This episode of Big Blend Radio’s GARDEN GOSSIP show features food gardening pro Christina Chung, who discusses her new book “The Layered Edible Garden: A Beginner’s Guide to Creating a Productive Food Garden Layer by Layer,” that comes out on Feb. 6, 2024 through Cool Springs Press.
“The Layered Edible Garden” provides a modern approach to home food gardening that follows nature’s lead by growing plants in mixed communities, instead of in agriculture-centric monocultures. Say goodbye to long, straight rows of vegetable plants lined up and waiting for attacks from pests and diseases, and say hello to an interplanted polyculture paradise, filled with layers of edible plants that outcompete weeds, share resources, and grow beautifully together. More at https://fluent.garden/ and http://tinyurl.com/5x5y5prh
#growyourownfood #vegetablegardening #ediblegardening #foodgarden #gardengossip #gardeningpodcast #fluentgarden #coolspringspress #bigblendradio
Welcome to Garden gossip big blend radio’s Home and Garden Show come on let’s grow Together hey everybody Welcome uh you know we love to talk about vegetable gardening and being successful with it and keeping it easy right that’s important and one of the easiest things to do when you’re gardening is to work with nature CU nature if you do that and follow her principles you’re going to
Have an easier Garden to maintain and work with and then you’re also working with nature so you know you’re also feeding birds and you’re creating a ecosystem which we love that’s a good thing about gardening especially with your family um maybe even having a backyard habitat and today I’m excited
Because we have Christina Chung joining us uh go to her a follower on Instagram at fluent. Garden but her new book is coming out through Cool Springs press uh that is going to be out February 6th so you can probably pre-order it right now it is called the layered Edible Garden a
Beginner’s guide to creating a productive food Garden layer by layer and it’s beautiful you know how we love beautiful gardening books like we love good cookbooks you know uh it’s one of those but um she’s really working with nature so welcome Christina how are you thank you Lisa I’m doing very well thank
You just getting ready for a cold snap that’s going to be hitting the region very soon so what do you do do you do you cry and go inside like I want to be outside I mean because you’re in the Pacific Northwest and actually we’re recording uh from Oregon right now so um
It’s kind of it’s I get why you have to have this weather because summer and spring and fall are beautiful but I’m just saying do you kind of get the blues during this time of year yeah don’t remind me so anytime there’s Sun um I’ll be outside trying to soak up the Rays
I’m basically like a plant um but to answer your question what am I doing right now anticipating the cold snap I’m trying to protect my perennials so um like in the book I talk a lot about perennial plants that can last for many years so there’s lots of food for you to
Enjoy over many seasons um because I have these longer lived I call them investment plants that I’ve spent more than a few dollars on um I do want to protect them um because right now we are heading into colder than normal colder than average temperatures for January um
I need to protect the roots of the plants um a lot of the times the upper portions of plants depending on what plant it is if it’s well adapted um it may bounce back come spring but with the roots that are in the soil and especially if there are plants in
Containers they don’t bounce back as well um especially here in the the Pacific Northwest where it’s usually a combination of wet and cold and I always tell people that combination can be disastrous so I’m just trying to yeah protect the roots because I know there’s moisture in the soil and whether it’s
Mulch or sheets of cardboard I’m just scrambling for any sort of material that I can get into the garden um to protect those lovely plants yeah you know the containers that’s a difficult thing because they can just freeze in a way right so containers and I know you have
A whole section in the book about you can do layers in containers and which guys you guys you guys have to all get the book I’m serious it’s so cool because you made me hungry by the way going through it I’m like this just feels like really healthy happy living
Um but the containers is a big deal because a lot of people I know even if they have a greenhouse and you know they will do containers so sometimes if you can bring them inside is that the best thing to do um for many plants that are sensitive to especially cold snaps like
When the temperature drops like a good few degrees outside of the normal range um I recommend protecting it if you have a greenhouse or even a shed or um under the eaves away from any uh downspouts because you don’t want that extra moisture going into the so oil um if you
Can protect it it’s usually better and if you don’t have a covered area away from the elements then get some burlap um I always recommend going to like a local coffee rooster sometimes they have those burlap like those Juke bags that they like to either give away or send
Out to recycling many of these roaster are happy to give those bags to you you take those cut them up um yeah you can cut them down into like long strips or however like it fits your container just add those layers on and as long as
There’s some sort of buffer um away from that cold wind and it’s usually the wind um because the roots are exposed in the container um just make sure it’s wrapped and that’s probably going to be okay that’s a good advice thank you on this I
