Winter Work And Harvesting Jerusalems

Winter work

Dirty Nails has been doing a lot of general tidying-up jobs in the veg garden this week. Removing dead leaves from crops, clearing patches of weeds that are beginning to try their luck, and sorting out piles of canes, are all important jobs to do. Other jobs are removing places for slugs, snails, and other pests to lurk, and allowing easy access to the soil for robins and blackbirds. These birds are ever watchful for pests that do venture out.

Working out next year’s crop plan begins now. Dirty Nails finds it easier to visualise what he wants to do when the plot is clearly defined. To this end he has been busy clearing the edges. The calendula, or pot marigold, which he grows to suppress invasive couch grass, are all but finished now. He has been pulling spent plants up and chucking them onto the compost heap. He burns the rest of the weeds along the edge. There are always a few rogue lengths of couch, and lots of splinters of horsetail, in amongst them. Their presence can ruin a good compost heap.

As he cleans the edge, Dirty Nails throws the soil inwards, creating a shallow trench. Apart from being pleasing to look at, it will mark where the pot marigolds will be sown next spring, from seed saved this summer.

Jerusalem artichokes
Jerusalem artichokes come into season at this time of year. Dirty Nails cuts his plants down to about 6 inches (15 cm) now. The top growth is thick and woody so he reduces it to short lengths before it goes on the compost.

Underground, large knots of gnarled and twisted tubers have formed. They demand to be dug up with care, as even a tiny piece of tuber will grow again if left in the soil. One plant is harvested at a time, and the crop stored in a box of compost until needed.

Natural History In The Garden: Badgers In November

Badgers are less active this month. There are fewer feeding opportunities, especially if frosty weather sets in. They slow down their foraging and social activity in order to conserve vital energy and fat stores during the bleak weeks ahead.

Anything a potato can do, a Jerusalem can do too. However Dirty Nails advises against eating huge amounts at any one sitting. Although they have a delectable, distinctive and unusual creamy taste and texture, over-indulgence can cause tummy troubles for some people.


Jerusalems contain a carbohydrate called inulin. Unlike other types of starch, such as those found in spuds for instance, inulin is not absorbed by the body, and thus not utilised as an energy. A few folk have a slight intolerance to it and because of this, inulin can start to ferment inside the guts. Hence the tendency in some to suffer flatulence after partaking in the consumption of said veg. It is this quality that makes Jerusalems legendary around the dinner table, especially with the children. Due to these wind-breaking properties it is dubbed fartichoke, much to the amusement of the giggling kids, but not a frowning Mrs Nails.