Grow Your Own Achocha
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Achocha - lost crop of the Incas
Achocha was one of the food crops grown by the Incas that never became popular in modern times. But achocha is an easy and attractive plant to grow, providing food, screening and a talking point for your garden.
Achocha is also an easy plant to save seeds from - so you only need to buy seeds once and then you can share with all your friends!
Achocha is also an easy plant to save seeds from - so you only need to buy seeds once and then you can share with all your friends!
Find your Lost Crop here!
- Grow your own achocha
- Achocha: An Alternative to Green peppers
- Source seeds via eBay
- Save achocha seed
- The star of the show!
- Plants for a Future: the website
- Plants for a Future: the book
- The Heritage Seed Library
- Exploding Cucumber
- Real Seeds
- How To Grow Achocha
- Growing Unusual Vegetables
- Achocha links
- The Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-known Plants of the Andes With Promise for Worldwide Cultivation
- Have you discovered this lost crop? Let me know!
Grow your own achocha
How to Grow Achocha
Achocha (Cyclanthera species) is a member of the Curcubit family of plants, like squash and cucumbers. It's an easily grown climber which will make an interesting screen in your garden. The flowers are small, but loved by hoverflies (beneficial garden insects) and achocha produces a prolific harvest of fruits in late summer.Read more about growing achocha in your garden.
Achocha: An Alternative to Green peppers
Achocha is an easily grown and productive crop
Whilst achocha is a member of the same plant family as cucumbers and squashes, its taste is often described as being like green sweet peppers. If you have problems growing peppers (because of your climate, or those pesky pests) then you might want to try achocha as an easily grown and very productive alternaitve. If this idea appeals to you then hop over to Cottage Smallholder and read Achocha: an easy alternative to growing sweet green peppers. Source seeds via eBay
If you're having trouble tracking down achocha seeds, keep an eye on eBay as they are often offered for auction.
Save achocha seed
Saving your own seed from achocha is easy
If you've tracked down a source of achocha seed, and grown your own plants, then the next step is to save your own seed - so you have a supply for next year, and you can share this wonderful plant with fellow gardeners!
Saving seed from achocha couldn't be easier.
The first step is to harvest some ripe achocha fruits, that have reached their full size.
Next you split them open, to reveal the mature seeds inside. They are large, hard and either black or dark brown.
Simply extract the seeds and put them on a plate to dry for a couple of days. Once they're dry they will store until next year, and you can pack them safely away or send them off to your friends.
Saving seed from achocha couldn't be easier.
The first step is to harvest some ripe achocha fruits, that have reached their full size.Next you split them open, to reveal the mature seeds inside. They are large, hard and either black or dark brown.Simply extract the seeds and put them on a plate to dry for a couple of days. Once they're dry they will store until next year, and you can pack them safely away or send them off to your friends. The star of the show!
Learn About Achocha with the Alternative Kitchen Garden Show
Achocha is such a wonderful plant that it's the star of its own episode of the Alternative Kitchen Garden show! Listen in to find out where to find seeds, how to grow achocha and all about it's close relative - the exploding cucumber! Plants for a Future: the website
Edible, medicinal and useful plants for a healthier world
The Plants for a Future project aims to develop lesser known food and non-food plants into useful crops and protect our environment. The online PFAF database is a valuable resource for everyone interested in plants, although for browsing I prefer to read the book (see below).Read the PFAF entry for achocha.
Plants for a Future: the book
Edible & Useful Plants for a Healthier World
Ken Fern's encyclopedic work on hundreds of temperate plants that are edible or otherwise useful, with emphasis on perennial plants.
Plants for a Future: Edible & Useful Plants for a Healthier World
Amazon Price: $38.51 (as of 05/27/2012)
The Heritage Seed Library
A great source of heritage seeds
In the UK, one of the main sources for achocha is Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library. The HSL has seeds for Lady's Slipper achocha. You have to join the HSL to get hold of any of their seeds - but your membership fee entitles you to choose 6 packets of seed from their catalog. You usually get a 7th packet free as well. Exploding Cucumber
The exploding cucumber is a close relative of achocha - but a little more dangerous to grow!
curated content from YouTube
Real Seeds
The best vegetable seeds for the kitchen garden
Achocha seeds are most often available from companies who supply heirloom/ heritage vegetable seeds.One such company in the UK is Real Seeds, who supply open pollinated vegetables suitable for the UK climate so that kitchen gardeners can save their own seeds for future use.