Think the wind is mean the you know you can have a cold day but when the wind is in in part of it it’s it’s cruel like yeah cruel wind is cruel wind you know I I always wonder about Vineyards you know this time of year it’s like okay the you
Know the the vines pretty much they they hibernate like Bears you know and um but that that’s part of the layers and I want to get into that uh you’ve got these eight different layers that you talk about and to me the way you Garden
Is how I was raised more in a warmer climate especially living in Kenya we had the equator which was you know pretty good growing conditions for a lot of things uh we did get Monsoon rains though so that was you know interesting um but you talk about eight layers and
Just being a nature person to me the way you’re growing and how I introduced you on the show was talking about you are working with nature and I believe that when we work with nature you don’t need as many pesticides and things like that you are letting the ecosystem be what
It’s supposed to be so with the way you grow with these layered working up it is it reminds me of how a forest Works where your berries will be partway up and you know there’s just these different layers and that’s even how animals feed according to layers different species and different layers
Per species you know so yeah is this a nature thing for you like doing the layers I think yes yes in short yes and I remember when I was in horiculture school my in structure um always encouraged us to take inspiration from nature so if you are designing a garden
Let’s say it’s an just an ornamental Garden or food Garden or a mix of you know both types of plants which is what I like to do you kind of look at how plants are spaced and how they are naturally like grouped together in nature it looks natural to our you know
The the lizard brain that we have like it kind of speaks to that and you go that feels very natural it feels very comfortable and then if you get to travel I’m sure Lisa when you travel the world you see these different clusters of plants and you’re like well that’s
Very interesting how you see like a big Lush layer of one type of plant and then like let’s say a big tree in the middle and then like what is the interaction like how are these lower plants benefiting from maybe the shade of that tree when it’s hot when it’s cold like
How does that work so with the book I kind of try to break it down for the home Gardener how can we look at our surroundings and a appreciate what we already have because we don’t want to be chopping down existing trees like this is not what I’m encouraging right um
It’s more about like for me when I go outside I see beautiful native Douglas Furs and Cedars and these these are our long lived native trees and they serve the wildlife here and they have a purpose there’s a history and I appreciate that I’m grateful to be able
To have these around my garden but because they are so tall they cast shade into parts of the garden and what can I do about that I mean I could add supplemental light but that’s a lot of work I know that the sun’s going to be
Coming in a certain way so for me it’s like okay let’s talk about how to observe how the Sun comes in how it lands on our garden beds and then plant the appropriate plants where the sun lands or maybe it or where maybe where it’s heavily shaded let’s see what we
Can put there um and not really fight it and I think a lot of the times when people um kind of have that understanding it’s more enjoyable and you are kind of encouraged by nature to Explore More plants more than what is usually offered from your local Nursery
Who is maybe bringing in sort of like the tried and true of all of North America as opposed to what may do best where you live well you also bring up and I want to get to the eight layers so people understand this and and I think
What’s also brilliant is many people are not they don’t have huge yards anymore you know you you may buy house and here’s your Square you know and so you want to utilize it or maybe you’re in a community garden and here’s you know your raised bed you if you have one
Raised bed you better use what you can and going growing up is you know I’m always trying to grow up but it’s not working for me but growing up is is a you you’re using space in a way um that makes sense economically you know even
When you look at it but you’re also working with Native Edibles which we don’t hear about as much and I I really appreciate that part because um there was just like certain berries and things that you go oh I didn’t know even you you have a beautiful photo of P Simmons
Even in the snow like oh we could do that you know so um I think you’re you’re letting people know that you know you’ve got to think the indigenous people in in you know even where you are in British Columbia uh they knew what they could eat and I don’t know who you
Know in in all the tribes around the world who figured out what you can and can’t eat I don’t want to be the first taster to figure out if you’re gonna survive but but um I mean people survived without nurseries for years and I’m not anti- Nursery I’m just saying um
We lived off of native plants to begin with didn’t we you know right yeah so you’re you’re taking us to the roots so I want to get to that but let’s go to the eight layers so people understand the different layers and the fact that by the choices of plants these plants
Can come back versus you know you’ve got the annuals but there’s a beauty to what you’re doing and it’s definitely economical yeah I’d say so so with my focus what I’ve learned over the years and partly it’s because I don’t want to say I’m lazy but once I find a plant
