Jerusalem Artichokes.

[weekendwellies]

I am planning on growing these partially for the flowers to attract beneficial insects and partially for some height interest at the edge of my plot.

Can anyone clarify when to buy and plant them, some sites say they will deliver in November and other sites say plant them in Feb/March.

Does/will anyone have any extras that they are willing to pass on to me? I will, of course, cover any costs involved.

I was also thinking of growing sunflowers in amongst them. Are they compatible? I understand they are of the same family?

[chris]

You may be better off asking for some in the seed swap, weekendwellie - bigshot did have some, but he seems to not have posted in a while.. I was under the impression that they were to be planted by March too. I was planning on planting them the same as you (to create a sort of boundary).

Waitrose sell them, by the way - if you wanted to try a few (they sell them loose by us).

[Incy]

Weekendwellie, When we've worked out when to harvest them I'm happy to give you some. We have a whole bunch of them coming up at the edge of our plot

[weekendwellies]

thanks Chris, I have posted the same on the seed swap now as well,

I was going to have them mainly for their height as much as for eating, I quite like them to eat, occasionally,

[weekendwellies]

wow, Incy that would be great, thank you. Let me know when they are available and we will sort out cost and address etc.

[Incy]

Will do. They started on the plot next door apparently but have spread to ours so between them and the mint, the poor little apple tree is getting swamped out.

[Incy]

According to Hugh Jerusalem artichokes should be planted Jan-March and harvested from Oct-March :-)

[endymion]

According to Hugh Jerusalem artichokes should be planted Jan-March and harvested from Oct-March :-)

They should be at least three or four feet tall by now (ours are) so might not enjoy being disturbed.

I've just had a look at that well-known auction site, there are currently some for sale in Ireland, with free UK delivery. Would you like me to pm you the link?

[weekendwellies]

thanks for the offer endymion, as you say it is probably not the best time to be planting them just now. I think I would prefer to wait and get them from Incy, we are reasonably close geographically and they appear to do very well for her, so they should be quite happy with me fingers crossed.

[endymion]

Yes, probably the best thing to do. Good luck with them