Jerusalem Artichokes advice needed

[norazina]

Morning folks,

Desperately looking for advice here as could not find info on previous threads.

I've got a very tall wall in our garden, which is about 13-14' high and I need to cover it with something (for most of the year anyway). Can't plant the trees there so I'm thinking single row of JA and may be plant some sweet pea in between.

The wall I'm thinking to cover up gets sun for most of the day, although part of it get lots of wind exposure, and I do not know how hardy JA's are.

Also, what would be a good planting time, I'm confused about that one too (surprise, surprise!!!). Hessayon's book says plant starting January, but if you look at any major catalogue, none deliver any earlier than April.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIA,

Norazina

[Snadger]

Hi norazina

I grew JA's for the first time last year and even in my area they made 10 foot high.
If grown against a wall, wind shouldn't be a factor as you can fasten them to the wall with vine eyes. They really have a strong stem and are more likely to topple over than break with the wind. (If you'll excuse the pun)

Around these parts the seed potatoes are in the shops and although I haven't looked for them, they are usually in the GC's about the same time!

[Two_Sheds]

JAs are herbaceous, so your wall won't be covered all year round. Does that matter?
The roots are hardy (they withstand the cold) but the foliage dies back.

[Suechooks]

I planted a row about 4 years ago on the top of a slope where the wind sweeps across them and they have flourished ever since. They just keep coming up year after year. I dig up what I want and the rest regrow.

[norazina]

thank you all guys for the advice, this is exactly what i needed to know.

I was just looking for something to cover the wall for better part of the year, as during winter and spring really it's so miserably windy (we're on top of the hill), you can't go into the garden anyway. My last 2 greenhouses got blown away, so OH promised to build me brick & PVC glass one this spring as it is the only thing that will last with our kind of weather.

I have just came across JA on the market yesterday and got some to try. Liked them raw in the salad and will try making a soup with them.

So I guess it will be ok to plant them now as Hessayon's book say (yey, so excited, this would be the first thing to be planted directly in the garden, it was all containers & pots prior to that)? ta

[allotmentlady]

Oh yes they will grow to that height and spread like mad lol.............LOLOLOL when I left my old allotment, I thought I had dug them all up, 2 years on the new lady who has the lottie is still finding them.........

[Snadger]

.................., as during winter and spring really it's so miserably windy (we're on top of the hill), you can't go into the garden ......................

I

Rathe apt for jerusalem artichokes (fartichokes)

[gojiberry]

JA's don't keep well once they are dug up which is why they are not despatched till spring time. Usually to harvest it is just a case of digging up as required.
Norazina it is possible to get a greenhouse to withstand any weather, my daughter livesin a very exposed part of Scotland and the first greenhouse she had blew down the first time the winds reached 120 mph. The manufacturers gave her a refund after being threatened with legal action. She then went and bought a Rhino greenhouse which is reputed to be the strongest greenhouse available in UK and it has been hit by 160/180 mph wind and is still standing.

Ian

[Snadger]

JA's don't keep well once they are dug up which is why they are not despatched till spring time. Usually to harvest it is just a case of digging up as required.
Norazina it is possible to get a greenhouse to withstand any weather, my daughter livesin a very exposed part of Scotland and the first greenhouse she had blew down the first time the winds reached 120 mph. The manufacturers gave her a refund after being threatened with legal action. She then went and bought a Rhino greenhouse which is reputed to be the strongest greenhouse available in UK and it has been hit by 160/180 mph wind and is still standing.

Ian

Just had to google the Rhino greenhouse! Very disappointed when I found they were just normally shaped greenhouses..............nothing like the shape of a rhino battling against the wind at all! Lol

[nerobot]

Should be fine to grow against the wall, just as long as you are sure you won't want that bit of ground to grow anything else in later years, as they can be really difficult to get rid of once they have been planted.

They can be planted now if you can get hold of some. Forget when I grew mine last year, but I think it was quite late as that was when they were sent.

If you want to grow some, I'm willing to send you some if you send a S.A.E.

Its good that you tried them and like them as 1 planted in the ground will give around 20-30 new tubers (I actually counted 39 tubers from one plant which is insane given that they weren't looked after at all).

Steven

[Snadger]

I've got a 10 foot row to harvest and I've never tasted them yet!

[norazina]

Rathe apt for jerusalem artichokes (fartichokes)

I know!!! And I only had few JA to begin with!!! :-)

[norazina]

JA's don't keep well once they are dug up which is why they are not despatched till spring time. Usually to harvest it is just a case of digging up as required.
Norazina it is possible to get a greenhouse to withstand any weather, my daughter livesin a very exposed part of Scotland and the first greenhouse she had blew down the first time the winds reached 120 mph. The manufacturers gave her a refund after being threatened with legal action. She then went and bought a Rhino greenhouse which is reputed to be the strongest greenhouse available in UK and it has been hit by 160/180 mph wind and is still standing.

Ian

Ian,

Unfortunately here in Azerbaijan I can't get hold of any ready-made greenhouses unless shipped from abroad, so works out cheaper to actually build one out of brick and glass, but thank you for advice.

Norazina

[norazina]

Should be fine to grow against the wall, just as long as you are sure you won't want that bit of ground to grow anything else in later years, as they can be really difficult to get rid of once they have been planted.

They can be planted now if you can get hold of some. Forget when I grew mine last year, but I think it was quite late as that was when they were sent.

If you want to grow some, I'm willing to send you some if you send a S.A.E.

Its good that you tried them and like them as 1 planted in the ground will give around 20-30 new tubers (I actually counted 39 tubers from one plant which is insane given that they weren't looked after at all).

Steven

Thank you for your kind offer, Steven, but as I am in Baku, it is not allowed to post seeds/tubers/bulbs to here, which is kind of silly, cause you can bring whatever you want when you travel by plane/train in your carry on. I have got hold of some on local market the other day, so I'm going to give those a go. It will be great if they produce as much as you said, cause I'm planning to offload a lot to my collegue, whose mum's got diabetes, and consumes a lot of JAs, but they are so ridiculously expensive here, it is around £2.6 a kilo (for comparison, a kilo of spuds works out to be around £0.40 - 0.50).

I plan to have a 3-4' wide bed, about 65' long, with JAs planted against the wall, and annual flowers in front of them, also will try and plant sweet peas in between JA, which I hope will give them better wind protection. This is going to go into my decorative garden rather than into vegetable plot, so this way I would not have to worry if I missed a tuber when harvesting.

Thanks again,

Norazina