John from http://www.growingyourgreens.com/ shares with you over a dozen edible plants that are adopted to grow in the desert so you can have an edible landscape. The plants featured in this video would typically be described as ornamental plants and should be acceptable for use in areas where you have an HOA (homeowners association) to plant edible crops in your front yard. In this episode you will discover many lesser know edible “wild” food crops some used by the native peoples that lived in the area. After watching this episode you will have awareness of a resource in Las Vegas, Nevada you can purchase these edible plants so you can start growing food on your lot when doing a conservation project.
29 Comments
brilliant, thank you!
Nevado Division Of Forestry Las Vegas State Tree Nursery … who says government cannot do anything right!
Hey John, I'd really love it if you could do a video that shows us how to make a canopy to protect plants from too bright sunlight … I live in the Bay Area, and must as the weather is almost perfect, during the hottest parts of the summer my plants seem to really get limp and poop out no matter how much water I give them.
Bruce
It is great that there are greenhouses geared towards conservation and reclamation!
Looking for high desert cold climate plants as well.
Great info about some interesting desert plants.
Thanks John. I always enjoy watching these field trips.. very inspiring
What is a cheap way to get iron into the soil?
Chaste tree has nice leaves, is it a relative of the Mexican Tomato ?
john your next visit to south florida you should come by and check out my garden. by the way thanx for the info on the everglades tomato. mmmmmm sooooo goooood!
wow…glad i live in oregon, those low water plants kind-a suck, eh?
Oh, we have the rugosa here on the north oregon coast. rose buds for tea with lavender and the rose hips too!
WOOHOO!!!!! I saw this at 420 views!!!!
we have buffalo gourd growing wild right next to my house in the field. You can use it wash your hands when your out gardening and get your hands dirty, the gourd itself you cut open and use the inside as soap. You can also dry and wash the seeds and then roast them there just like roasted pumpkin seeds just make sure to get all the pulp washed off first. Thanks for the video John, cool indeed.
John, are you living in Las Vegas or Northern California?
Nice seeing you again John. I took a break this winter and got into a lot of other projects, but I feel spring is just around the corner, even though it is still months away! I'd like to get some indoor plants growing, and start on some indeterminate plants and some plants that take 3 months to grow here soon in another month or so. Last spring I tried starting seeds outside and killed off multiple attempts due to cold at first and then heat later on >.< This year I will be starting all of it inside and transplant healthy starts once they reach 6-8 inches. I can't wait to catch up on your video's. I am really excited and determined to at least triple my garden size this year. Keep on being awesome.
I've grown the rugosa rose. It goes nut in Minnesota with the rich forest soils and definitely sends out wandering roots that pop up through the soil and form new plants. The scent of the flowers is genuine old timey fragrant. Fantastically fun and easy rose to grow.
Hey, way too much information at 13:43!
What?! rancid pine nuts???!!! Noooooo! But I love eating those! How could you say this to me?!!! darn…and I really liked those nuts too. 🙁
(lots of whiny noises, some pouting & moping!) LoL
Thanks John, this was a great episode; I especially like that you did a candid taste test for all those leaves.
Hi There, Saltbush (brush) in the US are what the cows eat here in Australia. They can be eaten but only if you are lost in the out-back and starving. Good luck eating them. Maybe they are good for you. The cows should know!!!
I wonder if a business like that would sell to a 'homeowner' if it was a large enough spot. I am looking for 1-5 acres in my area and I may find that it has been too cleared before I got there so I would have to reforest it because I want most of my land to be natural trees/vegetation with minimal clearing. I wonder if there is any business like that around me that I could look into. I guess I will try to find out.
– Heidi
Thanks for posting this 🙂 I didn't know this place existed. I'll be checking it out.
Here is a rough table of contents for this video:
3:30 Nanking cherry
3:50 sand cherry
4:35 wolfberry lyan (similar to gojiberry)
5:30 Italian stone pine
6:50 pomegranate
7:35 lace bark elm
10:10 four-wing saltbrush
11:40 shadescale saltbush
12:10 desert saltbrush
13:45 quail bush
15:00 California buckwheat
15:20 Indian rice grass
15:45 alkalai sacaton
16:20 desert almond
16:40 caragana (a legume)
17:10 screwbean mesquite
17:50 honey mesquite
18:10 chaste tree
19:35 green Indian tea (Mormon tea; ephedra)
20:00 quail bush
20:50 buffalo gourd (fruit poinsonous at maturity)
21:30 hedge rose
I live in the desert as well and this video is great! Who knew so many interesting edible plants can do well in this climate! Definitely going to try to find some of these! Thank you!
I'm confused about something. Are these plants desert plants because they need less water or because they are the only ones who can weather the desert? If you had enough water what else can you grow?
I had tried on my previous balcony … Himalayan pine (Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jacks) – a species of pine tree (Pinaceae). Himalayan pine grows in the Himalayas, from Afghanistan, through Pakistan, India, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan to Myanmar … One beam conducting in the leaf, three resin channels. Needles in triangular cross-section. Monophyletic species. Pollination from April to May. Seeds ripen in the fall of the next year. Prefers valleys and sunlit mountain slopes. It usually occurs at an altitude of 1400-1500 m above sea level, although it is found up to a height of 2500 m (other sources give 1600-3300 m above sea level, and even 4300 m. Likes fresh and deep soils and sunny positions. It tolerates well winters but not too cold. single-species, but also mixed forests with oak, maple and holly. In the eastern part of the range of occurrence forms coniferous forests with Himalayan cedar …
I lived in Florida for a year. Plant life goes relatively quickly. I recently moved to Las Vegas and am wanting to grow potatoes indoors. Any advice?
Great job, John! Would love some wolfberries and cherries in my desert garden!
Here's a video I just made about my desert gardening adventures, hope you like it! 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K33f9f3ZkWU
Yeah they might not taste the best but I bet consuming them in large amounts can flight cancer well
Very helpf