Edible Plants Thriving in Early March

The following edible plants are enjoying the rain, humidity and remaining high temperatures of early March in the Bellingen Valley. Soon the cooler weather, and it some cases frost, will cause some of the cold sensitive vegetables to die off or become dormant. What plants are growing strongly in your area at this time?

Wing Beans (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) love the subtropical conditions of our summer.

The bean pods are delicious in stir fries. The plant regrows from the roots as the summer heat returns.

The whole plant is edible and the shoots can be eaten.

A ripe Panama Berry (Mutingia calabura) tastes like a boiled lolly.

The Panama Berry flower

It is a useful small tree

Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius). The tuber is eaten like a sweet potato.

Crookneck zucchine loves the slightly cooler weather of March.

A mild sweet capsicum is so useful given the prices in the greengrocers.

The capsicum (mild peppers) are small but plentiful.

This Rocoto (Tree Chilli) is three years old and prolific. The birds eat many and this is O.K. because the fruit is so hot. We use these very sparingly.

Brazilian Spinach also loves this weather. It's best cooked although it is often used in salads.

Egyptian Spinach (Corchorus olitorius) can be dried and used to thicken soups.  The Arab name is "Molokhia." Its bland leaves (without any bitterness) make a great salad.

Taro had a growth burst in high summer. It loves the rain.

Daley's Nursery's says that Taro can be substituted for potato in any dish. I've yet to try it. Do any readers have a favourite recipe for Taro? If so, please add to the blog using the comment facility.

This Panama Berry has been in the ground for two years. It was 30 cm high when planted. It lost some leaves last winter but remained in leaf. It is a useful small tree and it is being trained away from the lawn. The fruit is delicious but only a cm in diameter.