

Fresh Produce:

Pepper, Lemon Drop

Pepper, Fayetteville Inferno

 

Garden Stuff: ($3.00)

Cabbage – Early Jersey Wakefield

Cilantro – Vietnamese

Cuban Oregano – Cervesa & Lime

Fennel – Black

Hoan Ngoc

Sage – Pineapple

 

 

Coming Soon:

Collards

Kale

Mustard Greens

Garlic Bulbs (Mid-September)

Soup Kits (October)

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

 

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. 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): Marjoram

 

Meetings still going on! We now meet at LeClair’s General Store on the First and Third Thursday of every month. Our next meeting is on September 15^th between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.

 

 

It's A Plaintain Act of Kindness!

 Greetings and Salutations to all you intrepid gardeners out there, welcome back to another installment of the Forage Foods series on Lost In The Farmer’s Market. As you might already know the current Geo-Political situation coupled with inflation and supply shortages has prompted a series on foods you can forage for just in case things go sideways. Even if they don’t, forage foods may have added nutritional benefits and may also have medicinal benefits that can help you out.

 

This specimen is exactly what I would expect a Broadleaf Plantain to look like.

This Plantain was growing with other colonizing 'weeds' in very shallow poor soil and it's clearly very healthy.

True to form I found this plantain growing in front of a local Mechanic's shop in a dusty dry location where the soil was obviously poor and it probably get stepped on a bit. Plantains are tougher than anyone gives them credit for.

Common Name: Plantain

Other Common Names: Broadleaf Plantain, White Man’s Footprint, Waybread, Greater Plantain.

Botanical Family: Plantaginaceae (The Plantain Family)

Botanical Latin Name: Plantago major

Season to Harvest: Preferably in spring for younger leaves, and summer for seeds and older leaves.

Habitat: Plantain is most frequently found in laws, gardens, open fields and any other area that has been disturbed by humans. It does very well in compacted or disturbed soils and it is thought to be one of the first plants to reach north America after European colonization which has led to one of its common names. Plantains are also notorious for growing in cracks between cement and it can thus survive frequent trampling and will colonize horribly compacted soils. It is effective at soil rehabilitation and its roots can break up hardpan surfaces while anchoring lose soil to prevent erosion.

Parts to Harvest: The leaves and the seeds.

Poisonous Lookalikes: None are known

Related Edible Species: Buckhorn Plantain, (Plantago lanceolata), see prior entry covering this plant.

Description: Plantain is an herbaceous perennial plant that forms a rosette of leaves that is about six to twelve inches in diameter on average. Each of its leaves are roughly oval shaped and can be two to eight inches long and one to three and a half inches in width. There are anywhere from three to five thick veins running though the length of the leave and the petioles are fairly thick. Individual plants in cultivation and excluding their flower stalks tend to get about four to six inches tall, the flower stalks can up to six more inches to the overall plant height. Plantains are wind-pollenated and each plant can produce up to twenty-thousand seeds in a given growing year.

How to Harvest: Pick younger leaves before flower spikes develop this can go on into summer. You can strip right seeds from the flower stalks from late spring through fall. Solder leaves can be used for food but must be cooked. Plantain foliage in general is surprisingly nutritious as the leaves contain calcium and other minerals and about 100 grams of plantain contain the exact same amount of beta-carotene as a large carrot root.

Recipe: Believe it or not the culinary uses of Broadleaf Plantain are exactly identical to that of Buckhorn Plantain. Check out my listing for that to see some detailed basic recipes. With that said here is a recipe for Plantago major specifically.

You can roast plantain leaves by first blanching the leaves and then laying them on a baking or cookie sheet and brushing them with a light coating of oil. Bake them for 5-9 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the leaves are done you can season them with sea salt, black pepper, garlic, powdered onion or cumin to make ‘Plantain Chips’ or you can crumble them up and use them to season other recipes. Likewise you can dry them in the oven without the oil and with no seasoning to dehydrate them for use as the basis for tea later.

 

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 by 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.

 

Vegetables: ($3.00)

Peppers – Cayenne

Peppers – Anaheim

Peppers – Bell

Okra – Red Burgundy

Okra – Jing Orange

Tomato – Sungold

Tomato – Chocolate Cherry

Tomato – Glacier

Tomato – Mountain Pride

Tomato – Purple Cherokee

Wonderberry

 

Herbs: ($3.00)

Basil – Emerald Tower

Chervil – French Parsley

Chives – Garlic

Fennel - Black

Parsley – Italian

Parsley – Curled

Sage – Common

Sage – White (VERY limited Item, $9.00)

Tarragon – Mexican

Thyme – Common

 

Flowers: ($3.00)

Amaranth – Early Splendor

Cock’s Comb – Scarlet Prestige

Celosia – First Flame Purple

Castor Bean – Zanzibar

Cotton – Erlene’s Green Lint

Marigolds – Strawberry Blonde

Tobacco – Flowering “Starmaker Apple Blossom”

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

 

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. 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.

 

Go to our Nextdoor Page!

 

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

 

 

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Madagascar Periwinkle

 

Meetings still going on! We now meet at LeClair’s General Store on the First and Third Thursday of every month. Our next meeting is on July 7^th between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.