Perennial buckwheat leaf vegetable Australia

I find myself fascinated with the concept of perennial grains.  While many appear to be inappropriate for large scale cropping, perhaps they could be useful for small scale or backyard production.  Or maybe they are not suited to small scale growing and will never be a decent crop.  I wish one of the permaculture institutes would put some decent effort into researching this.  

I grow a perennial corn, it is unsuited to my climate and frustratingly unproductive here, but I am told it is fast growing and very productive in warmer climates.  I know of a few other perennial grains, some sound promising, but I have no access to germplasm. 

I also grow a perennial buckwheat (Fagopyrum cymosum complex, sometimes called Fagopyrum dibotrys), this also goes by the common names "Golden Buckwheat" or "Tall Buckwheat".  I read that in the Himalayas it is referred to as Kathu (काठू).  I believe this plant is mostly used as a perennial leaf vegetable but it is also said to produce edible seed.  

Perennial buckwheat growing strong

Buckwheat seeds, either Fagopyrum esculentum or Fagopyrum tataricum, are commonly eaten in various dishes.  In various countries the leaves and flowers are also consumed as vegetables.  I have eaten leaves from common buckwheat, they tasted nice enough raw and pretty good when cooked.  When in flower they could be a little bitter raw, before flowering they weren’t bitter.  The bitterness they have when flowering seems to go away after being cooked. 

After some research it appears that leaves of common buckwheat, and tartary buckwheat, are eaten as vegetables, but it is far more common for leaves of perennial buckwheat to be eaten.  Presumably this is due, at least in part, to the rampant spreading of this perennial vegetable.  Perennial vegetables are great as you plant once and harvest forever.  

Golden buckwheat is simple to grow, it seems to prefer full sun, and copes reasonably well with partial shade.  

My plant has divided impressively in the time I have grown it.  Over winter it will die back and be dormant, and it should resume growth in spring.  These grow and divide fast, so I am expecting to have a lot of plants by this time next year.  

Roots developing at a node

Even though perennial buckwheat divides so readily in my climate, I tried to grow one by a cutting.  It worked well.  

I cut the top off one plant, removed the lower leaves, and put the stem in water.  It wilted badly the first day, then regained turgidity, then grew some roots from one of the nodes.  This seems like a good way to increase numbs if I don't want to wait for it to send out underground rhizomes. 

It is cold now and will likely not do a lot of anything above ground until spring.  I am guessing that it should grow roots and perhaps even send out rhizomes, but all of this will happen under ground.  Once the warm weather hits this should cause this plant to spread and grow into many plants.

Now I know I can grow them from stem cuttings if I want to.  This is good to know.  

Perennial buckwheat cutting growing roots

Frost is not an issue for perennial buckwheat as the top part mostly dies back and the underground rhizome is largely dormant while it waits for warmer weather before growing again.  I say 'mostly dormant' because the rhizome does spread a little over winter, but nowhere near as much as when the weather is warmer.

When going dormant in Autumn, the leaves change colour before they fall off, they are really quite pretty.  I didn't think to take photos when the plants were looking their best.  

Perhaps this is why it's called 'golden buckwheat'

I don't know how dry this can survive or how boggy it can survive.  So far I have treated it much like any vegetable and given it some water when the soil is dry, and it has done really well.  Next year when I have more plants to play with I may try to see what it can tolerate.  

I am not sure if it needs frosts and a dormant period to perform at its best.  If I were to guess I would say it would not need a dormant period, and in the subtropics it would actively grow and produce abundant vegetable greens all year.  

Perennial buckwheat

Perennial buckwheat looks similar to fish mint from a distance.  The flowers are very different and can be used to distinguish between them even at a distance.  Perennial buckwheat grows taller than fish mint.  When they are not in flower, I would want to smell them to reliably tell them apart.  

They both grow well and are very productive over the warmer months, and both are dormant over my winter.  

The autumn colours of perennial buckwheat are really impressive.  The leaves go a vibrant golden yellow, and they often have red veins, stems, and edges.  I believe the leaves are still edible by people even at this stage, and the leaves are gladly eaten by our chickens and guinea pigs when green or golden.  

Perennial buckwheat changing colour for autumn

I am told that perennial buckwheat aggressively spreads by underground rhizomes, and that it will take over the garden unless planted in pots.  

I don't think I would be too bothered if perennial buckwheat spread through my lawn because, unlike fish mint, the yard will not smell like fish every time I mow.  

Even so, I am keeping my perennial buckwheat contained for now.  Perhaps in the future I will let this thing out to see what it does.  

