Growing Salsify

[drewskimac]

I just ordered a packet of salsify seeds and I am excited to try growing it for the first time. Does anybody here have any experience with growing it? Do I treat it similar to carrots?

 

[R2elk]

I just ordered a packet of salsify seeds and I am excited to try growing it for the first time. Does anybody here have any experience with growing it? Do I treat it similar to carrots?

Salsify grows wild here. I have never tried to grow it but it comes up all over the place from its dandelion like seeds blowing in the wind. Here it is a xeric plant that does not grow in my garden since the garden gets too much water for it to survive.

 

[drewskimac]

Interesting! Do you know how long it takes to be ready for harvest? I will probably grow it in random sunny spots rather than in the garden as to avoid overwatering it.

 

[R2elk]

Interesting! Do you know how long it takes to be ready for harvest? I will probably grow it in random sunny spots rather than in the garden as to avoid overwatering it.

Sorry I never harvested it. It does have a decent sized root in the fall after it goes to seed.

 

[lazy gardener]

Any one know how it tastes? For novelty this season, I'm growing a leaf cabbage, Sorrel, Horseradish, and egg plant.

 

[peckpeckpeck]

Yes you can grow salsify like carrots.

I heard it tastes like oysters, but I don't know from experience since the smell of oysters always made me nauseous.
Let me know how it tastes. Now that O can stomach oysters, maybe I will try it.

 

[lazy gardener]

No oysters for me, either. That would be enough to put me off from eating any vegetable. But, taste is in the mouth of the beholder... or something like that!

 

[R2elk]

The only thing I do with salsify is take pictures of the blooms.

 

[lazy gardener]

Pretty. I have not seen anything like that here.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I have not grown it yet, but it is on my list of 2019 experimentation crops. Will Bonsall (growing in Zone 4B) has written about it extensively in his Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening.

He says two species are referred to as "salsify": the "true" one Tragopogon porrifolius, and the false/black one Scorzonera hispanica. Both are slow-growing, cold-hardy biennials grown mostly for the roots, though the flower buds (second year) are edible, too. He recommends as early a planting as possible as they do not grow quickly. Additionally he says (especially of the false/black type) can actually grow their root when left to overwinter in the ground) making a better harvest the following spring, than if harvested in the fall.

I've got too many experiments this year to let me get to salsify, but I'm looking forward to trials in the future. Good luck!

P.S. He says that in his opinion it doesn't really taste like oysters Who knows!