That I appreciate I eny en jooy and it maybe it looks good it’s there to stay and once it’s established you know it’s going to do its thing and that’s when I can incorporate annuals so that could be the tomatoes the lettu uses the fast growing seasonal things that we put in
But if we’re talking about the different layers um the book has um a focus on perennials so things that will be longer lived and how we talk about the layers like just like how we talked about the trees or how I talked but the trees around my garden the canopy trees are
Usually the things that are already there they kind of set the tone they dictate where the Sun or the shade is and then the next layer down subcanopy trees so this could be like the paw paws that could be the native pens and then as we go down we’ve got shrubs and this
Is a really fun layer I find because this is where you can incorporate a lot of your native fruiting sh shrubs um for me that would be I don’t know like salal Huckleberry thimbleberry chokeberry is a really great North American Native that is such a beautiful Four Season plant
That I think more people should um try to keep an eye out for um and then like shrubs are just really cool and then you can also explore um I suppose like more exotic ones if you have a greenhouse it’s really fun to explore different
Fruits that way um and then um as we go down the layers herbaceous perennials and uh the ground covers and then I sort of touch on root crops and the rizosphere I don’t talk about mushrooms or anything that’s a bit out of my wheelhouse but it kind of um works
Together hand inand with the annuals as well because a lot of those would be the the carrots and the fast growing radishes so that’s kind of in a nutshell um how I’ve kind of laid out the different layers oh I I love it because it’s it makes you it creates an interest
It makes you look at you know when you walk through a garden if everything’s on the on the lower end right you’re not seeing everything you know well you are when you your eyes can go up as well right right I know you do you garden
With your son um for the two of you doing this kind of garden Where You Are looking at like you said in the beginning about looking where’s the light where’s what are the microclimates of your garden you’re learning Nature and Science and becoming very aware of
Your surroundings and um for the two of you together are you seeing that help him too to understand the natural world and um kind of stop and smell the roses so so to speak versus the phone all the time you know for kids especially now I
Think we’re all bad with phones but um you you know what I mean just being able to get that appreciation for life for sure for sure and ever like when he was quite small I got him out there and he loved it and uh we started with just
Looking at insects I know a lot of folks whether you’re young or old you know insects may not be everyone’s cup of tea but Le I think they’re wonderful um like looking at bumble be talking about um why our native Bumblebees are worth um you know keeping
Around and protecting what can we grow that will feed them how can we keep Leaf litter in the garden so that you know the Queens have a space to tuck themselves into when it gets colder so that the Next Generation can happen um so like insects were a really big thing
Um because it was too young to understand like actual plants right and but bugs yeah bugs yeah so I was really happy that he wasn’t uh spooked by insects and then um like first thing that came to mind when you were just mentioning like gardening with children
And for my son and I we have a strawberry patch like a ground cover Strawberry Patch it’s a bit more low growing the leaves are smaller the fruit is smaller but what I really enjoyed about that patch was that every year the patch would get larger wow yeah it would
Get larger and spread so it’s actually one of my favorite ground cover plants that just comes back every year and it produces these itty bitty small I think we have the alpine strawberries growing so the fruit is like smaller than the tip of like the pinky and the flavor is
So intense it’s unlike the store-bought strawberries and they just do their thing and they look so sweet when the flowers are in bloom we see the insects interacting with the flowers and then the fun part is just lifting a leaf and picking off um berries and it’s just the
Act of grazing and I think that’s so special for not just children but for myself like oh how wonderful my garden is providing me a treat a snack and he’s I don’t know that we love that that’s fun well it’s because there’s a there’s and and you’re also doing something a healthy snack
Right and so and if you know when you start to see how nature works like that like oh the bees are here oh now I get to snack on this and you said grazing which is such a good word for it because that’s what nature does like an animal
Will come and graze on that and deer love Beres you know um you know growing up in in in South Africa and Kenya We There were the different levels so like a thorn tree uh you would have an Impala pretty much come Antelope Impala Antelope eat the grass and then like the
Different levels of an antalope species would go for eating grazing The Thorn Tree believe it or not with thorns um according to their height so the gerino was like the antalope that had the longest neck and could go up to the top versus um like well kudu is pretty big
Too but versus like if a DIC dick or a um Impala so it these different levels all happen and they just eat a certain portion and if they go further it becomes bitter for them right bitter like you don’t want to eat this because that’s where the plant says okay thank