Perennial buckwheat - heart shaped leaf

The leaf of common buckwheat reputedly contains 24% protein, I assume that percentage is of dry weight as the fresh leaf would contain a lot of water.  As well as being high in high quality protein and amino acids, buckwheat leaves contain many vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, flavonoids (eg rutin, quercetin, orientin, isoorientin, vitexin, and isovitexin), fatty acids, polysaccharides, iminosugars, dietary fiber, fagopyrins, resistant starch, vitamins, and minerals.  I have read various papers on this that all state the nutrient profile of perennial buckwheat is rather impressive, and other papers that conclude that it may have several medicinal properties.  

Given how nutritious buckwheat leaves are, and how fast it spreads, I am tempted to grow it in the chicken run under some wire so the chickens can eat the leaves without killing the plants.  I have a feeling it may be well suited to producing abundant and nutritious greens for my hens over the warmer months.  I read a paper that stated replacing 10% bought feed with perennial buckwheat leaf in layer diets did not reduce the number of eggs laid.  

My chickens seem to like eating the leaves of perennial buckwheat.  I have also given some leaves to our guinea pigs, who greedily ate every last part of them even though they were on the lawn with free access to grasses and lawn weeds.  I have read about the leaves being fed to pigs, sheep, cattle, and rabbits, all of which gladly ate it. 

I have read that perennial buckwheat is used as silage or hay in some countries.  I would not use this as the only feed for any animal, but using it for a percentage of feed works well.  Perennial buckwheat seems to be one a crop that holds a lot of potential and could be improved with a little breeding effort.  

Perennial buckwheat, much like every other type of buckwheat, is excellent bee forage.  These plants produce a lot of nectar, ample pollen, and the bees and many other beneficial insects seem to adore the flowers.  

Perennial buckwheat in a pot

I have heard varying reports about the ability of F cymosum complex to set seed.  Some sources say it does not set seed, others say it sets abundant seed.  This may be partly due to genetic differences of different clones, or they may need a second clone in order to set seed, or it may also be weather dependent.  When I grow common buckwheat in hot weather I get zero seed set, when grown under cooler conditions I get plenty of seed set, perhaps perennial buckwheat is similar.  

Apparently the seed of perennial buckwheat is extremely high in protein, slightly above 16%.  I read another report that the seed contains 24% protein, but am not certain how reliable that site was.  Presumably there is some reason its seed is not seen for sale as often as common buckwheat or Tartary buckwheat.  Perhaps it is too small or difficult to dehull, perhaps it drops its seed in the field and is difficult to harvest, or perhaps it does not set seed reliably.  

I haven't grown this long enough to see if mine produces seed.  If it can't produce seed, I have a few ideas to try that may restore fertility.  If I can't restore its fertility then I will still grow it as a leaf vegetable, poultry forage, bee/pollinator forage, and ornamental cut flower.  

Potted up after breaking dormancy

Many vegetables contain at least some level of antinutrients, some are deactivated by heat, others less so.  Buckwheat seed appears to contain negligible amounts of a chemical known as fagopyrin, while buckwheat hulls, leaves, stems, and flowers all contain differing amounts of this chemical.  The amount changes depending if the plant is young or if it is flowering.  Eating too much fagopyrin can cause some sensitivity to sunlight.  

I wrote another blog post on buckwheat and fagopyrin, so I won’t cover that information here.  There has been little research into safe levels for human consumption, and seemingly contradictory advice surrounding if it is deactivated by heat.  

Consuming 150 grams of perennial buckwheat leaf raw every single day falls well within the safe limit, given the research into fagopyrin and steamed sprouts it is likely that triple this amount would be safe if cooked.  The data is limited so it may be that considerably more than this is safe.  

Given how many people consume significant amounts of buckwheat daily, and how few reports there are of adverse effects (most of which have been due to consuming sprouts in juiced form), it is likely safe to eat cooked leaves every day with no ill effects.  

I don't have any extra plants at the moment, but will eventually sell these plants through my for sale page.  For now I am building up numbers, and seeing what this plant can and can't do.  I almost find it difficult to believe just how easily this plant produces food for people and animals, yet how uncommonly it is grown outside of developing nations. 

I really like my perennial buckwheat.  This is a perennial vegetable that is seemingly forgotten or unknown outside of developing nations, and it is well suited to growing in backyards.  For reasons I cannot fathom it is very rare in Australia.  It has potential to increase household food security in a number of ways, as well as being very healthy and potentially having medicinal benefits.  If I were a 'prepper' or had to become more self sufficient, this perennial vegetable would be very high on my list of survival vegetables to grow. 

Small Flowered Willow Herb

For a few years I have been growing willowherb (Epilobium parviflorum).  Some of its common names include 'small flowered willow herb', 'hoary willowherb' and 'small flowered hairy willow herb'.   

There are a bunch of different plants that have the common name of willow herb, so it is important to pay attention to the binomial name.  

