Vietnamese Fish Mint

I have been growing Vietnamese Fish Mint  (Houttuynia cordata) for years, yet for some reason I have never written a blog post on it before now.  

This plant has many common names, including dokudami, 'poison blocking plant',  lizard tail, heartleaf, fishwort, bishop's weed, and it has a heap of other common names too.  I usually just call it 'fish mint'.

Vietnamese Fishmint is a perennial vegetable that not at all related to mint.  It is edible and used as a vegetable or herb, it has a long history of medicinal use, as well as a long history as a remedy for poisoning.  

This is an essential vegetable in Vietnamese cooking, and appears to be eaten extensively in South East Asia.  This is very uncommon in Australia, yet extremely simple to grow and very productive.

Vietnamese fish mint in flower

Fish mint has a strong and rather distinctive smell.  Some people love the taste of fish mint, others not so much.  Some people liken its smell to oranges, others think it smells like fish, to others it smells like the gravel in the bottom of a fish tank.  

Vietnamese Fish Mint tends to be eaten raw, or only lightly cooked/wilted.  It does taste a lot like fish sauce, and can be used to make a vegetarian fish sauce.  When raw it tastes a bit too...I'm not sure how to explain it...perhaps too 'metallic' for my liking.  Once slightly cooked I prefer the taste.  Other people tell me they can't taste any of the metallic taste that I notice, so I guess it differs from person to person.  

Fish mint can be used to make a Vegan Fish Sauce.  Seriously!  How cool is that.  I found a recipe that I shared below, but if you have a better recipe and are willing to share it I would love to learn more.  

It is also used to make a medicinal "dokudami" herbal tea.  I have made this a few times, it tastes nice but I find the smell to be a little too strong for me.  My kids have tried the herbal tea, they like it.  I have made herbal tea using fish mint as well as other herbs such as lemon balm.  This was nicer, but I still found the fish mint to be overpowering.  

The rhizomes are used in a bunch of different herbal remedies, many of which have been proven to be effective.  Unfortunately I don't know how to make these medicines.  Presumably just eating the rhizome is enough to gain some benefit.  I find the rhizomes to be less overpowering than the leaves.  

Vietnamese Fish Mint 

Many animals, including chickens, quail, ducks, guinea pigs, sheep, and pigs gladly eat fish mint.  It has a lot of nutrients and some medicinal benefit.  Interestingly, fish mint has been demonstrated in many peer reviewed papers to protect chickens from bronchitis (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21848486/), as well as treat coccidiosis in chickens and lambs as effectively as commercial coccidiosis medication.  I am tempted to grow this in a hanging pot in the chicken run so the hens can get the benefits of an organic coccidiosis treatment.  

There are several varieties of this plant.  I grow the most vigorous green version with single flowers.  There is a green one with double flowers, and there is also a multicoloured variegated one that looks really pretty and spreads less vigorously.  I am told the green one is not only more vigorous, but also more potent.  My chickens gladly eat the leaves, but I don't give them many, so I am glad I grow the most potent version.  

The leaves of the variety I grow are green, heart shaped, and they look very similar to buckwheat leaves.  The flowers are white and not overly interesting.  Bees and other insects visit the flowers, but never seem overly keen on them.  I am happy to say that the variety I grow never produces viable seed. 

Fish mint on left, buckwheat on right 

Fish mint grows extremely vigorously.  Let me stress, it is extremely vigorous.  One or two pots of this plant will be more than enough for the average household.  I am happy to say mine does not set any viable seed, ever, which makes it much easier to control.  Never grow this in the soil or it will take over your yard, and your neighbour's yards, and every time you walk in the yard or mow it will smell like fish.  Grow it in a pot, but never in the garden bed.  

I grow most of my fish mint in a container, and the container is on pavers.  My main one is in a plastic tub that we drilled holes in, it's not very deep but it is wide to allow the plant to spread, but any plant pot would do.  The rhizomes will try to escape through the drainage holes, but they can't cross the pavers.  