You you’ve just done what I needed for my my you know plant cells to know to go and reproduce some more but that’s enough you know and so it’s very interesting these systems of nature that’s why I find your book so fascinating and as that I get geek out
On that weird stuff but um you’ve made it very easy for folks to just go and do and and use as experiments and also to think about hey you’ve maybe you’ve purchased this beautiful pot right um just ceramic pot kind of pot right I got be careful we’re on a growing show but
You know I’ve got this be I’ve invested in this beautiful artistic pot right uh uh Decor wise and what why would you just put pansies in there if you can actually do flowers that are also like nerum like I think nerum are so underrated I think there we used to eat
Get the nectar we used to eat them in salads and then there’s like little Caper things that you can get off of them as kids like they were like oh and then you’d hear people talk about the Mediterranean I’m like I got it in my backyard got the the whole Mediterranean
In my backyard but but the the stum would just grow and they’re so um they they’re like morning glories in a way that they love that Morning Mist you know and then the Sun comes out and they’re like Yay I’m here but there’s a i it’s just amazing to me how they can
Spread this beautiful Vine yet they’re wonderful for nectar for hummingbirds and different birds but then also for us to eat yeah yeah for sure and um that reminds me of one of my favorite climbers um to really get that height so we were talking about you know especially actually especially if you’re
Growing in a large container and you want some height whether you are wanting to block out um your like a view of your neighbor’s garbage can or if you want a privacy screen um one of my favorite plants to grow and it grows so fast is
The Scarlet Runner Bean so it’s like a it’s like a pole bean but it’s a different species and it produces big large edible pods that um it has these beautiful I guess like Crimson kind of like orangey Coral flowers that the hummingbirds love so I grow that mostly
For the flowers and the foliage not so much the beans you really got to cook them down um especially when they get tough but you know you know if you want like a container that’s tall and beautiful and Lush and if you set up three next to each other grow a wall of
Beans and then you can have trailing the sternums and it’s like from top to bottom these beautiful trailing leaves and then flowers for hummingbirds and then in between maybe you have like a perennial um like a like a shrub like a Fring shrub whether it’s blueberries or something that likes the conditions that
Both the nestam and the beans like I mean it’s really fun to create something that’s beautiful just full of color and food yeah yeah you know um we you know as many people know NC like pets it as we travel it’s not a it’s it’s not a
Profession for us it’s it’s a kind of house swapping thing right and it’s really cool because we end up gardening in different climates and zones across the country I love it and I mean the principles are the same but you have to learn it’s like you get there the first
Night and you’re like you better learn what time the sunrises you better you’re in a different time zone um all of that but one of our our favorit that’s uh is out in Arkansas up in the mountains fville and the lady we we’ve sat for and
She has a donkey so it’s really cool she has her own manure but anyway donkey no it’s cool because she let but so she purchased this Farm property and so in the middle is this old farmhouse that she redid herself like so Props to her
For that um it’s just I love to see women go out there and get get in it you know and that we can you know we can do it and she left both sides each side like there’s a huge Meadow Let It Go to native plants and there’s in the middle
Of it all day Liles because there’s a lot of seed spreaders going on in Arkansas it is the natural state and it’s hot and swampy and warm and it is hot in summer and that’s when we always are there in the summer but um the I
Mean it’s just beautiful to see and at night the fireflies just giant oak trees you’re not even allowed to park your car near the oak tree because she wants to protect the roots of the oak it’s this ancient oak tree like it’s got a few of them and then she grows all these
Interesting vegetable like and one of them was the Scarlet beans and that’s my first time they’re long man these things are long yeah I was like going what are these and she’s like okay every day I had to go out and try not to let it like
Actually start to attach to her house because they will attach and they’re vigorous they’re they’re like Mysteria in that way but it was so cool and they um had all kinds of caterpillars that would come and hang out and um frogs tree frogs that were hanging out on them
That was the biggest thing she had this ecosystem of what was happening and if you just let it be except for the squash bugs but I don’t want to talk about those they um they but the a lightning bolt took out the squash plant that had the squash bugs seriously took it out
They have blanket uh lightning like just I can’t even explain the amount of lightning they get there but they it’s insane it’s like a curtain of lightning bolts that would happen in these storms but there her plants except for that one you know survived but she also grew uh
She has her vegetables growing amongst the flowers and like so she’s like oh my pollinators are right here I don’t need she has zenas growing and then she uses she’s you know um kind of created a plot like she did some straw bales in some parts she’s got a big property but she
