Food Forests and gardens: Asteraceae

Food forests and gardens

The food forest gardening approach is the creation of systems which are productive and abundant yet which require very little maintenance. It is entirely possible to design and plant a forest which, within a relatively short period of time is productive and relatively self-maintaining.
By exploiting the premise of companion planting, trees, shrubs and herbs can be intermixed to grow on multiple levels in the same area, as do the plants in a forest.
We can consciously apply the principles of ecology to the design of home scale gardens that mimic forest ecosystem structure and function, but at the same time grow food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer and medicine.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Asteraceae

The Asteraceae or Compositae, ("aster" means "star") also referred to as the aster, daisy, or sunflower family, is the largest family of vascular plants. Vascular plants are those containing lignin in their stems. Lignin is one of the most slowly decomposing components of dead vegetation, contributing a major fraction of the material that becomes humus as it decomposes. This obviously makes these plants excellent for mulch.
This family includes medicinal plants such as arnica, burdock, boneset, calendula, chamomile, chicory, mug/cronewort, coltsfoot, dandelion, echinacea, elecampane, feverfew, goldenrod, gravel root, grindelia, liferoot, milk thistle, tansy, yarrow, valerian, wormwood, and wild lettuce.
It offers us delicious foods: sunflower seeds, lettuces, true artichokes, sun chokes (also known as jerusalem artichokes), escarole, and endive. And, it is one of the landscaper's favorite families, for many Asteraceae--such as chrysanthemums, dahlias, bachelor's buttons, daisies, cosmos, coneflowers, goldenrods, sunflowers, zinnias, and, of course, asters--bloom for months with colorful hardy flowers, and many are perennial, too.
The older name for this family tells the tale more clearly: Compositae. Each bloom is composed of hundreds of tiny flowers. With a hand lens, you can look closely at an Asteraceae blossom and see the many tiny flowers crowded together that make up the larger "flower."