Real Seeds supplies seeds for Fat Baby achocha and its close relative the exploding cucumber.
How To Grow Achocha
A quick guide for the time poor!
Achocha is a climbing plant that is related to melons and cucumbers. An easy plant to grow, achocha was one of the food plants of the Incas and provides plentiful edible fruits in late summer. A vigorous climber, it makes a very good screen and provides a talking point for your garden.How to Grow Achocha
Growing Unusual Vegetables
Weird And Wonderful Vegetables And How to Grow Them
One of the few books to give detailed growing instructions for achocha, along with some details about its history and harvesting and cooking tips. And if you get a taste for unusual edibles, there are plenty more here to try!
Growing Unusual Vegetables: Weird And Wonderful Vegetables And How to Grow Them
Amazon Price: $23.88 (as of 05/27/2012)
Growing Unusual Vegetables is for gardeners who like to try something different. In this book they will find more than ninety unusual plants, all of them edible. The book is divided into sections on greens, roots, fruits, seeds, grains, and flavorings for easy reference. Each plant entry comes complete with comprehensive cultivation instructions, hardiness zones, and fascinating notes on the plant's origin, history, and uses.
With this indispensable guide, you can turn your garden into a unique storehouse of useful and unusual edible plants, many of which are surprisingly easy to grow.
Achocha links
- Caigua - Cyclanthera pedata - Caihua - Cyclanthera pedata - Achocha - Cyclanthera pedata - Achoccha - Cyclanthera pedata - Korila - Cyclanthera pedata
- Indepth referenced information on Caigua - Cyclanthera pedata in the Raintree Online Plant Database
- You Grow Girl: Gardening for the People
- Joshua's journal
- PFAF
- The entry for achocha in PFAF's database of useful plants
- How To Grow Achocha | How To Do Things.com
- Add a little history to your garden by planting achocha, one of the food plants of the Incas. It's an easy-to-grow climber that provides plentiful fruits in late summer.
- Growing achocha
- The home of Emma Cooper's organic gardening blog and articles and The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast
- The Gardening Guild
- The Gardening Guild, dedicated to the organic practices and philosophies of natural gardening
- Real Seeds
- The Real Seed Catalogue - The best vegetable seeds for the Kitchen Garden - supplies seeds for 'Fat Baby' achocha and its close relative, the exploding cucumber.
- Heritage Seed Library
- Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library is one of the main sources of achocha seeds in the UK.
The Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-known Plants of the Andes With Promise for Worldwide Cultivation
Discover more lost crops!
This fascinating, readable volume is filled with enticing, detailed information about more than 30 different Incan crops that promise to follow the potato's lead and become important contributors to the world's food supply. Some of these overlooked foods offer special advantages for developing nations, such as high nutritional quality and excellent yields. Many are adaptable to areas of the United States.
Lost Crops of the Incas includes vivid color photographs of many of the crops and describes the authors' experiences in growing, tasting, and preparing them in different ways. This book is for the gourmet and gourmand alike, as well as gardeners, botanists, farmers, and agricultural specialists in developing countries.
Lost Crops of the Incas includes vivid color photographs of many of the crops and describes the authors' experiences in growing, tasting, and preparing them in different ways. This book is for the gourmet and gourmand alike, as well as gardeners, botanists, farmers, and agricultural specialists in developing countries.
The Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-known Plants of the Andes With Promise for Worldwide Cultivation
Amazon Price: $42.50 (as of 05/27/2012)
Have you discovered this lost crop? Let me know!
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DementiaAdventure
Dec 4, 2011 @ 5:04 pm | delete
- Love your lens, we grew exploding cucumbers last year and have all sorts of unusual seeds on the go.
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SmartChica
Jan 22, 2011 @ 1:12 pm | delete
- I grew up in the Southwest US with all kinds of squash but had never heard of achocha. Thanks for the lens and information Emma.
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Fluffymuppet
Aug 17, 2008 @ 3:29 am | delete
- Great lens! I can't wait to try growing achocha.
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by EmmaCooper
I am the author of 'The Alternative Kitchen Garden: An A to Z'. Check out my gardening blog, more gardening articles and the AKG podcast on my website:... more »
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