I love sweet potatoes (or kumara), baked, fried or mashed, which is just as well because I have started growing some and it looks like they really like where they’ve been planted and are taking over (Well they’re battling the nasturtiums for control anyway)!

We had some tubers in the cupboard and one started sprouting and, as I had wanted to grow some, I took the opportunity to cut it in three and plant it in the raised bed next to the water tank (the home of the lonely watermelon). I had to temporarily put some neting over them to stop the birds digging them up (I’m not sure what the attraction was) but they are growing well now.

These are the ones with the pinkish-orange flesh and think they are probably the same as the American “Beauregard” variety. Needless to say it is going great and I’m looking forward to a bumper crop. Now I just have get a few different varieties.

A few weeks ago we went to the Heritage Fruits Society Apple Tasting Festival at Pettys Orchard in Templestowe Victoria. Had a great day tasting a small selection of the more than 200 varieties of heritage and rare apples and looking for replacements for two of the apple trees that died this year. Their demise was caused by stupidity on my part when I severely damaged the roots trying to straighten them up because they were growing at an angle. I’ll be going back on the grafting days to select a couple of new trees shortly.

In the meantime I picked a couple of additions for the food forest, a babaco and a yacon.

Babaco

The Babaco is a small tree with few branches. It can grow to 5–8 m tall. The fruit is similar to the papaya (to which it is related) and is pentagonal in shape but is narrower. The fruit is seedless and the smooth skin can be eaten. People have described the taste as a mix of strawberry, papaya, kiwi and pineapple. I can’t wait to try it!

It’s been repotted and is in the greenhouse to protect it during winter. Hopefully it will fruit in the first year and we’ll try to take some cuttings after that.

Yacon

Yacons are sometimes known as apple potatoes. They are distantly related to the sunflower and grown for their potato-like tuber that are sweet and taste like an apple or melon. I’ll find out in a few months. 🙂

I have potted mine up in a larg tub and it is sitting under the bay tree under the pegola where it is protected from strong winds and any frosts. Once I have a few tubers, I’ll plant some out in to the garden.

Well the Watermelon plants were savaged by the birds, or rather the garden beds themselves were. This is the bed I rebuilt last year after installing the new water tank. The birds got in there and dug over the beds and ripped up the plants repeatedly until I put a piece of mesh fence over the top. One vine survived and produced a lonely melon. Still even that one melon was worth it.

We probably picked it a week too early but it was delicious!!