I believe this is named willowherb because its leaves grow long and slender, like willow.  It also likes to live in damp places, much like willow.  This plant is not remotely related to willow, and (while I am not certain of this) from what I have read it does not produce any aspirin/salicylic acid.  

Small flowered willowherb

Willowherb is edible, it doesn't really have much of a taste on its own, it isn't bitter or unpleasant in any way.  The leaves can be added to a salad and eaten raw, dried and used in herbal teas, and it can be eaten cooked.  Every part is said to be edible, but I have only tried the leaves. 

The texture of the leaves is not remarkable in any way.  They are not unpleasant, or hairy, or slimy.  Certainly not bad in any way, it's also not overly memorable or impressive.  If using raw in  salad I would probably tear or cut the leaves somewhat.  

This herb has been used as medicine to treat prostate and kidney issues, there are a few studies indicating it could be effective in treating these ailments.  

This plant handles frosts well.  It grows tall and flowers over summer, and goes back to a short plant in winter.  Over winter here it does not go completely dormant, but it does die back considerably.  

The heat of summer doesn't seem to be an issue as long as it is well watered. 

Willow herb has small pink flowers

I grow willow herb in a few different ways, it always does well, it does particularly well if given a lot of water and fertile soil.  

I grow some in a pot of soil, and it does fine.  I grow some in a pot with no drainage holes that always has wet boggy soil, it does very well.  I have some in my goldfish barrelponics, and it thrives there.  

Full sun and part shade both work well.  It doesn't like to dry out, and seems to prefer lots of moisture.  That being said, it copes drying out better than I had expected.  For a week my barrelponics pump didn't work and my pot of plants dried out completely.  The Vietnamese coriander and other plants died off quiet badly, while the willowherb looked fine.  

Willowherb in barrelponics 

Growing small flowered willowherb from stem cuttings is simple.  It puts up a tall stem for flowering, cut it into sections, plant each section vertically in moist soil or put the base of each cutting in water and they produce roots quickly.  

Sometimes I plant the cuttings directly into moist soil and I get similar results.  

Small flowered willowherb also divides itself.  Plants slowly produce several growing points.  If I snap one off and plant it in damp soil they usually produce a new plant.  These growing points usually have a few roots if I snap them low enough.  While this is very reliable, it is also a very slow way to propagate them.  I find it a lot faster to take cuttings once they send up a flower stalk.

Goldfish barrelponics - willowherb and Vietnamese corainder

Growing willowherb from seed is surprisingly simple for a perennial herb with such tiny seeds.

The plants send up tall stems in summer, these grow small pink flowers on long stems.  The flowers are at the end of long pods.   

Small pink flowers on tall stems

After the flowers die the seed pods grow longer.  When the stem dries, it splits open and releases dozens of tiny seeds.  Once the pod begins to split, all the seeds are ripe.  

These seeds look like dandelion seeds, except tiny.  Each has a little parachute, and is gladly carried off by the wind. 

To sow seeds I open a dry pod, tip the seeds onto moist soil, water it in, and in a few days every seed germinates.  It is that simple.  

I don't remove their parachute, I don't bury the seeds, I just put them on soil and water them.  

Fresh seed seems to yield close to 100% germination.  They produce tremendous numbers of seeds, so you probably wouldn't need to even plant an entire pod's worth of seed to be more than enough.  I have no idea how long willowherb seed remains viable.  So far I have not had any volunteer seedlings pop up anywhere other than in pots.  

Seed pod opening

Tiny seeds with parachutes

Each pod makes a lot of seed

The seedlings are tiny, and very slow growing.  It seems to take may months before they grow true leaves.  This may be because the soil I am growing them in is low in nutrients or they are not getting enough sunlight, perhaps they would grow a lot faster under better conditions.

So far I have not had issues with slugs or snails, but I think that's just luck.  I am guessing snails would eat out the tiny seedlings before they get established.  Once established they don't seem to have any pest issues.

If you had a damp area in the garden I think these would do very well.  They produce nice looking flowers on tall stalks, the leaves can be long and slender.  Other than making sure they are not too dry, and cutting off flower stalks once per year after they are sent, they take no work to look after.  You would then be able to harvest handfulls of leaves most of the year from a nice looking perennial herb. 

If you are interested in growing willowherb, I sell some plants from time to time and may sell fresh seed next time I collect it.  I can post plants bare rooted throughout much of Australia.  Willowherb will look a but sad after being posted, but it tends to pick up very quickly after being planted and watered. 

Woolly micro tomato update

It is time for an update on my micro woolly tomato breeding project.  

For a bit of background, I crossed a micro tomato which only grows to about 10cm tall, with a woolly leaf tomato which reaches about 6 feet tall.  I used a micro tomato as the seed parent so it was simple to see if the cross worked really early. 

I grew the F1 in the year 2021, the F1 plant reached about 5 feet tall, was very productive, and the fruit looked intermediate between both parents.  

