Been hearing from friends...here's the good news "Indian Shallot" is a TRULY perennial multiplier, tops die back in summer, lift bulbs and store else they will rot.(I feel 99% sure it is a "Potato Onion", which is a shallot cultivar). Allium canadense truly perennial for me and others for years now IF grown in DAMP soil, tops die back in May, no need to lift the bulbs. "Chinese Chives" (allium tuberosum) super reliable, almost invasive but some folks not wild about the taste. I can deal with small amounts, tends to remind me of Society Garlic, which is not an Allium My strain of Allium fistulosum is proving reliably perennial for me and others, grows year round, great seed setter. Jury still out on a few strains of Potato Onions we are trialing but looks hopeful. Tops die back in early summer, lift bulbs else they rot. Chris moved to Live Oak, is trying some there in that colder climate. "Eliska's Bunching Onion" a good multiplier, truly perennial, good seed setter......VERY close to my A. fistulosum, possibly the same. Been growing a Mystery Onion from Jon and Debbie Butts a few months now....definitely multiplying all summer, Jon says about 1 of every 12 makes a viviparous reproductive stalk much like that of Allium canadense. Now the bad news: After growing EXTREMELY vigorously at H.E.A.R.T. in Lake Wales for just under a year, the base species of Perennial Sweet Leek (Allium amperalosum sp?) that Josh Jamison grew in large numbers, have now all apparently died and vanished. I checked mine yesterday.....still alive but has actually gotten smaller. BUMMER as the flavor was excellent and the clumps were huge and grew FAST from seed and division. He gets MUCH colder there than I do in south Tampa, is in a bowl, gets teens now and then, but even that extra chilling did not seem to help it be perennial. See pics.

I have a few friends who love to make fermented foods of many kinds, and Paul and I have been having fun making differing kimchis. I've gotten VERY fond of raw green papayas as it gives me CRUNCHY kimchi vs. the usual soft, almost mushy texture of the store bought Chinese cabbage kimchi. Today I started a big new batch of green papaya kimchi, but I am trying 4 new things.....vs. soaking the chopped veggies overnight in brine then draining and rinsing, I just tossed them with the amount of salt I want to REMAIN in the kimchi. My goal is to make my kimchis less salty, in part because I tend towards moderate high blood pressure, and also so I can taste more the flavors. For the first time I am flavoring/coloring a kimchi with genuine Korean red pepper powder...has little heat so am likely to add the last bit of homemade habanero sauce...into my biggest Bullet blender went some water, a whole small ginger root, several LARGE cloves of garlic, roasted sesame oil, approx. heaping tablespoon of sugar for taste and to feed the bacteria. Tomorrow afternoon I'll squeeze out the salty water, mix in the flavoring goodies in the Bullet blender, and pack it all into quart jars. The third new thing I am doing is that I'll inoculate one of the jars with a spoonful of Lifeway kefir and will label that jar as such. I MAY inoculate another quart with maybe 1/2 cup kombucha. The mix of veggies is: raw green papaya, yellow onions and carrots run through the food processor (I have yet to get the hang of the mandoline slicer), chopped onion leaves and daikon leaves and Giant Red Mustard leaves. I won't taste any of the jars until February. The 4th new thing I am doing is I will let one quart sit on the counter at root temp for a week before it goes into the fridge.

Don't forget this Sunday's meeting of the Tampa Rare Fruit Council, visitors are welcome. Topic is propagation. Folks love the free seeds table, the plant raffle table and fruits for sale at the front door, the potluck is always over the top good. Nermina Krneta I'll have seeds of mixed winter veggies plus cuttings of "Pink Cracker Rose" and 'Cramoisi Superieur' for you, Paul Zmoda I'll have cuttings of "Gray Street Grape" for you, and Sarah Reagan Palm I'll have Jamaican Cherry cuttings for you. Years ago I felt that the name of this fine fun group does not do it service as our members often have strong interests in veggies and herbs too. Hard to beat the scenic location facing Tampa Bay and downtown Tampa there on Bayshore Blvd.

http://www.rarefruit.org/

'Giant Red Mustard' does not have much wasabi-style heat when it is young like this, just a touch. The leaves are beautiful in salads. The wasabi heat REALLY kicks in when a foot or more tall, hottest just before it bolts in spring.

This is poison, not food!

http://www.thelibertybeacon.com/2013/10/29/new-gmo-wheat-may-silence-vital-human-genes/

I'm going to risk sounding like an "old know it all" but I DO want to share what I feel is a valid thing to keep in mind. Some gardeners are trying crops here that thrive in much colder climates and I do too as trying "risky" crops (like my Windmill palm tree and "Florida" roses in my Denver yard) is a great way to learn and I am glad to see folks doing that. But bear in mind that sometimes the first year a northern perennial does well here, leading some exuberant folks to declare "this and such does fine in Florida". Often, they falter in year two or three due to lack of winter chill, or even in year four as happened with the VERY promising strain of Egyptian Multiplier Onion that Allen Boatman brought in and shared....first three years it thrived in ALL test gardens, large scale and small scale, then as we entered year 4 the bottom fell out in all test plots! I'm not saying don't experiment...DO and share the results. But I've gardened in Michigan, New Mexico, north Florida by the Georgia border and my first veggie garden was here in 1967 when I was in 9th grade, and feel that we should not forget that many/most northern perennials ARE northern perennials because they NEED winter chill. But I know a woman in Weekee Wachee who has gotten bearded iris from her summer home in Illinois to make it past that third year! It was my 15 years in Denver that I came to appreciate the role of winter dormancy for the longevity of MANY plants like peonies, lilacs, forsythia, hydrangeas, Oriental Poppies, tulips, daffodils, rhubarb, apples, pear, plums, asparagus, cherries, Concord grapes, comfrey, bearded iris and MANY other perennial flowers and herbs, raspberries, plus a vast number of roses....on and on and on. Sadly, northern folks move here to retire and end up badly missing so many of them, having assumed they grow here in "the land of flowers". Not lecturing, just sharing some experiences of mine with brave new gardeners.

My lifelong favorite leek, I started a flat today, one packet from this great company contains 1,000 seeds! In past winters I grew them in token amounts.....this year I want to try them in borders out front with the roses and nasturtiums plus of course in container gardens out back. I can imagine some wonderful soups made with them and true yams. (Dioscorea species).

http://www.everwilde.com/store/American-Flag-Leek-Seeds.html