Created one that because she has deer and bunny I mean it’s wild in Arkansas so you kind of want to corner off from the Predators right um so she started doing all these crazy Cool Vines these squash flowers and I wish I could remember what it was but it was I mean
Alofa squash or something like aofa or something oh my gosh it was like we’d go out to go look every day to see what was blooming and what was going on but her garden thrived man she also used like tomatoes I’ve seen people do that where tomatoes are kind of one of those
Depending on where you are but that can be part of that layer right tomato plants because they kind of are like mini trees in a way they’re delicate though but not they’re tomatoes are weird like I think of them they’re weird they they are weird I think technically
You know from where they were originally from you leave them as perennials they kind of just grow and grow and grow if you let them but I mean for where I live I really have to Baby them once the temperatures start to dip oh but yeah I
Can imagine how like tomato plant can just get a bit gnarly and a bit out of control what about because a lot of the plants that you’re talking about are are perennials which are cool and they’ll come back when a lot of times we’ll think of we’re going to grow a vegetable
Garden we end up we’ll try to do the seedling route or go by the little seedlings and every year it’s like starting over it seems like with what you’re doing you’re there are investments they’ll come back on their own like a a banana plant will keep providing right unless they freeze
Because we’ve heard that too yeah they actually banana trees will freeze and crack and explode with ice it’s insane depending on where you live there’s a lot of water in them mhm yeah yeah um so yeah like with these perennials that’s one of the things I love is that yes their investment
Whether it’s time upfront if you start from seed or if you um purchase them um like MoneyWise they’re a bit of an investment depending on what you’re getting but they come back they grow bigger and I think that’s really fun if you made a choice that you really enjoy
It’s really great to have that be a part of your home or your garden piece that you can enjoy throughout the years I like that it’s sustainable yeah I think so it just it’s I don’t know I think when we can because then you’re investing in the
Health of the soil too right so is there something about that about a plant being able to come back that the actual health of your garden Rises up with that kind of thing you know if sometimes plants do just say I’m done now putos but um is there something about that the way
You’re gardening and doing these layers um that the with the ecosystems that they’ll last longer and that the actual do do they get stronger that you don’t need chemicals and things like that to you know with pests and things yeah that’s a great question and I like to
Step a bit back and sure um it’s more like if you can I think the exercise of choosing uh and let’s just use the term investment plant um when you take the time to research and then buy the plant that is suitable for your garden whether it’s
The uh well it should be a combination of your soil conditions you know and your temperature and understanding your climate um when you go through that process and you find it the right spot to to grow so that it can Thrive then that can be its forever home and that
Way you you are not doing the annual let’s dig up the soil and cause disturbance because there’s a lot of beneficial organisms living in the soil every time you unearth a whole bunch of soil unnecessarily um then you disturb that um it’s not always a bad thing because I
Mean heck for annual props you do need to do that activity so maybe it’s striking a balance between okay I’ve got these beds that are going to do its thing I’m not going to touch them um for the next one two three years if the plants are happy um of course if the
Plants need to be divided so let’s say I have an artichoke or Cardon patch or maybe a mint patch that is getting a bit crowded then yes it’s good to give the plants space and the healthy thing to do is to unearth the plant um divide them you can
Give them to friends or you can sell them in a plant sale and then put that plant back where its happy home is and then just let that reestablish itself if it’s happy and if you still love the plant and if it’s still providing some
Sort of purpose to your garden um and I think having a balance between that and having let’s say your annual beds where you have to remove plants at the end of the season and then you know add am Menders if needed you know with that disturbance I think that is a very um
Realistic way to approach it so for me it’s not all or nothing not everything in my garden is perennial but it is trying to push more of the activities to um you know letting plants do their thing and then I will assist them when they need the space or if there’s you
Know other issues that I would need to help them out with um like if they’re not happy with their home if they need more sun then I will step in and figure out what needs to be done as opposed to just digging up the same plot every
Single year I love it I mean and then that makes it easier for you too yeah yeah um especially if there’s ground cover so I mentioned the strawberry um there’s also Wild Ginger that grows nicely up here self heal is one of my favorite plant it’s commonly referred to as like a turf
