Permablitz’s ‘hero of the month’

Every month, Adrian O’Hagen from Forest Hill, or one of his colleagues, discusses a ‘hero of the month’ on the Permablitz website. The links below are those related to food.

Fruit

Avocado: version 1, version 2	The amazing avocado – delicious, nutrient dense and the source of last year’s millenials-vs-millionaire great smashed avo/mortgage debate. Still, what could be better than having a ready source of avos in your backyard?
Babaco	A versatile and remarkably easy to grow subtropical: the quiet achiever of the Carica genus, there is the papaya, but then there is the babaco – the champagne fruit – which will thrive in Melbourne.
Cape gooseberry	Cape gooseberries have more antioxidants than goji berries, broccoli, apples or pomegranates, and contain twice the vitamin C of lemons. And they even come naturally packaged in their own paper-like wrapping!
Carob	Carob trees can live for over 100 years, grow to 15m and produce a trunk girth of up to 3.5m. You can plant them wherever an olive tree will grow, and their pods are delicious as a chocolate substitute.
Cherry	Nothing is better than planting a tree in your own backyard. The perfect backyard variety is the Stella, as this is self-pollinating and crops in heavy clusters.
Ebbings silverberry	Is this the perfect permaculture plant? Well, it ticks a lot of boxes – nitrogen fixer, tough evergreen shrub, makes a good hedge or windbreak, is a useful dense habitat, edible fruit, has perfumed white flowers, is a bee plant … what more could you want?
Finger lime	Finger limes are a delicate rainforest understorey tree in SE QLD and Northern NSW where they can grow to 10 metres. In Melbourne – not so much!
Grape	Summer and grapes go together like hot weather and a chilled glass of wine, for those who like a tipple, or frozen grapes for the kids (and even us ‘big’ kids). Learn why grapes are so great for the garden.
Guava – Chilean	Queen Victoria’s favourite fruit has many names: strawberry myrtle, ogniberry, New Zealand cranberry, tazziberry. Some call it just ugni or uñi. But it doesn’t really matter because this great drought tolerant shrub produces berries that are just delicious.
Midyim berry	Midyim berries are one of Australia’s tastiest bush tucker foods, with a sweet and tangy flavour that has a delightfully subtle hint of spice.
Mushroom	Autumn has arrived and it’s finally mushroom season! At this time of year, every walk in the forest is like a treasure hunt. You never know what beautiful, rare or even tasty treat might be hiding behind the next tree.
Tamarillo	The tamarillo, or tree tomato, is an attractive foliage specimen tree, growing to 3-4m and fruit within 1-2 years – as such they’re one of the best-value perennials you can ask for!
Tomatillo	The tomatillo is a close relative of cape gooseberry and a distant relative of tomato. It grows a thin husk (or lantern) around the fruit that must be peeled prior to using the fruit.
White sapote	With fruit that tastes like vanilla custard mixed with creamy banana and peaches, you’ll be wanting this in your yard!

