Jerusalem Artichokes (Sunchokes)

Eight foot tall sunchokes

Jerusalem artichokes (aka sunchokes) are members of the sunflower family that produce edible tubers in their roots.  They are not related to the globe artichokes with which you may be familiar.  The tubers are similar to potatoes in texture and taste when cooked.  Eaten raw, they are similar to water chestnuts.  Unlike potatoes, they require virtually no maintenance once planted.

Stand of sunchokes growing amongst the weeds

We ordered 1 pound of Red Fuseau Jerusalem artichokes in the early spring.  We specifically obtained this variety because the tubers are straight and easy to peel.  More traditional varieties are tedious to peel due to thier shape.  On April 8th, we planted them 4" deep in the area of our property that we allow to grow wild.  That's it; no further attention was paid to them.  Just plant them in a sunny location.  They began to emerge in late April and grew to 7 or 8 feet tall.  In late August they began to put on yellow blooms.  Today, we dug one plant up early to check on tuber development and found 10 young tubers forming in the roots.  Each one was about the size of a quarter, but will grow to 3 to 4" long and 1 to 1 1/2" thick.  They can be harvested anytime, but optimal size and taste will be after a frost has killed of the top of the plant.

Root bundle with several small tubers

Developing tuber

Jerusalem artichokes are known to be quite invasive (i.e. easy to grow), so we aren't sure if they will require replanting each year.  We hope that they are like our garlic and will return even after being harvested.  This year we will conduct an experiment.  We will harvest all of the tubers we can this winter, then we will see if new plants emerge from missed tubers on the Spring.  If so, great!  If not, we will have missed a year of production, but will have learned something.

Putting up the Harvest:

Harvest from the soil as needed.  Store for short periods of time in the refrigerator.

Weekly Gardening Outlook

This will be a continuing series where we look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

Late season tomato plants

It's late in the season and all the garden plants are showing their age.  Gone are the lush, blemish free leaves of early summer.  Nonetheless, the tomato plants keep plugging along, producing fat red fruits for us.  

Planting the fall salad garden:

Prepared location for lettuce planting

With about 5 weeks left until the first frost of the year and rain predicted for the next three days, it was a perfect time to rough up some dirt and spread some seeds.  Knowing that temperatures are going to continue to drop and the sun is moving lower into the southern sky, we chose the southern-most, sunniest locations to plant in.  All it took was a light raking of the soil surface, scattering seed by hand, followed by another light raking of the soil surface.  The soil needs to remain damp until the seeds emerge (about 7 days).

Rocky Top lettuce mix

Pink Beauty radishes

Free water.

Weather outlook:

Huzzah!

-Upper 70's to mid 80s, with a significant chance of rain throughout the week!!!

-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:
-Peppers

-Chard 

-Tomatoes
-Celeriac leaves, basil, mint, and other herbs

-Apples

Salad Garden Update

White, pink, and yellow Swiss chard in our garden

During the hottest months of the year, our salad gardening is fairly boring.  Swiss chard with a few scraps of things like lambs quarters, nasturtium leaves, carrots, radishes, etc fill our bowls.  With the cooler weather comes the fall/winter salad crops.  We will be planting a salad mix called Rocky Top in the next few days.  Our kale has weathered the summer and is beginning to put on new growth.  We've never over-summered kale before, so we aren't sure how it will go.  The mighty chard will continue to produce for us even in cooler weather.  It, along with the lettuce mix can handle some light frosts before dieing back.  If the kale reemerges as we expect, it should produce for us well into the winter.

White chard in our garden

Pink, yellow, and white chard in a customer's garden

Blue Curled Scotch Kale left over from the Spring

New growth

Weekly Gardening Outlook (Rain!!!)

This will be a continuing series where we look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

There's rain in that barrel!

Someone out there has been working on their rain dance technique!  We haven't had rain in 6 weeks and have seen temperatures over 100 degrees during that time.  Last night a solitary thunderstorm cell dropped the wet stuff on us for 20 minutes.  Not enough to do much more than knock the dust down, but with the weatherpersons calling for a 40-50% chance of rain each of the next 3 days, we are hopeful for more.  Our rain barrel gathered about 15 gallons during that shower.