Grass weed turf grass weed but it’s it blooms purple it’s so beautiful it’s great for um our native bees and it’s a highly medicinal plant as well it hugs the ground I let them sit as patches on the ground to protect the soil to stop
Erosion it does so much and there are so many plants like that so if you leave a ground cover patch intact it does so much for the soil and and if they are able to stay evergreen or if you choose Evergreen ones then um if you get colder
Winter uh uh temperatures or conditions if they can add that Greenery to your ground it just is just so beautiful and everything else has just kind of died down it’s neat I mean you’ve got even like prickly pear in your book I I love going through your book uh people need
To check it out no because you put prickly pair and we lived out in the desert and we were in the high desert when we were out in Joshua Tree area and the snow would come and freeze and then it would pretty much go away but I mean
It was either like 100 degrees Plus or you know sorry we’re in California I’m not cfor Oregon so I don’t know what um we’re all in different times or temperature zones or whatever it is Celsius Fahrenheit I don’t know because every place I’m different and then
Sometimes I’m like what country am I in so I don’t know anymore but any anyway it it’s either really hot or you’re freezing right it’s there there’s no there’s maybe a month or two of in between and then that month is when Nature says I’m going to blow you away
And you know sew seeds you know um the prickly pair to me is really interesting I remember reading a book um it was a gentleman who was actually writing about New Mexico and saving this one piece of land um from oil people and all this natural stuff and he started talking
About the importance of grasses and grasses in um like in your garden leave the grass to grow around the cactus because it’s like a mulch it’s like this protector and it’s natural and we started doing it and things changed in our garden like it just the system I
Don’t know I just the we had wild flowers eventually just come naturally once we amended the soil because it was a newer house and the soil was toxic I mean everything the first thing we did was you know plant wild flowers and they came out these
Little tiny tiny I mean blue bells were like not even like your finger like teeny and so we realized our soil was bad but once we did it and we did like a balance of native and then what we wanted to eat and let plants kind of
Shade themselves you know and the cactus did that and was also place where Quail could hide with their babies you know from snakes and and all that um but the fruit is edible and then you have flowers and that’s edible too depending um on who what and where you know I
Don’t want people to eat bad things I don’t want the person who says eat this and you know but the prickly pear gets looked at like Cactus gets looked over but it culturally is a food for people and it’s beautiful absolutely yeah yeah I was so happy to see that in your book
So I didn’t even so you can grow it in your area well for us well I mean Pacific Northwest we always have to be um very mindful of wet conditions so as long as there’s maybe like a rock wall or like a grally area um where you don’t have to
Worry about like anything underground rotting I think that is um usually where we see these types of plants not do well again that moisture and cold combination but you know if you can find um you know well draining kind of soil or gr then that’s going to be a lot better well
Your Wild Ginger is interesting to me because there’s Ginger that I know that grows all the way up with spikes and then like spiked flowers and everything but your Wild Ginger in here reminds me of uh miners lettuce when we lived up in the mountains we had miners lettuce that
Would grow kind of in a meadowy area very low ground cover and it was edible which we didn’t know until we Liv there and people were like you know mountain people they’re like you can eat your backyard like really okay let’s try it and honestly it was like little lettuce
And they had little white flowers in the center I wonder if they’re related they look so alike they do uh yeah they do look alike and I love miners lettuce it’s one of those crops that I always recommend people seating like if you have a bed that you just don’t want to
Touch and it gets you know shade and you just want to throw something that’s really interesting miners lettuce is Wonder ful um Wild Ginger is um kind of serves the same purpose but it’s a longer lived plant it’s slower to establish but I’ve seen them ornamentally under maple trees or you
Know like small specimen trees in gardens that aren’t necessarily interested in edible elements um some folks just don’t have that as a focus but I’ve seen gardeners put Wild Ginger under trees and it’s so beautiful because the leaves are interesting and kind of round with this like upside down heart shape and it’s
The ryom that have this uh you know really neat edible quality uh the flowers of these guys are not not showy at all it’s really interesting you really have to get down on your knees flip over a leaf and look for the little like brownish kind of maroon flowers and
I think that’s really special like it’s like a little secret that you have with a plant it’s like I know what you have I’m going to take a peek and then leave you alone I know right it’s like a whole other yeah the Peeper creepers they are That’s What It Is Well
The other thing you have the passion fruit in there and that’s something I grew up with but you call mops and the passion fruit to me honestly is and we’ve seen it in this country in um FL uh in Tennessee we I’m just thinking like where we saw uh California Southern
