Jerusalem artichokes

[Anita Plot]

This is my first time growing JAs and know nothing about them. When is it best to harvest them. Think I may have made a mistake growing in pots cos mine are nowhere near 8' high

[Flummery]

I tend to leave mine until December to allow them to swell up sufficiently. Then I dig them as I want them - as someone said, they go soft quickly if you lift them before you need them. They last me until Feb/March time when I re-plant a few - literally a few. 4 plants does all I want as Himself can't tolerate their wind-machine properties.

[Jillyreeves]

Heres a photo of my JA's taken a couple of days ago, at least 8 foot tall and still very green, no sign of them dying off yet.

[basketcase]

Ah......now you've opened up another can-o-worms! They are part of a semi-failed experiment.

I have a 12 foot by 4 foot bed which has clubroot AND onion white rot in it.

Have you been past our lotties, nicking the Compost from Hell?!


If pocket planting, could you use Tattieman's 'bag' method, d'you think? (No 'volunteers'). Or do they need more room?

[Lizanne]

J.A. Flowers

It would still be nice to leave just a few for decoration though............do you not think? (And curiosity value!)

Hi there - I left ALL of my flowers on (and up North as well!), having had conflicting advise on whether to nip/not to nip and they were like pretty wee sunflowers sprinkled across the top of the 10ft forest. That said, I haven't cut them down yet and haven't dug them so have no idea what it may have done to the crop, if anything.

Also to note - it's Fuseau that's in.

AND - for those that have grown year after year in same place (intentionally or otherwise!), have you come across any problems with pests etc through not moving them?

Lizanne

[Jillyreeves]

Cropped a few the other day and had JA soup for lunch today, delicious and so far no after effects :-)

[Jimmy]

The border between next door had Leylandies , the trees from Hell !
Dug them out ( quite easy really ) but masses of branches to get rid of.
Wanted a screen, so tried JAs.
They did very well, too well in fact. The wife thought they were triffids, they kept tapping on the window when the wind blowed.
And they came back this year, think I have got rid of most now.
Think I might try runner beans this year at least they don't make you f$&t , well not much!

[gojiberry]

Some of mine blew over and I never got around to picking them up and staking them. They kept on growing and it was so much easier to pick the flowers. They seem to be very robust and I don't think it would hurt to cut them down to about a foot high, if growing conditions are favourable they will keep growing from the base if not they will wait till next year. Either way there is no loser's.

Ian

[snakeshack]

gave JA's a go this year as there was a sprouting pack reduced for quick sale in the supermarket,they grew 10ft high and had the flowers,so I dug some out and boiled and mashed them.I have never tasted such a glutinous slop.
any suggestions on how to cook them as I suspect they will be back forever to plague me.

[Flummery]

Try roasting them.
They don't take so long to boil as spuds. I start some potatoes off cooking then drop in the JAs at half time, them mash together. Lovely flavour and not glutinous!

[chriscross1966]

THere si a bit of a fine line between done and overcooked with JA's..... try them in thin slices fried in butter......... I love the taste of JA's (make a fine soup and you don't need to worry about glutinous then).... can make fora windy hour or so about four hours later for me (not a problem if I have them for tea, no-one else to hear me )

chrisc

[grannymem]

Yesterday I roasted some with some beetroot in garlic olive oil - absolutely delicious. I didn't parboil but simply threw them in, beetroot first and JAs about 10 / 15 minutes later. The beetroot were just done so fairly firm and the JAs were softer - made a great combination.

If anyone wants some tubers just let me know.

[Rhona]

Our JA's are about 8 feet now. I've used a few but they have been small and like Flum says, they do go soft quickly. I'm going to use some as support for climbers next year - we have a pretty big patch of them in a very sheltered sunny spot, so we'll see.

I love the flavour - used some in a chorizo (the fresh sausage sort) and prawn casserole, and the smokiness worked really well.

[grannymem]

Yummy... sounds delish!