Discovered another use for #Sunchokes, as a #Hops trellis.
#Permaculture #Gardening

#Snapdragons & #sunchokes aka #JerusalemArtichokes are back with new #growth 🌞

#Spring #Wsanec #Saanich #VictoriaBC #yyj #vanisle #VancouverIsland #PNW #PacificNorthwest #BritishColumbia #Canada #GardenersOfMastodon #SDFgardeners #MastodonGardeners #GrowPlantsNotHate #PlantAGarden #WhatsInMyGarden #FoodGardening #EdiblePlants #GrowFood #Homegrown #SelfSufficiency #FoodSecurity #AsianMastodon #plants #perennials

Today’s the day! Multiple people (a dozen last, I checked) are paying a non-profit real American dollars to hear me speak for an hour about sunchokes.

I know I already posted this meme, but it’s just perfect.

#Sunchokes #NativePlants #Gardening #MasterNaturalist

Adventures in #Sunchokes
I love these farty little roots, so last year I planted three tubers in the corner of one of the old raised beds. They’re related to sunflowers - tall strong stalks with big yellow flowers. But then they died back in the fall and I forgot about them (thanks a lot adhd). Turns out my three tubers multiplied exponentially!
Since they’ve sprouted, I’m pretty sure I have to bin them - they won’t be good to eat (and our oven is broken) but I dare not compost them! Maybe I can leave them out to die and then compost them.
I saved two of the biggest tubers and replanted them, in rough compost and fabric pots. I really enjoyed the flowers, even if two pots will make more sunchokes than we’d eat in a non famine year (nervous chuckle).
I’d put that bed to sleep for the winter with a thick layer of rough compost, and when I raked off the top layer I found some really lovely fine compost underneath. Loads of worms (you can stay) and pillbugs (you can get tossed over the edge and eaten by chickens). I spent a couple hours this afternoon breaking up all the soil and combing out the sunchokes and the tiny volunteer potatoes. Then I mixed in a couple gallons of perlite and admired a very fine seedbed. Needs a little more fine finished compost and it’ll be ready for greens, I think. #gardening

@dmc haha! Yes true. Pickling them pretty much stops the gale though https://honest-food.net/pickled-jerusalem-artichokes-recipe #recipe #sunchokes #recipes

@JosephAndriano We had a light one last weekend, which I was waiting for to harvest my #sunchokes. Got half a 5 gallon bucket from six roots planted in two small raised beds. #gardening

#Garden update: harvested my #sunchokes today. 5 initial roots yielded half a 5 gallon bucket worth of tubers by the end of the season. Adding a 3rd raised bed for next year...