California a friend had a farm in Fall Brook which is where they grow avocados and um she was growing things like poinsettias and even you know she’s like someone would give her a poinsettia she like all right I’ll plant it outside it would be like
A like a bush like by the time she was just it was that weather for it you know and that climate but she had passion fruit but we saw it also in Arkansas and a Native American Garden Heritage cultural heritage Garden for the plumo
People and I was like oh my gosh I want to live in here and they did exactly what you’re talking about they did um and it was a national a state park toltech Mounds uh just outside Little Rock Arkansas and they have this I don’t
Know what it is about this Garden but I want to keep going back there it’s um circular but they did the raised layered Garden like what you’re talking about um they had their squash and they had beans you know like the three sisters I think they call it but then the passion fruit
Kind of just was like almost like woven around the plants it just did its thing around it and was almost like The Keeper of the the beans and everything it’s kind of interesting how that worked it’s like they work together yeah like they’re like hey I’m gonna weave into
You you know but the flowers but mapop so mapop is for a colder climate or a colder climate yeah it’s still not as common even where I live um a lot of Growers prefer to put them in the greenhouse um just for added protection even though they are quite tolerant of
The colder temperatures um maybe it just adds you know a tropical vibe in a greenhouse setting um but yeah they’re known to be quite cold hearty down to I think like minus I’m just I’m trying to do that conversion in my head too I think once we get down to minus minus
20s I think for that yeah 20 Fahrenheit Celsius in that kind of area so they are tolerant of Colder conditions but um usually when I do hear people growing them here it’s in a greenhouse um whether yeah yeah I haven’t seen them just out in the wild um in the
Neighborhood but it would be very lovely with the beautiful purple flowers and and the daily leaves I was talking about earlier I know that’s not native everywhere but in some areas almost just become that or invasive I don’t you talk about that too um but I did want to
Mention that they are edible the flowers right we can eat those they are they’re absolutely edible you just have to make sure that um you identify day lies correctly because there are other lies yeah CU there could be other lilies that are kind of that orangey or reddish
Yellow that are grown like that are very common in ornamental Gardens and many of them are not good for us or pet to consume or be close to especially dogs and cats many of the lilies are a no no yeah yeah yeah that’s yeah yeah she she
The lady in Arkansas had them on the other side like and poetas by the way people are not good for dogs either um or cats um you you um are hanging out with ferns ostrich Fern uh that’s one I don’t I could go through your whole book
With you all day long I know we can’t but I would I I would love it because I’m all into these plants um but the ferns now I know know people eat Ferns and I’ve always looked at the whole frond and you’ve got a great photo in
There of the ostrich Fern um with the fronds all curled up and I love personally I love photographing them that’s a thing but every time I look at them I just want to eat them like I’m sorry you’re so pretty this is like this magical piece you know it’s like when
You look at um oh we always get them all muddled up it’s the like Queen’s an lace the wild carrot right I don’t we oh that that’s that could be messy but there’s something magical about the way it I don’t I could look at that for days just
How it all INF furls right and it’s the same thing with the fern but for some reason I want to eat them even though I’m admiring them I really I’ve never eaten a fern can we eat them is is that a bad thing why do I want to eat them
Fiddleneck like I do I just feel like they should be in a nice creamy sauce or something yeah yeah I have seen them in specialty grocery stores I’m like oo yeah urged to eat them kind of like a sparagis in a way they look like they would taste like asparagus yes kind of
Like fleshy and you know it’s going to be a bit of like juicy in there with some Fiber um if you catch them before um the fronds get all like tough then they truly are a seasonal delicacy um ostrich Fern is the I’d say like the standard type type of fern that
You would want to go for um there are other ferns depending on where you live that are edible if they’re you know yes you can eat them but are they tasty some are not as tasty um bracken fern which is just it’s um it covers like a lot of
Areas up here um people can eat them and they are usually pulled out because they um are quite aggressive and can really um them and the um the invasive blackberries oh they can tag team and just take over the space but I mean the bracken fern you can eat them would I
Eat them not really I would wait for the Ostrich Ferns and the Ostrich Ferns if you have the right conditions they are beautiful for the garden they do want the shade they do want moisture um but they’re really great under trees or back of an area along maybe not long fence
But like near like a shaded area it just adds this beautiful green color super soft beautiful foliage they can get quite big so if you’re looking to fill out a space hey you can have your own poch of um fiddle heads oh and then there’s blueberries in your book which I