Spaghetti Squash / Squash Vine Borer Update:

Alas, we hardly knew ye.  The barrage of insect activity noted last week did the squash vines in.  They made it almost 8 weeks.  Next season, we will more vigilant and ready with BT for the borers and pyrethrin/neem oil for everything else.  If that doesn't work... the farmer's market is open 3 days a week.  Wish us luck!

Things to be on the lookout for:

Young strawberry plants for next season

Continuing with the theme, keep tabs on soil moisture.  As hot and dry as it has been, these late summer crops are already stressed.  Forget about them for a few days and you could lose them, missing out on the late season harvest.  Contrasted in the picture above are young daughter strawberry plants thriving in this dry spell surrounded by leaves from a nearby sycamore tree.  Those leaves are there because the tree is experiencing drought stress and is prematurely dropping its leaves. Our water bill has crept into three digits for the first time ever, but most of our crops are doing okay.  Don't be afraid to get your fingers dirty.  A finger in the dirt is the best way to estimate soil moisture.  A crust on the soil surface is okay, but try to keep the soil a few inches down as damp as a well wrung out sponge.

Weather outlook:
-80s all week.  Nighttime lows into the low 50s late in the week.  Fall is in the air!  A good chance of rain Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:
-Peppers

-Chard 

-Tomatoes
-Celeriac leaves, basil, mint, and other herbs

-Apples

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes have proven to be one of the lowest maintenance crops that we've grown.  We mail-ordered Georgia Jet sweet potato slips and planted 8 square feet (2 per square ft.) in early May after we were sure a frost wasn't coming.  From there, we guided them through the eight-foot tall cattle panel trellis as they grew.  The only pest issue has been a few Japanese beetles and a treatment of neem oil took care of that. 

     2 weeks

     7 weeks

     11 weeks

     14 weeks

Tips and Tricks:

The literature says Georgia Jets require 90-100 days from planting to harvest.  At 100 days we eagerly turned back the dirt under some of our outermost vines.  We found small potatoes as pictured above.  In Northwest Arkansas, we still have 50 days of growing season left.  Plenty of time to put on size.  This just shows that local growing conditions vary and that the "days to harvest" number is a guideline only.  We will check them again in 2-3 weeks and keep you updated.  They must all be harvested before a frost hits.  Even though they are under ground, they cannot handle it like a white potato.

Putting up the Harvest:

Harvest when the soil is dry.  Dig slowly from the edge, trying to avoid nicking the potatoes.  Put the potatoes in the shade for a couple of hours, then brush away as much dirt as possible with your hand.  Take any that are damaged into the kitchen to cook in the next day or so.  Put the rest in a warm (80-90 degrees) location, like a garage.  Cover them with a damp towel to help them heal over any abrasions.  After 10-14 days, put them into boxes with straw, wood shavings, or shredded paper.  Split them into several boxes if possible to reduce the risk of spoilage ruining all of your potatoes.  Store them in a cool (50-60 degrees) location.

Electric Fencing

Last year we had some issues with deer in a customer's garden.  We started seeing strawberry plants and lettuces eaten down with hoof prints next to them in the uncompacted soil of the raised beds.  The garden is bordered by the house on the north, an 8 foot tall wooden fence on the east, and a 3 foot terrace and a chain-link fence on the south.  The west was open to the front yard where the deer would enter.  Moving the 8 foot tall wooden fence to encompass the garden would be ideal, but that was not an option.  We decided that an electric fence across this opening would be the cheapest and simplest option.  Electric fences provide a small shock to anything that completes the circuit between it and the ground, much like a static shock in the winter.  It's surprising, but causes no damage.  Since setting up the fence in the early Spring, we have had no sign of deer in the garden.

We purchased three fiberglass, step-in type electric fencing poles ($5), electric fencing wire ($10), a piece of 2 foot long re-bar ($1), a few feet of insulated electric fencing wire ($2), and a small (2 mile) electric fence charger ($20).

Total cost about $40 after tax.

Set up took 15 minutes.