Vegetables

Asparagus	If any veggie is worth waiting for, it has to be asparagus. For 10 months of the year asparagus is little more than a weedy looking perennial, but in spring the plant is transformed.
Azolla	Azolla pinnata, red azolla, water fern, duckweed or whatever you want to call it is a fern-like native that has been eaten by Aborigines of Australia for millenia, and is only now finding popularity in Asia and European cuisine.
Beans – dragon tongue	Dragon tongue beans are an open pollinated heirloom variety originally cultivated in the late eighteenth, early nineteenth century in the Netherlands. From there it spread to France and England then eventually to the New World.
Beetroot	Beetroot is of exceptional nutritional value; especially the greens, which are rich in calcium, iron and vitamins A and C. The greens should not be overlooked; they can be cooked up and enjoyed in the same way as spinach.
Capsicum – bullhorn	Bull’s horn (or cow horn) capsicum is an old Italian heirloom variety of sweet capsicum that produces curved fruits up to 20cm long. The fruits can be harvested green or red after 70-90 days.
Chilli – rocoto tree	In Melbourne, rocoto is one chilli plant that can be grown all year round. Whilst severe or successive frosts can damage the plant, it usually recovers sufficiently to grow even bigger the next year.
Chives	Chives are an easy to grow perennial herb, and are well known for adding an onion or garlic flavour to omelettes, salads, soups and sauces.
Cucamelon	Cucamelons are native to Mexico and Central America. They also go by the following names: mouse melon, Mexican sour gherkin, Mexican miniature watermelon and Mexican sour cucumber. These climbing plants produce masses of grape-sized fruit.
Fennel	Fennel is a perennial grown as an annual, easy to grow, great in salads or pasta, and can be a hit with the kids as “it tastes like black jelly beans!”
Garlic	It is the season for colds and flu so what better way to make it through than chewing down on what you grew: garlic!
Good King Henry	The Good King Henry, sometimes known as ‘poor man’s asparagus’ [Blitum bonus-henricus], is a perennial that produces edible shoots and spinach-like leaves. Once common in gardens, it’s something of a rarity today.
Kohlrabi	Kohlrabi is a low stout cultivar of the cabbage family that deserves to be more widely eaten, don’t be put off by its rather unusual appearance! Kohlrabi is German for turnip, and it certainly looks like one.
Leek – perennial	Growing regular leeks requires dedication and patience; they take 100-130 days to reach maturity. But luckily for gardeners there is a handy shortcut: perennial leeks!
Lettuce	Lettuce is an annual plant, most often grown as a leaf vegetable, and is most often used for salads – yum!
Murnong (aka yam daisy)	The murnong has a flower shaped like a dandelion, and beneath its innocuous, grass-like leaves lies a delicious, sweet yam.
Melon – shark fin	The Asian green shark fin melon is an essential ingredient for the healthy and nutritious shark fin melon soup (not shark fin soup!) boiled using a Tanyu claypot.
Nasturtium	Nasturtium is a ridiculously easy-to-grow plant whose leaves, flowers and seeds are all edible! They also look good in the garden, repel aphids and perform a host of companion planting duties.
Okra	Okra (or lady fingers) are easy to grow and its flowers and fruit can add both ornamental and edible value to your garden. The flower has white or cream-coloured petals and its throat is a deep claret red.
Onion	Onions are a simple to grow garden crop, and are used in a multitude of dishes worldwide. Some prime ministers have even been known to eat them raw!
Radish	Have you ever thought that you were possibly the worst gardener ever? If you haven’t ever tried to grow food for yourself then the humble radish is about to be your new best friend.
Rocket	Rocket grows like a rocket! It is so fast that only two weeks after planting, the leaves will be ready to pick for salads and sandwiches. It’s definitely worth growing in the veggie patch.
Snow peas and sugar snap peas	These delicious peas should be grown at home, as their sugars convert to starches once picked, so half of the sugars are gone within an hour of picking. You’ve never tasted a snow pea unless you have picked it yourself.
Tromboncino	This is the zucchini with outstanding flavour that doesn’t get too big too soon. Be sure to train the quick growing vines up a trellis so it hangs straight or you’ll have lots of long and curlies!
Warrigal greens	Packing protein and a choice selection of vitamins and minerals, these greens are a ready addition to your garden and your gullet.
Yacon	Fresh out of the ground yacon looks like a baking potato, however its flavour is a little strange for what you might expect from an underground tuber – it’s like a sweet cross between early apples, watermelon and very mild celery, with a touch of pear!

Herbs

Borage (aka Starflower)	Popular companion plant borage is one of the most frequently consumed wild plants foods in many Italian communities, and is also consumed as a vegetable across different Spanish, Cretan and German regions.
Burdock	There is no better time than just after Christmas to get into burdock. The root is a perfect accompanying vegetable or herb to include as you set to release some of that toxic load and make healthful news year’s resolves!
Calendula	Calendula flowers are like warming, energising suns. A plant of riveting historical roots, it helps wounds to heal faster, and the flowers themselves provides a sense of being uplifted and energised with warmth.
Dandelion	The dandelion is a medicinal plant with a wealth of benefits for your garden that far outweigh its reputation as a pesty weed.
Feverfew	The feverfew herb was used in the past to treat a variety of conditions such as headaches, arthritis, and as the name implies, fever!
Ginger	Ginger has many uses besides cooking and it’s easy to start growing your own!
Lemon balm	The green leaves of lemon balm have the scent of lemon with a hint of mint, with leaves that look like oversized mint—no surprise, since lemon balm is part of the mint family!
Oregano	A hero in the garden, a hero in the kitchen and a hero in the medicine cabinet! Oregano really is an all ’round hero herb!
Parsley	Parsley is a must have in any self-respecting home garden, with culinary and medicinal uses that have been celebrated for centuries.
Sage	From the same family bringing you mint, rosemary, thyme and lavender, to name a few, sage has multiple qualities and attributes that have been recognised and utilised for millennia.
Tulsi (aka Holy Basil)	Tulsi presents the promotion of optimum health physically, emotionally and spiritually, with additional environmental benefits thrown in too.

Weeds

Mallow	Mallow can be found almost anywhere in Melbourne, and is a highly nutritious edible weed. Get into it!
Purslane	Purslane is an aesthetically attractive weed with fleshy leaves and often yellow flowers, but its health benefits are even more desirable.
Stinging nettle	Nettle has a bad rap for its stinging nature, but is an incredibly under-appreciated source of vitamins and good health.