helianthus tuberosus

last weekend it was garlic...today jerusalem artichokes went into the garden...i took fourteen tubers and forty pounds of compost along this morning...these plants are native to northwest indiana and are adapted to conditions so the compost probably wasn't necessary but the work in growing these plants is in the preparation so i added compost as i would with any other planting...in the spring we will need to keep the bed weeded until they get to be a couple of feet tall...after that they can do the rest on their own...they are self-mulching... because they cast such deep shade once they're started nothing can germinate under there...they were shading out lemon balm in my back yard this past summer...creeping charlie too...that is no mean feat...i turned in the compost and planted the tubers about three inches deep, putting a marker by each one so they won't be too disturbed when the bed is cleared after the tomatoes and peppers that are still producing there die back...since they had to be planted around existing plants they were not put in in neat rows...no real problem there...if you go across the parking lot on the north side of the lot by 33rd avenue and have a peek at the jerusalem artichokes dr. cortwright has out there you'll find they aren't in neat rows either...doesn't bother them a bit...about a half hour's worth of work should deliver a mass of tubers in around a year's time...i have a crop out back i will be digging up if anyone wants to sample them soon.