Jerusalem Artichokes

Dirty Nails likes to get his Jerusalem artichokes into the ground as soon as it is workable in the New Year, but any time until mid-March will suffice. He plants his at the back of the veg patch, in a line that won’t cast shade on other crops. Jerusalem artichokes are very dense of growth, and thus ideal for screening off unsightly compost heaps or fences.

Dirty Nails incorporates leaf-mould and grass clippings by digging them into the soil. He plants his artichokes, saved from a previous crop or simply bought from the grocers, 1 foot (30 cm) apart and 5 inches (12½ cm) deep. This root vegetable will grow in the poorest conditions, but a little tender loving care will repay with a fine crop of knobbly tubers.

All the plants need is to be kept watered and weed-free. Earth-up around the base when there is about a foot of growth. Cut off a third of the tops after midsummer, to prevent wind-rock. At the end of August Dirty Nails always reduces the top growth by half.

Harvesting can commence any time from November. One plant is dug at a time, and the bounty stored in boxes of damp sand until needed. Ten plants should keep a family of four comfortably supplied all winter.

Natural History In The Garden: Song Thrush

Listen out for the song thrush enriching an otherwise dull February landscape. They like to perch high up in big lime trees. Their early morning song is a repetitive series of beautiful, tuneful, fluting, liquid notes and elaborate musical clicks and whistles, punctuated by short, well-timed pauses. The speckle-breasted birds open their beaks widely and constantly turn their heads whilst delivering this chorus, providing a musical treat for the listener.

Vegetable Snippets: Jerusalem Artichokes Demystified

The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) is neither from Jerusalem, nor an artichoke. In fact this vegetable heralds from North America. It was a staple foodstuff for Native Americans from Nova Scotia in the east to Minnesota and Kansas, well before Columbus ‘discovered’ the continent.

‘Jerusalem’ is believed to be a corruption of girasola, which in Italian means ‘turning towards the sun’. This refers to the habit of the pretty yellow flowers, about 2½ inches (6 cm) in diameter, which like to open into the sun. Its true family is thus revealed: the Jerusalem artichoke is in fact a tuberous-rooted relation of the sunflower.

Nutritionally high in iron, potassium, and thiamine, and alternatively known as the sunchoke, or sun root, the Jerusalem was being marketed in Europe by the early 1600s. At that time it was called the Canada, or French, potato. It was also introduced to Britain around then, along with such delicacies as cultivated strawberries, different beans, gourds, sweet peppers and tomatoes.