Find exciting because we’ve actually done um video work with um a nursery that cultivated them um up in Washington state and they did like the pink lemonade blueberries um I don’t know the name was Briggs um I don’t know what’s you know anyway it was amazing what they were doing with
Blueberries but what really got me is hiking up in the Blue Ridge Mountains um in Appalachia country and we’re on a hike with some friends and literally could just eat blueberries as we are walking by them I’m going really when you find things that are native and
You’re going you you know we go through extremes to get blueberries and things like that to grow so part of what excited me about your book with the blueberries in there and things um sometimes you can get these like you’re you showcase that are native or do
Really well and so you’re not only feeding yourself but you’ve created a wildlife habitat I know a lot of people want certified wildlife habitats with the National Wildlife Federation out here and I think it’s a really cool thing if you are giving back in away because like
If a bird’s eating your berries aren’t they going to eat the bugs so you don’t have to do the pesticides so and then we get to still watch the bug before they go byebye which is fun yeah the full course of life here um yeah so I I
Really appreciate that part of you know that you can have things like blueberries and even grapes but maybe they’re just not the same ones you’re going to get in the store yeah yeah I mean with grapes um especially like yes you can get to experience different varieties and you can enjoy having your
Own mini Vineyard or if you yeah if you make your own wines um but with what you were saying with having this whole little ecosystem inviting the birds having you know them take um take the role of you know Pest Management and that’s one of the beautiful things with
Having a variety so a lot of the times as gardeners we think about what’s in it for me what can I eat what can I grow that beautifies my garden but once you step back again and go okay so my garden is a part of this bigger
System and you look around the the forests look around the neighborhood you know what how is nature in the form of like the wildlife whether it’s like insects birds furry creatures that will come into your space like how does this all knit together how do my interactions
In what I would call my space how does that affect these creatures can I provide them with a space for nesting can I provide them with um fruit that I may not necessarily eat but I know that they’re going to enjoy how can I encourage them to you know feel at home
Here so right now um I grow service berri and I think uh I think the birds also liked um I have two G shrubs and the birds love those they’re not my favorite fruit to eat myself but the birds come and I can hear them hopping
Along like under the hedges and you know they’re they’re eating insects they are uh nesting and they’ve got their young somewhere in the garden and it’s that’s sort of like next level re rewarding yeah fruit yeah yeah it’s fruit seeds and nuts because you even go like you
Have the whole section of the hedg r right like here’s your Spoils of the hedro and I’m like looking at this going that reminded me when we lived in England I was like I remember going getting crab apples and blackberry like again layered up right that’s how nature
Works yeah you’d have the blackberries kind of at arms length and then up you’d have the crab apples you know and we had chestnuts too like we’d play what was called knockers and no I don’t mean that same thing as you think in England don’t but um we would play with these
Chestnuts and you as kids and but you could roast them and you you know it was amazing when I saw that in your book I was like she’s going for the nuts too like the filberts and yeah you know that’s something no one touches on we rarely hear about nuts and seeds like
Sunflower seeds I know birds love that but we can also take take a little bit and give a little bit right definitely yeah I I love your book can you tell I thank you oh no it’s been so much fun uh having you on the show thank you
So much Christina everybody is Christina Chung again you can follow her on Instagram at fluent. Garden her website is also uh fluent. Garden um but her book is going to be out uh February 6 so go pre-order it be the first on the Block be the garden gossiper like you
Need to be the you know the symbol of Gossip because you’re going to have the book first right um do you peek over your garden like your garden wall fence flowers and look at what your neighbors are doing ever Christina oh actually I have new neighbors um right across like
The Back Fence and they are growing some amazing subtropical um fruit I think I spotted mango um no maybe papaya I’m not too sure I haven’t introduced myself to my neighbors um I haven’t actually seen them around yet but I do see their plants so I need to Snoop around and see
What they’re up to I love that I you know good neighbors are good for like nip and Tuck as we call it like you walk your dog and then snip a little in your pocket you know what I mean so but I mean they they better get the blankets
Out tonight you know with what’s going on with the snow and and this cold snap going through so if they’ve got the Tropicals but you know tropical plants are used to snaps as well you know um but it just depends so everyone again the book is called the layered Edible
Garden a beginner’s guide to creating a productive food Garden layer by layer check it out and it’s going to be out through Cool Springs Press thank you so much Christina thank you so much Lisa for having me it was a pleasure thank you for joining us here
On big blend radio’s Garden gossip show thanks for growing with us you can follow us at big blendr.com