The 100 Species Challenge

Melissa Wiley posted this week about the 100 Species Challenge which was originally proposed in this post by scsours. Participants take as long as they need to identify 100 species of vegetation that grow within walking distance of their home. Through our gardening efforts over the last two years, our family has learned a lot about the native plants of our region and I’m excited about attempting to name 100 species that grow in our neighborhood in Asheville, NC. It will be a great project to work on during our homeschool days (M is going to kindergarten 3 days/week) this fall.

You can see a list of participants here.

Here are our first three species all of which we are growing in our yard:

1) These are nasturtiums. The flowers and the leaves are edible, and we’ve had them in many salads during the spring and summer.

2) These are Mountain Fresh tomatoes. This picture was taken several weeks ago. We are now brining in plenty of ripe ones.

3) This is kohlrabi. We first discovered this vegetable at our local farmer’s market. It grows easily in our region. The root and the leaves are edible. The root is tasty raw on salad or with a dip, and it can also be cooked and masked like a potato or turnip.