I have been growing this plant for seven or eight years and it has never escaped on me.  I also grow some in pots on wire shelves in my greenhouse, but these are being grown out to sell at markets and through the post.  

Fish mint escaping it's pot

Fish mint does not produce seed, or at least the one I grow has not produced any seed in the time I have grown it.  This is not a problem because it is easily divided to produce more plants.  If it did produce seed I am not sure that I would be willing to grow it because it spreads so vigorously.  

This plant is not related to mint (Mentha sp) and does not taste or smell even vaguely similar to mint.  I believe the word 'mint' in its common name is probably due to the way it spreads aggressively via underground rhizomes like mint.  

As well as being easy to divide, this plant grows readily from cuttings.  Planting cuttings in soil seems to result in 100% strike rate if the soil is kept damp.  I have only tried striking a cutting in water once, this grew well for me but not as fast as the ones planted in soil.  

I have never tried to restore fertility and grow from seed.  I prefer that it does not produce seed as it stops it from escaping into my yard.  I have considered getting the prettier variegated form, but don't know if a second clone would increase the possibility of viable seed, so for that reason have resisted the urge to get the variegated form.

When grown in a pot, some rhizomes will try to escape through the drainage holes.  Any rhizomes that try to escape the drainage holes can be roughly torn off, planted in a pot of damp soil, and will produce more plants.  They grow very quickly from rhizomes and produce large healthy plants very fast.  

Fishmint rhizomes potted up and ready to grow

Fish mint grows well in part shade, and survives in full sun.  It seems to prefer damp areas, but does not need to be waterlogged to grow well.  I have heard it can be grown as an emergent water plant, but haven't grown it like that myself.

Mine gets pretty dry at times over summer, if it looks like it is burning off I give it some water and it bounces back quickly.  I imagine if the soil got too dry for an extended period it would die.  This plant has a strong will to live, and tends to recover easily from all kinds of poor treatment.  

I have seen fish mint growing in floating pots on a pond.  I love the looks of this, and think it would do well in cleaning the pond water when grown like this.  Care would need to be taken that the pot did not get too near the edge and allow the plant to set root into the mud on the bank, as it would be difficult to remove once it became established.  

Fishmint goes mostly dormant over the winters here.  I say 'mostly dormant', because some years all the above ground parts die back, and other years it just looks scraggly and keeps a few leaves here and there.  The underground rhizomes survive very cold temperatures, easily coping with -10C with frozen solid soil, and it grows vigorously once the warmer weather returns.  

I am told that people (often in the US) grow the weaker variegated version of fish mint under trees or near ponds where it looks lovely.  They soon regret this as it takes over the yard, and it smells like fish every time they mow.  This is where my hesitation to grow it in a floating pot on a pond comes from.

Spraying does not kill this plant, herbicides easily kill the above ground parts, and it quickly resprouts from many underground rhizomes.  This is a plant that does not want to die.  I have heard that it can survive under weed mat for years, and pop up once their is a rip in the weed fabric.  

The simple way to deal with this is don't grow it in the garden bed.  Grow it in a pot, and have the pot on pavers.  As I mentioned, mine has never escaped and I have grown it for seven or eight years.  

Vegan Fish Sauce Recipe 

I found a recipe for vegan fish sauce here, it is so simple.

Ingredients: 1 cup packed fish mint leaves; 3 Thai chili peppers; 2 cloves garlic; 1/3 cup sesame oil; 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar 

Instructions: Puree all ingredients in a food processor. Transfer to a bowl and serve.

Other Fish Mint Recipes 

I also found a recipe for Fish mint that uses rhizomes as well as leaves.  It also is very simple.

Ingredients: 1/4 cup shredded young fish mint leaves, 1/4 cup chopped fishmint rhizomes, 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon fried chili crisp or chilli oil, 1 tablespoon chopped coriander cilantro, 1 tablespoon chopped scallions.

Instructions: Combine all the ingredients and toss shredded fishmint leaves and rhizomes. Chill for 10 minutes before serving.

As well as another recipe that includes tofu.

