JERUSALEM Artichokes

[bubblewrap]

Try cream of JA soup I think there is a recipe in season to taste thread.
My JAs are in a trench With equal parts sand,compost & soil.
I only harvest as required the rest I leave in.

[Iamhanuman]

i think i'll leave the JAs until next year.
As a newbie I think i'll already have enough on my plate, as they seem to require a moderate amount of effort.
When I do grow them i'll buy them from our farm shop.

[snohare]

Hanuman old Grape
they are one of the easiest of veggies to grow, when I was setting up my allotment and didn't have decent soil in my raised beds they were the best crop I had, and I didn't even feed them or earth them up.
As regards the wind issue....I have read that this is because some people lack the appropriate enzyme to digest them, thus making them calorie free for some, while others can break down the slow-releasing sugar inulin which is what makes them so good for diabetics. But I wonder about this. Some people have copious methane producing bacteria in their gut; others have sulphur producing bacteria. Some if not most people, it is a fair bet, fall in the spectrum between these two extremes. As farts, smelly or otherwise, are associated with these bacteria - chemical digestion by the body does not produce gas of any sort - then I think it is fair to assume that we should "cherchez les bugs" for our cause....It is worth noting that at about the same time that Mr Goodyer was planting his crops, probably according to astrological advice from an alchemist, Culpepper was recommending couch grass above carrots for nutrition for the ill. One wonders just how much genetic drift has happened in those intervening centuries !
When grown as a fodder crop for cattle, I wonder what the effect is on the notoriously methane-rich breath (frontward and otherwards ) of the beasts ?

[rogesse]

Got to agree - far too easy to grow, now I've got hundreds of them and they don't agree with my tummy bugs.........

I planted them in exactly the wrong place for my allotment plan this year so I may be in trouble!

[Alice]

They're no effort at all Iamhauman. Just dig a hole, drop them in and stand back. Lift them just as you want them anytime through the winter. Had some roasted tonight. Delicious.

[Iamhanuman]

oh cripes you lot!!!!
you're getting me back on them again aren't you?

but 3m high stems!?!?!
can i cope with that???

[Hazel at the Hill]

Oh - you are a ditherer!

Tell you what, if you'd like to pm me your address and I'll send you a couple to get you going!

[snohare]

I planted them in exactly the wrong place

If you are keen to get rid of all of them Rogesse, dig over the ground late in the day when the light is failing. The tubers are a bit like couch grass - they glow in the dark...!
It also helps if you have another person with a spade on the other side of the plant to help lift the whole root ball out.
Last, but not least, if you hear rattling sticks, sense the vegetation moving or see green lights in the sky...run for your life !

[Iamhanuman]

Oh - you are a ditherer!

I am I am I am!

This gardening buzz has got be all of a bother.

I might just try one tuber and see how that goes, but seriously though. Do I need to do something spectacular to support the high growth?
Can I grow in a container to... um... contain the monster?

[snohare]

Oh yes, you can control the size they are just by putting them in a pot. I grew some out at my parents place in pots about 12 -14 inches across, when I wanted to get some JAs I just lifted the plant out, grabbed some from the root ball, plonked the plant back in. They were only about six feet tall at most. The only care they got was that I put the pots inside buckets, pierced with holes a couple of inches up, so that the rainwater would give them moisture but not too much. (Not much into high maintenance gardening, me ! )
The ones at my allotment, I should have wired I suppose, at about ten feet they tended to lean after a gale if not earthed up. I hacked the tops off to tidy them up. But who cares if it's just one or two plants in a spare corner ?

[rogesse]

Thank you Snohare!

Insomniac that I am (especially when OH is away) I have just turned on the computer and..... they glow in the dark? Is that like buried dead bodies giving off a fluorescence (sp) above the grave because of decomposition!

Anyway I'm going to get the boys to do the hard work - rattling sticks, I'll be thinking Children of the Corn

[rogesse]

Not JA related but Geo - how do you do the running cat, love it

[Iamhanuman]

Not JA related but Geo - how do you do the running cat, love it

yes that is nice isn't it?

right dithering over
i will put one tuber in a pot and sit back...............

[snakeshack]

bought mine reduced for quick sale in waitrose as they were shooting now worried about the effects on my already volcanic digestive system...........armageddon it right?

[snohare]

armageddon it right?

Take some probiotic yoghurt once a day late at night Snakeshack, you will soon find the you are no longer blowing your top (or bottom !)

i will put one tuber in a pot and sit back

(Adopting inscrutable sensei demeanour)
Truly, monkey man, you have learned all that I know of this craft.