Setting up the fence and charger:

1. Place the poles where the fence is desired and press them into the ground by stepping on the foot peg.  Don't have more than 8 feet between poles; less distance is okay.  
2. String the fence with electric fencing wire along the insulated clips, making sure that all wires are connected.  In our case, the distance was so short that we looped a single wire back and forth.  If fencing longer distances, a jumper wire between strings should be employed.  Also, if fencing a long distance, use a T-post and insulators every 4th post to make a sturdier fence.
3. Locate the fence charger in a semi-sheltered place.  They can take getting a little wet and dirty, but don't put it where it will get directly rained on.  In our case, we put it between the house and the raised asparagus bed, under the roof overhang. 
4. The charger has two posts, one marked "fence" and one marked "ground."  Using a length of the insulated wire, connect the "fence" post and the fence wire.
5. Drive the re-bar into the ground to serve as a ground rod.  Using a length of the insulated wire, connect the "ground" post and the re-bar.
6. Plug it in.  Ours has an indicator light that flashes as it sends a pulse through a properly set up fence. 

Tips and Tricks:

• Check that the charger is putting out by putting one hand in the dirt and using the other hand to lay a green blade of grass on the fence.  If the fence is hooked up properly, you should feel a slight buzz through the grass every few seconds as the fence pulses.
• Keep grass and weeds from growing through the fence.  They will ground it out and reduce its effectiveness.
• Get the fence up a few weeks before you have anything in the garden to protect.  We want the deer to be curious, sniff the fence, get a shock on the nose, and be trained that your garden isn't a fun place to be.  A deer can go right through it if there is enough temptation, so train the deer before your garden is in.
• If electricity isn't available where your garden is, get a solar fence charger.

Weekly Gardening Outlook

This will be a continuing series. Each Monday we will look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

     Wilting spaghetti squash vine


The heat and lack of rain continue to be the big story.  Cooler nights arrive this week.  With this drop in overnight temperatures will come increased garden production and harvest.  Be ready to eat or put up the produce.  Until then, keep things well-watered and think about learning to do a proper rain dance.

Spaghetti Squash / Squash Vine Borer Update:

We stopped by to check on the spaghetti squash vines and the pest insects have found them.  When we say found, we mean savaged.  Squash vine borer?  Check.  Squash bugs?  Check.  Bacterial wilt carrying cucumber beetles?  Striped AND Spotted.  Check.  Aphids?  Check.  We went on a squash bug, cucumber beetle, aphid, squash vine borer killing spree.  Our shorts, hands, arms, and even cheeks were splatted with insects guts.  We must have killed over 150 squash bugs alone and our thumbs and forefingers are still stained yellow from their innards.  It was bad.  So bad that we are stepping up to pyrethrin spray.  Pyrethrin is a natural compound extracted from chrysanthemums and is approved for use in organic gardens.  Beware that pyrethrum and permethrin are not approved for organic gardens.  We will be mixing neem oil and pyrethrin into one spray.  The pyrethrin provides immediate kill and the neem provides some residual protection.  This can be bought as a premix under the trade name NeemII.  We will keep you updated.

Things to be on the lookout for:

     Adult squash vine borer (SVB) moth

Apparently these are still active.  This picture was taken late last week and the spaghetti squash vines are showing signs of SVB activity.  Sigh...

     Squash bug nymphs on spaghetti squash vine

     Frass (aka bug poop) on a watermelon

This is a sure sign of insect activity.  If found, take a closer look.  Hint:  Look above the deposits.  See the leaffooted bugs?

     Leaffooted bug nymph on a pepper plant

     Spotted cucumber beetle on a spaghetti squash vine

     Two striped cucumber beetles breeding

     Aphids and ants on a spaghetti squash vine

If your plants are inexplicably covered in ants, take a closer look.  Some ants, such as these odoriferous house ants (aka sugar ants), will "farm" aphids.  Aphids suck juices from your plants and produce a sugary substance called honeydew from their anuses.  The ants eat this and in exchange, protect the aphids.  Aphids are not very mobile and a sharp stream of water will blast them off of the plants and out of your hair.

Weather outlook:
-Mid 80s to low 90s all week, with a very slight chance of rain
-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:
-Peppers

-Chard 

-Tomatoes
-Cucumbers
-Celeriac leaves, basil, mint, and other herbs

-Apples