Ingredients: 200 g fish mint stems, broken into 4 cm lengths (or lotus stems), 8 fried tofu cubes, 1 handful of chopped mint leaves, 1/2 cup coriander, roughly sliced, 1/2 cup garlic chives, roughly sliced, 1/2 cup red peppers, finely sliced 

Dressing: 3 tbsp light soy, 2 tbsp black vinegar, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2 spring onions, sliced, 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes, 3 garlic cloves, diced, 4 cm piece of ginger, finely sliced.

Instructions: To make the dressing, in a bowl, combine the light soy sauce, black vinegar, brown sugar, spring onion, chilli flakes, garlic and ginger. Stir well and set aside for a few minutes to infuse.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the fish mint stems, tofu, mint, coriander, garlic chives and red peppers. Add the dressing and toss to combine. Transfer to a serving platter.

I have only shared a few recipes above.  There seem to be a host of similar recipes around, plus many families have their own family recipes.  If you have a good recipe and are willing to share it let me know and I can add it.  

Vietnamese fish mint

I mentioned earlier that this plant is vigorous, and I find the smell to be overpowering.  Some people adore fish mint, so much so that they will drive an hour each way to pick up a plant from me.  

I don't want to detract from the many benefits of this plant, so please read my opinion of its smell while keeping in mind that different people like different things, and that some people adore fish mint.  Fish mint is also incredibly healthy to eat, both people and animals benefit from eating it, so please don't take my comments to mean that you should not grow and eat this.  

I really can't cope with the smell of fish mint.  It is too strong for me.  Even repotting this can be too much for me at times.  

Other people comment how they adore fish mint, and most people I sell it to rave about it.  I had a few people drive out to buy fish mint plants from me cry tears of joy.  They told me they cried because it is a taste of home, a very dear memory, and they were fearing that they would never be able to eat this again after moving to Australia.  

While I don't think anyone should ever grow this in the garden do to how rampantly it spreads, I think this is well worth growing to see if you like it.  If you like the taste it is increadbly healthy to eat.  I also know that this plant makes a cherished gift to Vietnamese or Chinese friends.  

This plant is very useful for making Vietnamese spring rolls, Pho, and dokudami herbal tea.  People who buy this from me often say that they are thankful that they will never be without it again.

I have been selling organically grown Fish Mint plants for years through my for sale page along with other perennial vegetables I have for sale in Australia.  If you are interested go and have a look.  I either sell small fish mint plants, well rooted cuttings, or dormant rhizomes, depending on the time of year.  If selling rhizomes I tend to include extras, they will all grow once it starts to warm a little.  Over winter they are mostly dormant, and look very shabby, but they grow like mad once the weather warms.  

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. 

100 Year Old Mint

From time-to-time, people contact me to tell me about some incredible vegetable that they are growing, sometimes it is an heirloom that has been growing in their family for years, and they generously ask if I would like it.  I don’t have unlimited space, as I get older I have less energy to look after things, and while my climate isn’t too bad it can be a bit harsh and unsuited to some plants.  

For these reasons I sometimes decline these very generous offers (and often I regret this decision later).  Other times I accept the generous offer and end up growing some amazing thing.  

Recently someone told me about a mint that they have grown in their family for over one hundred years.  They asked me if I would like to grow it.  

100 Year Old Mint

Mint is an edible herb that is also used medicinally.  Mint is perennial, it can grow virtually forever if conditions are right.  Most of the mint I grow is a few decades old at most, some varieties are far younger as they were only recently bred.  Being over one hundred years old, that is far older than any other variety I grow.  

I currently grow a few different types of mint.  Some of the fruity mints are fun, but do I really need another variety?  Also, I am trying to grow less things and invest less time in the garden.  

Growing several types of mint varieties is a bit of work as they have to be kept in pots, the pots must be off the ground to reduce chances of escape, the pots have to kept away from one another to prevent runners invading nearby pots, flower heads must be removed prior to seed drop to prevent thousands of genetically diverse seedlings sprouting and taking over.  I also tend to under utilise mint, we don't eat it or make tea from it very often. 

Even with all of this in mind, I was interested in this family heirloom mint. 

