Stuck in the middle.........

[offdalip]

of Southern Washington. in Klickitat county.

33 inches of rain a year. for every mile you go east, there's an inch less of rain.
for every mile you go west add another inch of rain.

What perrenials would you plant that requires minimal outside help on a south facing property?
Summers here are dry and sunny, rain and overcast much of the rest of the year....

[darwinslair]

daylillies.  trees.  grape vines.

[opsec]

Blueberries, Raspberries.

[offdalip]

Blueberries, Raspberries.

Those already grow wild all over the area here, all I need to do is forage.

Grapes also grow in abundance around here but not natively, they are vineyards
that are tended to for winemaking.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Grow Quinoa as an ornamental (the flowers and sometimes leaves of some varieties are quite colorful), then eat the grain.

Doesn't need irrigation at all in Western WA. 33 should be enough for it. You plant it, water it or let the rain rain on it, and that's about it. Survives from groundwater after that.

Doesn't like heat, so watch that. Should be OK but if it refuses to set seed you know why. The pollen dies at sustained 90s F weather.

Needs to ripen into dry weather, so dry late summer is good. Fall rains problematic.

For pure ornamentals, grow Hollyhocks. They come from a similar climate...little warmer. They're biennials, actually, but fairly self-sowing, and sometimes live a few extra years.

Some of the natives of that part of the world quite attractive. Might be some native Lewisias out there.

[offdalip]

Good advice Atash, Thanks!

I also found about 100 organic farms listed in the immediate area,
they should be able to give me advice as to what thrives best
in this microclimates area.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Bear in mind that a commercial grower's perspectives are different from the home grower's. They have access to irrigation, herbicides, pesticides, fungucides, etc.

They're also growing for a commercial market, not personal use. They won't be growing, for example, quinoa; that's almost all imported from Bolivia. The ones you want are generally the Chilean varieties. I'm growing some out right now. Astonishingly they grow almost equally well on both sides of the Cascades, despite differences in climate. Aside from temperature and day-length sensitivities a surprisingly adaptable crop. I just got back from visiting mine, which is busy blooming.

Because it's on the dry side, quite a few tree fruits will do well there, once you get them established. Check if anybody grows apricots. One risk with apricots is late frosts, so check that. Apricots are very coldhardy but they bloom readily once it turns warm, and so the blossoms can freeze if a frost occurs after it starts warming up. In habitat, seasons change very decisively due to massive warm or cold front, so they're not used to changeable weather.

I think plums used to be common out that direction, before globalization favored grapes (= wine = export crop). Grapes probably not a bad choice either for that matter.

OH, you must grow tomatoes! You'll be in nearly perfect tomato country. The slightly warmer and drier summers are good for ripening tomatoes, without being so hot the tomatoes can't pollinate (a common problem in the deep south). Get some from Tom Wagner. He might even want to come visit them.

[offdalip]

Bear in mind that a commercial grower's perspectives are different from the home grower's. They have access to irrigation, herbicides, pesticides, fungucides, etc.

These 100 in the area are 100% organic only farms. If I counted the rest commercial farms , the count would be
much much higher.

apricots, plums, cherries, blueberries, pears, nectarines, peaches, huckleberries, raspberries, marionberries 
are some of the orchards that are everywhere here off the top of my head.

Don't have a huge patch yet, just 100x50 but I'll only be here during summers for now so it'll have to survive
the rest of the year on its own

[offdalip]

here are over 100 organic farms I have found in this area so far:

http://www.gorgegrown.com/resource/columbia-gorge-farms.cfm

[Atash Hagmahani]

That's good, because it will keep YOU healthier too. Less exposure to agricultural pollutants.

[hippiechick]

I would recommend jersulem artichokes. They are pretty flowers, but are also a wonderful hidden food source, as the roots are edible. Be careful though and they tend to take over the garden. Plant them away from other things. Come back every year and multiple like crazy. Beautiful yellow flowers.

I would also recommend, malibar spinach. It is a periennel. Mine keeps on growing, and I live in ohio with harsh winters.
Nice to have spinach without planting it. Not as tasty as some other varieties, but ok thrown into dishes.

[Lady Lilya]

Grow Quinoa as an ornamental (the flowers and sometimes leaves of some varieties are quite colorful), then eat the grain.

Quinoa is not a grain.  It is a seed.  The word "grain" is reserved for seeds of grasses like corn and wheat and millet and rice.  Quinoa, amaranth, etc are not grasses, so not grains. 

[Atash Hagmahani]

Dictionary.com agrees with me: "a small, hard seed, especially the seed of a food plant"

I think in general, a "grain" is a small particulate unit, such as a "grain of sand" and "grain of salt". That's what brain interprets, anyway. 

I suspect that reserving "grain" for cereals is probably a relatively recent phenomenon (I'm an old fuddy duddy), and perhaps due to the fact that now that we tend to only eat a few types of seed anymore, they tend to be cereals, which always were dominant. Flax-seed, though, still shows up in "multi-grain bread" and "multi-grain cereal".

If I am referring to edible grass seeds, I refer to "cereals", though that throws some people off in terms of corn (they think of it as a "vegetable" not a "cereal") and sorghum (if it registers at all, they think of it as a type of sugarcane). I suppose the word "milo" is more specific to grain sorghum, which is what Tom and most other folks from Kansas (only state with any significant production) call it.

Speaking of which, we might send some to Offdalip once he's up here; he'll be in a good area for it.

[silverseeds]

 amaranth and quinoa are considered pseudo cereals by most sources ive ever encountered.  i forget and never cared about the full reasoning. i like both myself though the saponins o quinoa make it harder to process, and takes up more water. something not useful for me. there are amaranths useful for any location, and it has all the traits of quiona. heck it grows wild for me here albeit not to useful as a grain in this case, as it will have alow amount of seeds, but lots of green leaves.... for me or my rabbits and guinea pigs. the leaves have vitamin c so very useful for the guinea pigs....

[Atash Hagmahani]

SS, we had a dwarf Amaranth last year. I dunno if the seed ripened enough to be useable and I don't know what happened to it. Probably still in storage.

Amaranth can tolerate a lot more heat than quinoa.

You might look for a dwarf amaranth, on the theory that it will ripen faster than a tall one. Have you ever actually eaten Amaranth grain? It cooks up with a gooey texture (unlike quinoa). I'm guessing you could grind it to a flour and add it to other things. You can also cook small amounts and use it to thicken soup.

Chickens love it, not surprisingly.