Micro woolly tomato breeding

I culled the F2, only keeping the smaller woolly leaf plants.  Then culled subsequent generations based largely on plant size, and to a lesser extent based on fruit colour and taste.  Last year I had a mishap and lost many of my seeds from this project, sadly things like that sometimes happen in breeding projects. 

This summer (2023-2024) I culled and was left with four candidates, I put the four candidates in one pot for ease of handling.  

While it is far better to have them in separate pots, or even in the soil, that was not an option this year.  

Woolly foliage tomatoes

The four remaining plants are between 5cm tall and 15cm tall, they all set flowers at their terminal bud, all are woolly, and all appear to be expressing anthocyanin in their leaves and stems.  

At this stage I don't know what base colour the fruit will be, or how they will taste. 

Unripe woolly tomato 

While several of the plants are larger than Micro Tom (pictured below), up to 15cm tall, or about 6 inches, is still probably considered to be a micro dwarf tomato.  These were partly shaded in the greenhouse and are likely taller than they would have been if grown under direct light.  There are a few generations until they will be stabilised, so even if they are not micro dwarf tomatoes that is ok at this stage.  

The smallest candidate is producing flower buds, and is only around 5cm, or about 2 inches, tall.  This may be a genetically tiny plant, or it may be stunted by growing so close to the pother plants.  I won't know until I grow out its seeds.  

Micro tomato plants are tiny

One of the things I like about micro tomatoes is they are so quick to mature that they can produce several generations each year.  My winters can be a bit long, so I sometimes lose a generation to frosts, but in a mild year I can grow a few generations and make some decent progress.

I was growing these plants in my greenhouse as I didn't start them until late in the season and they needed protection from the heat.  I have recently moved the pot outside into full sun.  Hopefully there is enough heat left in the season for them to set fruit and for me to collect seed.  

Woolly foliage, high anthocyanin 

Even if all goes well, this project is still a few generations away from completion.  Hopefully one or several of these four are what I am hoping for, then I can work on stabilising the lines.  

Fingers crossed in another few years I have a few stable lines of new micro tomatoes that taste good.  If not, I can do a little back crossing to lock in the traits I want, or I could start again.  

Variegated string of pearls tiny cutting

I have been growing string of pearls succulents (Curio rowleyanus also called Senecio rowleyanus) since late 2016 or early 2017.  They are a lovely looking trailing plant with spherical leaves with little windows. 

I wrote an earlier blog post on seeds of fake string of pearls, sadly they don't come in blue or red or purple or with multicolours.  I mentioned in that post how string of pearls com in green, green with larger pearls, or variegated.  

Late in 2023 I got a lovely variegated string of pearls plant.  It was small, and I took a few cuttings.  As well as this, a tiny part broke off.  It had one variegated leaf and a tiny part of stem.  

I planted this to see if it would grow.  Even though it only had one leaf and a tiny section of stem it did start to grow.  

Variegated string of pearls cutting

The single pearl and tiny piece of stem grew some leaves.  At the start none of them had any chlorophyll.  They were all white.  

There was a high chance that the tissue that gave rise to the baby plant was derived of all white, and may not have had any green.  If this was the case it would survive off the mother leaf for a time, and die when the leaf got too old.  They need some green to be able to produce food.  

After growing a number of leaves, it then produced a variegated leaf!  

This variegated leaf has some green, which means it is able to photosynthesize and feed the plant.  As it has produced one variegated leaf, there is a high chance that it will produce more.  If this is the case, in time this tiny plant should be able to grow into a large trailing variegated plant.  

Variegated mother plant

Sometimes variegated plants revert to all green.  Once they are all green, they don't become variegated again.  

If you grow a variegated string of pears succulent and notice a strand that is entirely green, remove it.  Being all green will be more vigorous than the variegated parts.  Plant the green strand in a different pot as a cutting and let it develop into a green plant - don't leave it attached to the mother plant or it will eventually take over and you will no longer have a variegated string of pearls plant.  

If you notice a strand that is all white, feel free to just leave it.  It will eventually die, until then it will look pretty.  Unless the mother plant is very weak it should be able to have a white strand without ill effects.  

Each leaf has some white and some green

I find string of pearls succulents to be surprisingly easy to grow.  They don't love full sun, and can't survive in heavy shade.  The variegated form is less vigorous than the green form, but they are both lovely.  

Even though they are a succulent, they tend to perform better when given decent amounts of water.  I keep hearing about people planting them in special succulent mixes, while this is probably best for them I find they perform well in equal amounts of potting mix and garden soil.

I sell string of pearls plants and cuttings through my for sale page.  At this stage I only have green ones for sale, I hope to have a few variegated ones large enough to sell in Spring.  If you are interested, you should have a look.