100 year old mint

Most mint is well suited to cool damp climates and struggles badly in heat and dry.  This mint is said to be better suited to heat, as evinced by having been grown in a dry area of South Australia for over a century.  

The taste of this variety is said to be part way between spearmint and peppermint.  A few other things about this mint variety also sounded good.  I think the thing that sold me on this variety is its history.  

This is a family heirloom that has been passed down generations for over a hundred years.  I love the idea of one hundred year old mint!  

Mint leaves - upper and lower surfaces

The leaves are are green and smooth with jagged edges.  They aren't fluffy, or crinkled, and I think I would be able to tell it apart from my other types of mint even from a distance.

I was sent some runners that arrived safely in the post.  I planted the runners in pots of soil, kept them in the shade for a few days after being posted, and watered well.  Other than watering it I just left it to do its thing.  

Like most mints, this is very vigorous and did a lot of growing pretty quickly.  

100 year old mint

As far as taste/smell goes, this is a good mint that to me tastes a lot like spearmint with a touch of peppermint.  

It will be very useful and versatile in making various dishes and drinks.  This variety also makes a refreshing herbal tea.  

Leaves from 100 yr old mint

I haven't grown this for long, so far it is doing everything that I want it to.  I will probably baby it a bit over its first winter just to be safe.  Given how vigorous it has been so far, I have no doubt it will easily thrive in my climate.  

Most of all, I love the history behind this particular mint.  

Water Celery Variegated vs Green

I have been growing water celery (Oenanthe javanica) for a long time.  I have had it since at least  2015, I possibly even grew it for a year or two prior to that. 

I grow the colourful and attractive variegated flamingo or rainbow form.  It has a bunch of common names including: water parsley, Java waterdropwort, Japanese parsley, Chinese celery, rainbow water parsley.  This is a very vigorous, and very simple to grow perennial vegetable.  

Interestingly, the native range of this perennial vegetable is a whole bunch of countries, including Australia.  

Variegated water celery

Water celery has amazingly strong growth, while it seems to prefer having its roots submerged and its leaves out of the water it can grow in deeper water as long as its leaves can reach the surface, or it can grow on 'dry land' like a regular vegetable.  

It handles hard frosts well, and tolerates extremely high temperatures if it has water.  Full sun and part shade both seem to work well for this plant.  

When water celery is grown in floating raft aquaponics it can be used to effectively filter the water.  I trialed it with my goldfish barrelponics and it worked well.  It can be used to filter grey water, it is good at removing pollutants due to its fast growth rate.  

Above all this, water celery is edible.  It tastes like mild celery, and loses much of the taste when cooked for too long so is best added towards the end of cooking.  

I am not a huge fan of celery, so tend not to eat much of it myself.  Chickens and guinea pigs and other animals enjoy eating water celery raw.  The times of year that we don't have much grass I feed handfulls of water celery to our animals.  While water celery is great in the compost, I prefer to feed it to the chickens as I think that is a better use.

For years I have grown the rather pretty variegated form, and it is a very vigorous plant.  I have heard when planted next to a pond it tends to take over somewhat.  

I am told that the pure green form is far more vigorous.  I originally wanted the green variety, but couldn't find it.  A few places sell this green one online, but I can't justify the price when I already grow the variegated one.  I had hoped mine would throw a non-variegated runner, but that hasn't happened yet.    

Variegated water celery growing out of its pot

My plants sometimes flower.  They start to set seed, then each year something happens and I don't get around to collecting any seed to grow.  Sometimes it gets too dry and the flowers are scorched, or something eats off the flower heads, or I just forget about it and have no idea what happened to the seed.

The last time my plants flowered, I forgot about them and they were largely covered by fallen leaves.  Recently I was clearing up that part of the garden and noticed a plant.  It looks like a tiny water celery seedling.  It appears to be entirely green.  I was lucky that I even saw this little one.  

This little plant is most likely seed grown.  

Dark green water celery

I carefully dug up this little plant, put it in a small pot, and moved it somewhere safe.  Since then it has grown very quickly and started to divide.  Hopefully it is even more vigorous than its variegated parent.  

