Scary Black Nightshade weed!

Well, not scary to me.

A few weeks back I noticed a "weed" popping up in the pot in which I was growing my chickpeas. I decided to let it mature to see what it was. Well, after getting used to ignoring it (and its color blended in with the chickpea plants) I realized it was flowering and had been doing so such that it also had young green berries/fruits. So, I took some pictures and set about identifying it.


What is a weed? Well, you could say there really is no such thing. One person's weed is another person's valued plant. So, it is only a matter of being wanted.


Luckily, I had been very intrigued by potatoes and tomatoes being related to each other (and peppers and tobacco and eggplant...and the Black Nightshades). I had also found out that there were supposedly edible variants of this feared witch's plant bred decades ago to be edible due to lower levels of Solanine (the same poison in green tomato fruit, tomato leaves, potato leaves and green tubers, and all other greens and unripe fruits of plants in the "Nightshade family"). The edible berry variations of this supposed deadly are called Garden Huckleberry (not really a Huckleberry), Wonderberry, Sunberry, Jaltomato and Chichiquelite Huckleberry (again, not really a Huckleberry). Nobody truly knows which of these are different names for the same variation and which ones are truly different variations from each other.

I began to smell a rat here. I suspect those supposed edible berry variations of a supposed otherwise deadly toxic berry plant are not really that special. I suspect ALL OR MOST nightshade plant berries are edible when RIPE.

So, I have kept going back to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and thinking about getting one or two or more varieties that are supposedly edible, to give them a try. But since I have a volunteer of some sort of Black Nightshade, I will now begin my investigation with it. I still have to wait for ripe berries to see what color and how large they are and then try tasting it and waiting for 24 hours to see if I get a cramped stomach or drop dead. :)

Mine is one of these species or varieties (there is still disagreement whether each of these is truly a different species and which may be hybrids as well): Solanum americanum (American Black Nightshade), Solanum ptycanthum (Eastern Black Nightshade), Solanum nigrum (Black Nightshade), Solanum retroflexum, Solanum scabrum or even some other species or variety.

Raised Bed Greenhouse: Day 7

Both varieties of carrots have now sprouted. Thus, everything in the raised bed greenhouse has now sprouted. Looking good.

Raised Bed Greenhouse: Day 3

Turnips and bok choi are now sprouting. This mini greenhouse is working great for late planting. Of course I still have to get the carrots to sprout and get to a decent harvest. :)

Raised Bed Greenhouse has sprouts after 2 days!

Success! The radishes are sprouting already. I am anxious to see what is next. Likely the turnips or bok choi as the carrots typically are slow to germinate relative to brassicas (mustard/cabbage family).

Fall Crop Garden - Raised Bed Greenhouse

Since I learned a few things with my front porch (mostly container based) gardening this Spring and Summer, I am actually feeling disappointed that I cannot continue growing sweet corn and several other things. However, there are good crops I can still plant that are called Fall crops (meant to be harvested during Fall). Now, I am not getting into pumpkins, squashes and gourds, though those are typical Fall crops. I am just not into these foods. What I have done, though, is Saturday I created my first real raised garden bed (about 40"x40" internal bed dimensions) and placed it in my back yard in a spot that gets full direct sun until about 1:30 PM. I plan on creating more raised beds in my back yard as I can get to it and spend the money. I am using concrete blocks rather than wood. I also decided to create a cheap greenhouse out of it by using 2 foot and 3 foot stakes, some 3 mil plastic (from a 10'x25' roll), a hammer and a staple gun. The temperatures inside the greenhouse are 20 to 25F higher than outside temperatures when in the sunlight and 10F higher when shaded. See the picture below.


For this experiment I planted elephant garlic, two varieties of 5 to 6" carrots, Cherry Belle radishes, Purple Top turnips, and two varieties of bok choi (aka bok choy, pak choi, pak choy, Chinese mustard, or Chinese cabbage). Bok choi is a brassica/cabbage which is a miniature loose head cabbage.

Pretty much any carrot or brassica (cabbage/mustard family -- mustards, kales, collards, cabbages, bok choi, turnips, radishes, kohlrabi, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) crops do well for Fall crops. The garlic is also something that should be put in the ground as you would for a Fall crop, but they are not going to be harvested this Fall, rather they will be dormant and wait to get going on their own when next spring arrives.

Garden results: Chickpeas and Lentils

When I first posted about what I was growing this year I mentioned chickpeas and lentils. I got these out of bulk food bins at a local grocery. I stuck them in the ground and half expected no growth (due to chemical treatment, GMO, or radiation treatment). However, I had 100% germination and they grew great! In fact, I would say these are two awesome home garden legumes that people ignore. What I did is planted 3 or 4 seeds in a cluster only an inch apart in 3 gallon pots. They both grew to a height of about 12 to 18".

The Chickpeas (also known as Garbanzo Beans) grew a bit top heavy so I surrounded them with a sort of cage of 10" decorative wire fencing material to assist in keeping the plants upright. Very much like a typical pea, the pods quickly grow to full size and the bean/pea inside slowly grows to maturity. I found a good way to check the maturity of a Chickpea is the same way I do with Peas. At night, put a bright light behind the pod and see the shadow of the bean/pea inside. Now, if you want full maturity beans/peas, just wait until the pod turns yellow instead of green (just as you would wait for a pea pod to get bumpy and hard). However, just like peas, I prefer immature Chickpeas. They have a more tender texture, are a bit more watery and a different taste than matured beans/peas. It all depends upon your preference and your planned use (I love fresh green veggies and don't like many cooked). Of course, Chickpeas are one of the more versatile crops as well, dried mature Chickpeas can be used as a flour or as a cooked or raw bean once soaked in water and non-dried and young beans/peas are good raw or as a bean as well.

