Lazy bed for JA's?

[caroline7758]

Got some jerusalem artchoke tubers from freecycle today. Just wondering whether the "lazy bed" method would work for them?

[caroline7758]

[Barnowl]

Most people have trouble stopping them growing!

[okra]

I agrre they seem pretty indestructible  - once established you should have them for years to come.

[Barnowl]

Expect to get about 5lbs of tubers per plant.

[supersprout]

Yep, even if you have to dig out 'cores' with a bulb planter!
The only downside might be that they would need staking, as the soil would be loose. I always stake mine anyway, so not really a downside.

[Mrs Ava]

Planted mine today SS!  ;D

[Froglegs]

Is now the time to plant them ???, i put mine in much later last year :-[

[robkb]

Mine are going in this weekend - got 5 tubers to try. Bag says they make an effective windbreak, which seems quite funny considering their reputation ;D :o BTW, what's a lazy bed?

Cheers,
Rob ;)

[bennettsleg]

I'd just shove them in.  I even cut mine into "egg size pieces" with the spade while they lay in the hole and still got a great crop. Marvellous!

[Barnowl]

and you can use them for cut flowers....

[SKIP]

when I grew them the year before last - I had no flowers on them, even though I harvested a fair few tubers ... those flowers look stunning, anyone know why mine didn't flower??
I grew them in a big pot in the end as everyone had scared me about never getting rid of them, & did put a few tubers in there, so maybe they were too crouded or tried out in the pot?

[Barnowl]

Can' t help I'm afraid.

They're related to sunflowers so you'd expect them to flower.  I did find this comment in an agricultural paper:

"Plants will only flower in the UK and northern Europe after an exceptionally long warm summer."

- but that's exactly what we had and I'm pretty sure all the other JA's I noticed around our allotments flowered.

[cornykev]

Thanks for the JA swap Jenny, I will be planting some this weekend. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Jitterbug]

I'm going to put mine into pots as I would hate them taking over the lottie.  I have this well honed plan you see  ;D ;D ;D (every centimeter accounted for)!!

Jitterbug

[okra]

Planted a row today ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

I think whether they flower or not depends on the variety. I can't remember seeing flowers on the old knobbly varieties at all, but the smoother ones I grow now flower quite reliably.