The parent has pink stems, with light green leaves edged in white and pink or purple.  The colouration becomes more vivid in cooler weather.  It really is rather pretty.  

This little plant is darker green, with dark green stems and dark green leaves.  Presumably this darker green is from increased chlorophyll.  Extra chlorophyll means it should have a massive advantage when it comes to growth rate, and it should be more vigorous than its variegated parent.  

I can hardly wait to see what it can do.  

Non-variegated water celery

From here I hope this plant grows well, and in time I hope to divide it.  Given how much it has grown in a week I don't think this will take very long.  I haven't tasted this plant yet, hopefully it tastes a little stronger than the variegated one.  

I will try to post an update on this plant in a few months once it has had some time to do some growing and I have had a chance to eat a little of it.  

Green water celery

When I have divided this plant enough I would like to try some as the filter for my goldfish barrelponics as I think it may perform well there.  Vietnamese coriander grows exceptionally well in my barrelponics over the warmer months, but stops growing over winter.  

I have a feeling the green water celery may grow well over the cooler months, and a combination of Vietnamese coriander and green water celery should be an excellent water filter.  

Green Water Celery

Green water celery has grown and divided

I currently sell bare rooted plants of the variegated rainbow water celery, I have some perennial vegetables for sale and other interesting plants on my for sale page.  At some stage in the future I may also have some of the green version for sale.  I post perennial vegetable throughout Australia, but not to WA or Tasmania at this stage.  

Jekkas thyme variety comparison

I wrote a previous post comparing different varieties of thyme.  Some were clearly better than others, some were far more vigorous than others.  Out of all the varieties of thyme I have grown over the years, the real stand out has been Jekkas Thyme.  

In my climate, Jekka's thyme grows far more vigorously than any other thyme variety.  It grows more stems, each stem has more leaves, and each leaf is larger than regular thyme.  It has more flowers, and larger flowers than regular thyme.  In my climate Jekkas thyme quickly grows, it throws down roots wherever a node touches the soil, meaning it can form  dense and expanding clump quickly.  

Regular thyme on the left, jekkas thyme on the right

For me, I find both varieties taste and smell much the same, and they both change over the season.  I can't easily tell the difference in taste, perhaps Jekkas thyme is slightly stronger, but not significantly so.  I don't think the average gardener or home cook could tell the difference in taste.  Perhaps I'm wrong and some foodie will correct me on this point and smugly point out how one is ever so slightly more [something] than the other, or one has more subtle notes of [insert some term I have no idea what it means].  

Below are some photos of regular culinary thyme next to Jekka's thyme for comparison. You will get a good idea of what I mean about Jekkas thyme being a superior variety.  

Regular thyme comparison with Jekkas thyme

Take a look at the sprigs of thyme below.   Both plants were growing in my garden over the past few years and have been treated the same, so the difference is due to superior genetics.  

The two sprigs on the left are regular thyme, the two on the right are Jekkas thyme.  It is pretty easy to tell them apart even from a distance.  

Comparison of Thyme sprigs

What you can see clearly in these photos is that the leaves of Jekkas thyme are very large for a variety of thyme.  

Not only are the leaves far larger, but there are a lot more leaves per sprig.  Jekkas thyme tends to produce a lot more sprigs than regular thyme, and if allowed to will develop into a sprawling ground cover.  

I like to grow Jekkas thyme where it can trail over the side of things.  I really like how it looks when in bloom and cascading over the edge of a garden bed.  

Jekkas thyme blooming, good for bees

Raised garden bed draped in Jekka's thyme

Regular thyme vs Jekkas thyme

These varieties of thyme also flower differently.  I don't know the best way to describe this, but you can see that regular thyme flowers up the stalk.  The flowers are small, they are spaced out, and there are not many of them.  This means that bees or other pollinators need to do a lot of work to collect nectar and pollen from thyme flowers.   

Jekkas thyme mostly flowers in a dense clump at the end of a stalk.  There are more flowers, each flower is larger, and they are closer together.  I think this looks prettier.  

