Surprising Harvest!!

[rebbetzin]

I think I have found a crop I can grow here!! Sunchokes!!

Last spring, I planted three or four small sunchokes I bought at a local heathfood type store.

They were about this big.

They made tall sunflowers during the summer. Growing in clusters. The plants ranged from about 5 feet to about 11 feet at the tallest point. Here is what the plants looked like.

Close up of the flowers.

We had some frosty nights recently, and the plants died off. I was cleaning out the garden bed where they were a few days ago. And to my great surprise under ground as I was pulling up the dead stalks were a large amount of tubers!!

Here is my harvest!!

This is the largest of the tubers I found.

Now these tubers are said to help in the control of insulin production. They are useful in the control of blood sugar highs and lows. Neat Oh!! They taste sort of like Jicama, or a kind of sweet water chestnut.

I am going to plant many of the tubers so I will have more next year!!

 

[Greenthumb18]

Wow! rebbetzin

Thats amazing, i've never grew sunchokes before are they a relative of artichokes by any chance? I might have to try these next season, if i happen to find them here.

Great Job !!

 

[wifezilla]

Holy cow! Mine are in a shaded area that is hard to water and don't do nearly that well. I do have to say though, I neglect the heck out of them and I have had a good patch for over 6 years. Hard to be upset about that! LOL

 

[rebbetzin]

Wow! rebbetzin

Thats amazing, i've never grew sunchokes before are they a relative of artichokes by any chance? I might have to try these next season, if i happen to find them here.

Great Job !!

I think the name is a "misnomer". They are also called Jerusalem Artichokes. But, they are nothing like the Artichoke plant, nor are they from the Middle East.

Here is a link to some info on the origin of sunchokes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_artichoke

 

[curly_kate]

We have a wildflower here that looks exactly like that. I'll have to dig one up this summer & see what the roots looks like.

 

[digitS']

Sunchokes do well here also, Rebbetzin. But, I don't remember that nice of a harvest ! They were at a previous home and I really enjoy them raw - they seem to have the flavor of walnuts to me.

They can get out of hand! However, you can go with your strengths and consider some other ornamental relatives: Sunflowers (of course), Coreopsis, Cosmos, Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Zinnias, etc.

Zinnias that are supposed to be 30" will grow to 6 feet for me even with constant cutting! I just wish that some other things would be as happy in my garden .

Steve

 

[seedcorn]

For those growing them in the midwest. Keep control of them as they are very hard to kill. They are good, my folks loved them. They can be a noxious weed tho.