Hello all, after many hours of hassle sorting out my computer I have finally been able to post my update from last week, regards Steve.
http://www.myallotments.com
Excellent as always Steve... watch it with those JA's though, they can be difficult to eradicate once they are inthe soil... :-\
Very good Steve, I agree with Saddad about the JA's we have them and they produced MASSES of tubers this year. I personally hate them but my partner loves them roasted. I do however love the plant that they produce which is like a sunflower in height (same family) but small flower, very beautiful.
thanks steve allways good to read your threads
My family objected so much to JA's, having eaten them once, that I only kept a few tubers going. During the cold weather I used them for soup, blended so they couldn't see what they were eating. they loved them!
What are JA's
Jerusalem Artichokes... member of the sunflower family with edible tubers (you can't eat the rest but it makes a tall wind break) and speaking of wind... :-[
Nothing new about JAs and windiness, although it doesn't affect everybody as badly.
"The artichoke of Jerusalem...breedeth melancholy and is somewhat nauseous and fulsome to the stomache, and therefore very hurtful to the melancholick, and them that have weak stomackes" (Dr Venner of Bath, 1622)
"In my judgement, which way soever they be drest and eaten, they stir and cause a filthy loaseome sticking wind within the body, thereby causing the belly to be pained and tormented; and are meat more fit for swine than for man. Yet some say they have usually eaten them, and have found no such windy quality in them" (John Goodyer of Hampshire, 1620s).
Personally I love them, especially as a soup mixed with carrots and herbs, which seems to moderate the windy effect, or roasted with the potatoes and parsnips.
Best to grow them in a separate - and permanent - bed so that you don't get them spreading everywhere, and don't put the bed somewhere where it will cast shade and rob light from other plants. As others have said, JAs are part of the sunflower family (Jerusalem is a corruption of "girasole") and they grow tall.