As there are more flowers, each flower with larger nectaries, bees collect nectar from them rather efficiently.  The bees spend less time searching for flowers (or less time and effort travelling between flowers) as the flowers are all there together.  This means they collect more honey, and they collect it faster.  This means more honey for the hive, and more time for the bees to be doing other things.  It is a win-win, the bees win twice.  

Thyme flower comparison

Rather than just mentioning how much more leaves you get from Jekkas thyme than regular thyme, I thought I would show photos of just how much more productive this variety is than regular thyme.  

I took two sprigs of thyme, and two sprigs of Jekkas thyme, stripped off the lower leaves, and put them in piles for comparison.  I don't tend to use the leaves at the very tips of the sprigs because the sprig tends to break if I try to pull them off.  

At this stage the remaining sprigs, with their few leaves, could be planted and grown into new plants.  

Yield comparison Jekkas thyme

The sprigs were all similar in length (the regular thyme sprigs may be ever so slightly longer), and the plants were grown under the same conditions in the same garden.  The difference in yield between the two varieties is quite remarkable.  

On the left are the small leaves of regular thyme.  On the right is a significantly larger pile of leaves from Jekka's thyme.  There is simply no comparison in terms of yield.  

If you are going to bother growing any edible herb, you may as well grow an improved variety that provides more food for the same amount of time and effort.  

While Jekkas thyme used to be rare and difficult to find in Australia, I am glad to say that it is now easy to find.  Most garden shops seem to sell it, as do a few online plant sellers.  I also sell Jekkas thyme plants through my for sale page and it easily survives postage with no issues if it is given some water to get it established.  

Giant Parsley Breeding

A few years ago I started breeding giant parsley (Petroselinum crispum).  Parsley used to be a common garnish when I was a child.  When I was a little older a sprig of parsley used to be put on steaks or other meals at restaurants, with the intention that it was discarded rather than eaten.  Since then it has fallen even more out of favour.  Some people still grow parsley, and a few eat it, but it is a largely underutilised crop.  

I wanted to develop a new variety of parsley to be big and productive, so it could be primarily used as a leaf vegetable.  Eventually I had a variety (albeit not a completely stable variety) of comically large parsley that dwarfs any of the 'giant' varieties.  The taste of this huge parsley is much like other flat leaf varieties, perhaps a little stronger. 

Then, for a number of reasons, I stopped my breeding project.  I felt my parsley was getting too big.  I stopped selecting for larger plants, and other than picking leaves I mostly ignored my parsley and let it do its own thing.   

Parsley almost as long as my arm

Parsley is great.  It is simple to grow and in my garden it self seeds reliably.  For this reason I still have a lot of parsley around, all of which is descended from my giant parsley breeding project.  As there were a few generations with no selective pressure, there may have been some genetic drift.  Some plants are far larger than others.

Recently I spoke to someone who wanted a giant parsley and complained about how tiny and unimpressive 'Giant of Italy' parsley is.  He convinced me that there is merit in making parsley huge.  

After that conversation I went to my garden and looked to see what size parsley I have to work with if I ever wanted to increase its size again.  

As you can see, I still have some plants with reasonable size.  According to Wikipedia, Parsley leaves grow 10cm to 25cm long in its first year.  My parsley produce leaves that are far larger than that.  The leaf above is almost as long as my arm!  I measured a few leaves from my largest plants, and they were over 60cm long.  Some were about 67cm long.  

Parsley leaf around 66cm (26 inch) long

Parsley leaf about 67cm (26 inch) long

This parsley is still pretty big.  I have a number of plants around this size, and between them they probably have all the genetic potential to get a bit larger if I put in some effort.  I also have some smaller plants, I won't be allowing these to flower so their genes won't be in the mix. 

I once wondered if parsley petioles (leaf stalks) could be large enough to be used instead of celery stalks.  I had put some effort into breeding for fatter petioles and they were getting quite thick.  All of the leaf stalks in the celery at the moment are still a bit thin.  Most are about 1cm to 1.5cm thick.  This is still a lot thicker than the stuff you find in the supermarket, but not thick enough to replace celery.  At this stage I am undecided if I care too much about how thick the stalks are.

