Weird Vegetables for Your Homestead Garden

We now have a great deal more space to work with in tour growing space, with strong, direct sunlight and fantastic soil. Wendie is putting in a dedicated carrot patch, while vining plants and big, busy tomatoes will have plenty of room to thrive without smothering out other selections. This means we can expand our selection and with us being us, and the kids missing their grazing garden, we have plenty of room to incorporate a greater variety of weird vegetables for fun as well as the nutritional value.
Weird Vegetables
Perhaps our first experiment was with Purple Majesty potatoes. Not only are they purple inside and out when harvested, but maintain their color when cooked. Potato salad never looks so festive as when speckled with chunks of color. Wendie discovered they make great potato chips as well.

Starburst radishes are a great addition to a rotating garden because they go from seed to harvest in just 60 days. Sweetness lies just beneath the traditional peppery radish flavor, and their pink centers can breath another aspect of flair to a summer salad the sliced thin. This year, we are putting in a few more to try pickling them. I'm not sure they will out shine our dillies, but a little pickled radish makes a groovy garnish for everything from a cheese board to martinis.
One thing we haven't tried yet but are looking forward to are Japanese White Eggs, a miniature eggplant variety that grows no larger than a chicken egg. Regular eggplants are a standard in our garden, with heavy production and a plethora of ways for preparation. I tend to take over the kitchen when deep frying eggplant, though we try to experiment as much as we can with our more prosperous cultivars when we can. Wendie is a master at eggplant parmesan, by the way.
For these white Japanese varieties, we are looking to up our stir-fry game. White Eggs have a 65 day maturity, and are also cold tolerant. Instead of bolting in hot weather, they turn yellow and bitter, so a late crop after the dog days of August is our best bet for getting them to the table.
Vegetables from Around the World

Now, I think I've talked about this before on the blog, but one thing I'm really looking forward to planting this season is Jersey Cabbage, better known as Walking Stick Kale. It is a standard cultivar of coastal Western Europe, from the English Isles all the way down to Portugal.
Walking Stick Kale is treated and cooked the same as regular kale, but the greatest thing about them is the height they grow on woody stalks. These stalks can then be harvested, trimmed, sealed and dried to make functioning walking sticks. I can't wait to get a bundle of these in the workshop to see what magic they will inspire. From one plant we get a massive infusion of vitamins as well as an opportunity to get creative with wood working. How can that not be an awesome addition to the garden?
Weird Fruits

The strain comes from Scandinavia and is a great temperate fruit for our 5b growing zone. Even though strawberries are a little more labor intensive thanks to the need to thin out creepers, their nature is to come back stronger and stronger for a few years before they need replacing. A good layer of mulch in the fall will ensure they can withstand any cold nights winter wants to throw our way.
Exotic Vegetables
When looking for exotic vegetables to add to our kitchen garden, perhaps the single most important thing to we consider is whether we will eat them. Some vegetables look amazing in the ground, but when prepared we might not enjoy the taste. So, after deciding if we can actually grow them in our zone, it comes down to flavor. That makes sense, right?
We also research if they are considered an invasive plant. The last thing we want to learn is that the veggie we though was so awesome is actually a voracious leech that would take over the garden, the yard and the neighborhood. We never slipped into the mint armageddon that so many have faced before us, but we did have to battle Japanese Knot Weed for years. Never again.
Speaking of mint, we do enjoy planting it in containers for a garnish or julep now and then. This year, we've discovered Chocolate Mint, a fruity little cultivar with a strong hint of chocolate and undertones of pineapple. Maybe we'll try pairing those in a smoothie with the Pine Berries?
We really enjoy sharing our life from the off grid homestead, and would love to hear from you. What weird vegetables do you plant each year? Do you try and incorporate vegetables from around the world into your garden design? We want to hear from you, so please add your voice to the conversation below.
Comments
Happy to connect with you- heading off to visit your blog. I'd love to see what you write about:)