What unusual vegetables can be successfully grown in our climate?

Manduria

It’s not a cucumber, it’s not a melon. An interesting vegetable that can be eaten both green and ripe. In the first case, it tastes like a cucumber, and in the second, like a sweet melon.

The peculiarity of this vegetable is that you will get a harvest in any case, even if the summer turned out to be cold and rainy. And all this is due to the short growing season of Manduria.

To ensure that the plant takes root, experienced gardeners recommend planting it through seedlings in April. You can plant it directly in open ground, but you should do it only after the soil has warmed up. The best time is late May – early June.

Okra

This vegetable came to us from Africa. Outwardly, it resembles small pepper pods. But the taste of okra is indistinguishable from our native zucchini.

It can be used to make soups, salads and even preserves for the winter. And green okra seeds can be used instead of canned peas.

But before ordering seeds online and preparing seedlings, carefully study the growing conditions for such an exotic vegetable, as it is quite picky and does not tolerate drafts.

Hedgehog cucumber

This vegetable from the pumpkin family is difficult to confuse with any other plant. It, like the previous one, came to us from Africa. This annual plant surprises not only with its appearance, but also with its taste, which is somewhat reminiscent of bitter melon. True, there is practically no bitterness in it, only light astringent notes.

It is recommended to put supports for such a plant so that it curls beautifully upwards.

In some sources, you can find information that this is an exclusively decorative vegetable. But in reality, it can be pickled like regular cucumbers, frozen, and added to salads fresh.

Pepino

This is a distant relative of potatoes and tomatoes. To get a harvest from this overseas vegetable, you need to plant it not in the spring, as usual, but at the end of September. However, be prepared for the fact that pepino will ripen quite a long time. Although the first ovaries on it appear at the same time as traditional tomatoes.

Kassabanana

By the way, all experienced summer residents know about this exotic vegetable. After all, only a lazy person wouldn’t plant it just a couple of years ago, since cassabanana was very popular.

Such excitement was caused by the fact that the vegetable resembles our eggplant in shape, pumpkin in taste, and melon in aroma.

Cassabanana is very demanding in terms of temperature. The ideal growing temperature for it is +25 – +30 degrees, but at +10 degrees it completely stops growing and sheds its leaves.

It is recommended to plant it only if you have the time and desire to prepare special fertilizer for cassabanana, monitor the soil temperature, and water it regularly. Otherwise, you won’t be able to wait for the harvest.

Chufa

Or, more simply, ground almonds. This is an option for those who don’t like to bother much, but want to have some exoticism in their garden.

Chufa is a small tuber of roots, from which, later, a grass similar to sedge grows. But unlike its relative, the ground almond needs to be grown in protected soil, since it does not tolerate even the slightest frost.

Fennel

This vegetable seemed like an incredible curiosity just a couple of years ago, but now it can be found in almost every garden. The main thing is not to confuse it with dill, because they are very similar in appearance. But the difference is that in fennel, it is the thick heads (roots) that are considered edible.

Remember that this vegetable reacts extremely poorly to transplantation, so try to reduce their number to a minimum.

If the plot allows, then move away from the usual vegetables and try to grow something unusual and exotic. So that there is something to surprise relatives and neighbors with. In addition, not all foreign vegetables and plants require colossal care.