The parsley plant itself gets rather large and bushy.  I put a tape measure from the soil to give a bit of perspective.  For most of its growing season they are about two feet tall.  This is too large to grow on a windowsill, but it is a good size to grow in the garden or a large pot.  As you can see, it has a lot of leaves that can be picked.

Over the years I have had a lot of people come to my house to buy plants and seeds.  Some of these people have been gardening since before I was born.  My giant parsley astounds everyone who sees it.  Some people have to pick some and taste it before they can believe that it is even parsley.  

When this parsley flowers it can get very tall.  They tower over me when they are in bloom.  I am not exactly sure how tall they get as I never particularly cared how tall they reach and never measured them.  Flowering height is not something I would put any breeding effort into, but I should measure it one day just out of curiosity.  

Some leaves have a lot of stem and not enough leaf.  Others have a lot of leaf and not too much stem.  I never paid a great deal of attention to this as I believe it may be highly influenced by the growing environment.  

You can eat the stems, or feed them to animals.  As well as being healthy for people to eat, parsley is great for animals.  Parsley leaves and stems are loved by our guinea pigs.  Our chickens also eat the parsley stems, but they much prefer the leaves.  If nothing else, the stems are good in the compost, so there is no waste. 

Over two feet tall

Look at the size of this monster

I find it odd how simple parsley is to grow, how productive and nutritious it is, yet how rarely we use parsley as a leaf vegetable.  Parsley leaves have a lot of vitamins and minerals, according to research it is very high in Calcium, Iron, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin A.  

Just 5.5 grams of fresh parsley, which is about 1.5 tablespoons, provides the recommended daily intake of Vitamin K.  

Parsley contains 133mg Vitamin C per 100 grams, which is higher than oranges which have about 50mg per 100 grams.  

Parsley has about 138mg calcium per 100 grams, while cows milk has about 120mg calcium per 100 grams.  

Parsley contains around 6.2 milligrams of iron per 100 grams. To put this in perspective, spinach only has about 2.7mg of iron per 100 grams.  

I find it strange to think that parsley is mostly used as a garnish in this country when it has the potential to be something so much more.  It is so easy to grow and apparently very nutritious.  Each leaf of my parsley is absolutely massive, and with a little more breeding work they would get a bit larger.  

My giant parsley

Parsley this big should be more than a garnish

I used to know someone who bred rabbits for meat.  He used to feed the young rabbits parsley to increase their growth rates.  He said that parsley's high levels of calcium helped their bones grow fast so they could get up to full size quickly.  He would also feed parsley to lactating mothers to increase their milk supply and because he thought the high amounts of iron would help them recover from birthing.  I have no idea if this is true or not, but it makes sense to me.  

I wish I was growing this huge parsley back then and could have given him some seeds.  One of these giant plants has the potential to produce more leaves than a large plot of regular flat leaf parsley.  

Parsley is an underrated herb

I sell seeds of my parsley through my for sale page.  It is not a stable variety, and may produce a few regular size plants.  It will also produce a lot of extra large plants, and a few mammoth plants.  They all taste the same, just prevent the smaller plants from flowering and you will ensure that each year your plants will be large.  If you want to grow a giant parsley that is edible and will impress people, then this is for you.  

Semi Aquatic Vegetables

A few years ago we bought a 'self watering' pot.  I put a nice fern in it.  After a short while I needed to transplant the fern into something else as it started to die.

Unlike other self watering pots that we have which work perfectly, this one was poorly designed and does not work.  The soil gets all swampy and wet, which rots and kills most plants.  There is no little gap for air/drainage, and is essentially a pot with no drainage.

Instead of throwing away this pot, I decided to try and grow some water loving herbs and vegetables.  Perhaps they would like to grow in this pot.

I have some things such as Vietnamese coriander, water celery, fish mint, and various types of mint that I know would do well in here.  I also suspect that water chestnuts would do well in there.  I didn't want to grow any of these as they are doing so well under other conditions.