The Lentils are interesting too. Much like a typical pea plant, Lentil plants have tendrils. Since I planted 3 or 4 seeds in a close grouping, they latched onto each other to form a thick bramble bush cluster. I did not give them any support, as I did with the Chickpeas, because Lentil plants are much lighter (very thin stems and branches and tiny leaves). The pods look like miniature pea pods and have from 1 to 3 beans/peas in each one. Again, like peas and chickpeas, I prefer lentils young and raw. But once mature they can easily be harvested and dried in or out of the pods and become the hard little discs you see in the grocery after only a couple days of open air drying. Lentils do not require a light to examine, just look and feel how flat the pods are and you can see and feel when they are being filled in with 1 or more beans/peas.

For both Chickpeas and Lentils, the proper full maturity harvest time is to maintain the plant with proper care until it decides to die. Once it dies and browns, it is time to harvest. Pretty much the same as if you desire full maturity peas or beans (legumes) of any kind.

Garden results: Carrot, Onion, Lettuce, Pea, Bush Bean, Strawberry, Garlic

These crops I have been harvesting for some time now. They all grow easily and are easy to take care of. The only problems I had were some carrots were too close to each other (make sure they are thinned out properly), the lettuces bolted (sent up a seed stalk) and thus stopped producing nice edible leaves and the existing leaves flavor went nasty (all this happened during the week we went over 90F and I did not properly shade them), the final problem I had was growing the bush bean variety I did in a pot that was not spacious enough for the plants to have a good root system and thus did not grow very large and did not produce many beans. This whole season has been about trying things and learning what is good to do and what is not.

So called health care reform

Okay, I guess it is time for some politics.

I feel all of the points of debate, when it comes to this "reform", are actually a distraction from the most important two things being pushed and supported by both democrats and republicans. These two things are very important to think about and consider how they impact your freedom!

1) A core piece of this (again, supported by both dems and repubs) is using some sort of unified national (government?) digital (computer database) system for all medical records. This allows the state to know all of the details about you as a living organism. To put it another way, even if you are within a private health care insurance policy, your records will still be in this system overlorded by big brother.

2) Obama even repeated this tonight in his speech to the joint houses of Congress. Companies AND INDIVIDUALS will be REQUIRED to have health insurance, as he said, just like people are required to have auto insurance. Excuse me? Is this MY body and life or am I owned by the state? What if I don't want health insurance? Again, Obama even said this as well, I will be fined. Beside this being ABSURD, I am left to wonder, how will the state know whether I am insured or not and how will they impose such a fine upon me?

Put these two together and how is this anything less than a system to turn the United States into a completely managed society where all people are enrolled into a federal/global system and tracked and monitored by big brother? Excuse me. Am I a child, are we all children? Do I not have my own free will? To use the words of pro-choice activists: It is MY CHOICE, is it not? Or does such a concept only apply to abortion rhetoric?

As already noted, these provisions have bipartisan support. Why? Because these are the core global authoritarian goals which both major parties are working toward. A system of total management of our lives. How can it be characterised any other way when what we are talking about is our bodies? Our individual freedoms and right to privacy are soon to be a vague past memory. Something our grandchildren will have a hard time believing we ever had, as they are taught how barbaric things were back before Aldous Huxley's Brave New World was realized.

Garden results: Tomato

My tomatoes are still ripening on the vine. I decided to pick the nicest one tonight. This 4 inch beauty is great! Shown next to a quarter and a 1 oz. silver round, for size comparison. Keep in mind I used no fertilizers and no pesticides other than garden safe snail bait. I also did no specific compost or manure addition. Tomatoes typically can triple the amount of fruits and produce much larger fruits if you're willing to add supplemental nourishments to the soil. I wanted to stay nice and simple this year, just to see how things grew this way so I have some baseline organic gardening wisdom to start out with.

Solar cooked potato

We had a clear sunny day today so I decided to foil wrap a smaller 3.5 inch long potato from my harvest, popped it into my 3 qt. granite ware roast pot, stuck that in an oven bag (twist tied shut) and placed all of this into my homemade solar cooker. I placed the cooker out at 1 PM and brought it in and took out the potato at 5 PM. This gave the potato 4 hours roasting at between 190F and 210F. I took out the potato, cut it in half and mashed it up. It turned out firm but thoroughly cooked. I think any less time it would have been under-cooked, and 1 or 2 more hours at around 200F would have softened it even further. I consider a 4 hour acceptable result for a medium sized potato to be quite good from a simple cardboard & aluminum foil solar cooker and I am quite happy.

Garden results: Potato

I have two faux half wine barrel planters with Kennebec white/brown potatoes growing in them. They seem to be wanting to die off but I have kept the greens alive with frequent watering. Taken about two weeks ago, this is a picture of my very green and healthy potato plants and a small frog enjoying the sun.

I noticed in a farmer's almanac that a few days ago was designated as potato harvest day. So, I have now harvested one of the potato planters and will harvest the other one in a week or two (maybe even wait longer). The potatoes I harvested were from small 1 inch roundish pearl potatoes to small baked potato sized and shaped to large fat 6 inch diameter, somewhat spherical, monsters. Total yield was about 8 pounds. I think I will use raised beds and better mounding from now on.

9/4 update
I got 3 large servings of mashed potatoes from just 1 of the large potatoes of this harvest. :)