I also have a few other edible plants that do ok where I currently grow them, but I think may thrive in this pot.  Hopefully I will stumble across a better way to grow these plants.  

I decided to try willowherb (Epilobium parviflorum), Watercress (Nasturtium officinale), Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica), Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri), and Kangkong (Ipomoea aquatica).  All of these plants are known for loving water and growing on the edge of ponds or even growing submerged with their leaves out of the water.  I hope one or more of these will be well suited to this bog garden life.

Other than kangkong which were transplanted seedlings, all the others were cutting grown.  The first photos were taken 23 December.  Everything is looking limp after being transplanted the previous day.

Willowherb, Watercress, Gotu kola, Brahmi, and Kangkong

Everything was pretty small

The next photos were taken 04 January.  In under two weeks the plants have grown very fast!  

The willowherb is slowly growing, and the Gotu Kola hasn't done a great deal yet.  You can't really tell from the photo but the Brahmi has done a lot of growing over the two weeks.  Both Watercress and Kang Kong appear to be loving this new pot and their growth is rocketing along.

Less then two weeks of growth

Willowherb, Watercress, Gotu kola, Brahmi, and Kangkong

For soil I just used what I cleaned out of a drain that is in front of the garage.  It is mostly made up of soil and leaf litter that has been broken into small pieces.  This soil has weed seeds in it so I remove grass etc as it germinates.  Other than that it seems ideal for this purpose.  It holds water well, seems pretty fertile, and has plenty of organic matter that will break down to release further nutrients over time.

I am growing this little pot of herbs and vegetables in my greenhouse.  It is pretty warm in there over summer but also has some shade from the sun.  

The photos below were taken 13 January after three weeks of growth.  

The water cress is the standout and is growing like mad, it is flowering, and spilling over the sides of the pot.  Before I took these photos I had already been removing some of the watercress.  

The kangkong seems to be growing well and has large fat leaves but not much stem length.  Hopefully I get to eat some kangkong this year as well as grow the plants large enough to over winter in the greenhouse.

Brahmi seems to be growing well and has almost covered the surface of the soil.  I'm surprised that it is not flowering yet.  I quite like brahmi but it doesn't grow fast enough for my liking.

Willowherb is getting longer leaves and is larger overall.  This plant seems to be dividing, which is what I was hoping for.  

Gotu kola seems to have disappeared.  I think the runner I used was too tiny and may not have had enough roots, so I may put in another plant to see how it goes.    

Three weeks of growth

Kangkong growing larger, water cress spilling over the sides

Watercress flowering

After seven weeks I took the pictures below.  

Kangkong is looking healthy and getting bigger, but growing far slower than I would like.  I had hoped that my kangkong would be large enough to harvest by now, but it isn't.  I can pick a few leaves here and there, but not enough.  If it is going to have any chance of survival the kangkong will need to get larger before winter.

The watercress is spilling over the sides, flowering, and dropping seed.  I have allowed some of the seed to drop into the pot.  I have also harvested some of the watercress.  Water cress seems to be well suited to life in this pot.

Gotu Kola is in there, and appears to be alive, but isn't doing a great deal of anything.  I really should have tried this using a larger plant with more established root system.

The brahmi is in there, and flowering, but it is not all that huge and its growth is not at all rampant.  I have a feeling that brahmi needs a little more shade than this pot is getting.

The willow herb is getting big.  It has grown a bit of a stem and is reaching over the side of the pot, it now has long leaves, and appears to be dividing.  I think willowherb is well suited to life in this pot.

After seven weeks

Willow herb on left, kangkong on right 

This pot constantly has wet soil and there is water in the reservoir.  Unlike good self-watering pots this one has no space for air/drainage, so it functions more like a pot with no drainage hole.  If plants work well in here I can replicate the setup by getting a pot of soil and putting it in an ice cream container or something with a little water in it.

From this early progress it appears that some of these plants should flourish in this pot.  Hopefully this proves true over the longer term and is not just things doing well in the short term.  

From here I plan to keep it growing, harvest what I want, and see what survives winter.