Advice for a hopeless gardener

[jansman]

Grrrrrrr,
So you keep telling me to hold my horses and now I hear that you've been sowing yours already
Just trying to get the drop on me eh? Can't stand a bit of competition!!!???

No I haven’t just planted them. In late Summer ,the long shoots fell over ( walked) and just lay on the soil. They sprouted before Chrimbo. It’s a good and tough plant. I don’t make hard work out of it. I’ve got some yellow cherry tomatoes seeds. My wife likes those. Sure ,I have heated propagation jobbies, but I won’t touch it for a month. Be ideal *work* when I am at hospital everyday to be honest. A little mooch in the poly tunnel will make me feel better. We are eating Jerusalem artichokes right now. I love ‘em! Lovely flavour. And the easiest crop going- fo- growing too.

I'm going to love those triffids if they are as tough as you say I, and they, woke up to a frost today. If they can survive that shock, they only have to fear my neglecting them. I doubt I'll eat anything of them this year or next, Just go for multiplication to the max.
I like Artichokes, but not often and it's only me, so I probably wont do them. They take a while to establish, don't they?
I will forgive you if you sow to suit your medical schedule And I hope you have good and steady recovery.

My Egyptian onions I started last year. This year I will eat. They are 100% reproduced. Jerusalem artichokes are the same. Plant a tuber now,eat come late Autumn and just leave a tuber in the ground. They grow,they are indestructible. Also extremely productive. I am not sowing to medical issues,I’m following the season. I am concentrating on perennials now,as my cancer is incurable,so I am making my garden easier but productive for my wife . I am glad I started doing that as early as I did. Daubentons kale is another good one.

[jennyjj01]

My Egyptian onions I started last year. This year I will eat. They are 100% reproduced. Jerusalem artichokes are the same. Plant a tuber now,eat come late Autumn and just leave a tuber in the ground. They grow,they are indestructible. Also extremely productive. I am not sowing to medical issues,I’m following the season. I am concentrating on perennials now,as my cancer is incurable,so I am making my garden easier but productive for my wife . I am glad I started doing that as early as I did. Daubentons kale is another good one.

I appreciate that the triffids are robust and easy to grow, but I eat A LOT of onions and I'm concerned that these do produce only small bulbs. I don't ever want to over harvest them, so they are going to be just a modest part of my onion 'portfolio'. I think a square metre dominated by these should be self sufficiency. I reckon they'll substitute nicely for chives and I might think to pickle a few. Heck if they are prolific enough, I might, one day, flog some bulblets on ebay (Easy money?). Love that they are perennial.
I can't justify artichokes. Kale is a maybe, but it's not something we currently eat, so it doesn't fit the mantra, 'sow what you eat'
I admire your resolve and forethought. Your wife is very lucky.

[jansman]

My Egyptian onions I started last year. This year I will eat. They are 100% reproduced. Jerusalem artichokes are the same. Plant a tuber now,eat come late Autumn and just leave a tuber in the ground. They grow,they are indestructible. Also extremely productive. I am not sowing to medical issues,I’m following the season. I am concentrating on perennials now,as my cancer is incurable,so I am making my garden easier but productive for my wife . I am glad I started doing that as early as I did. Daubentons kale is another good one.

I appreciate that the triffids are robust and easy to grow, but I eat A LOT of onions and I'm concerned that these do produce only small bulbs. I don't ever want to over harvest them, so they are going to be just a modest part of my onion 'portfolio'. I think a square metre dominated by these should be self sufficiency. I reckon they'll substitute nicely for chives and I might think to pickle a few. Heck if they are prolific enough, I might, one day, flog some bulblets on ebay (Easy money?). Love that they are perennial.
I can't justify artichokes. Kale is a maybe, but it's not something we currently eat, so it doesn't fit the mantra, 'sow what you eat'
I admire your resolve and forethought. Your wife is very lucky.

Her husband is very lucky! My mental health,given my physical situation is stable right now. That’s because every day I set a target for domestic’prepping’ ,to straighten things like the garden,repairs, rubbish clearance, moving a ton of bricks etc. Everything that will help her when I am either totally knackered,or dead. That’s my reason to get up each day. Tomorrow I have Good King Henry to sow ( it thrives in cold conditions) another perennial.

[ForgeCorvus]

Tomorrow I have Good King Henry to sow ( it thrives in cold conditions) another perennial.

There you go Jenny, Jansman has given you permission to sow something

[jennyjj01]

Tomorrow I have Good King Henry to sow ( it thrives in cold conditions) another perennial.

There you go Jenny, Jansman has given you permission to sow something

Hmmmmmff. I'd get mixed up between that and Dock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitum_bonus-henricus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbascum_thapsus

Would never dare serve that up to the tasting panel. I couldn't get them to eat chard or spinach.
Heck, They balked at my few home-grown spuds and peas.

The Ailsa Craig onions are romping away. I just love how the sprout with their elbows. Photo to follow.
Their cousin Rijnsburger went in a week before and is still sleeping.

[Arzosah]

Jansman, I've always thought of jerusalem artichokes as being desirable because perennial, but well dodgy because you'd lose so much of them through peeling. And I googled briefly before I posted this, and found that plenty of links recommended scrubbing but not peeling, or cooking first so the skin comes off easily. What do you do?

[lowlander]

I've baked them in the oven, just like tatties, prick first, the skins came away quite easily.

The knobbly ones cane be difficult and wasteful to peel unless you're diligent about it, so would be better to cook these first then peel, either oven or boil.
If you choose the variety "Fuseau", it's much smoother, so easier to peel and less waste,

Growing your own, pick out the smoothest ones to replant for future crops, so your artichokes, over time, will become much less knobbly; worth doing.

Best thing you can do with artichokes is soup.

[jennyjj01]

I've baked them in the oven, just like tatties, prick first, the skins came away quite easily.

The knobbly ones cane be difficult and wasteful to peel unless you're diligent about it, so would be better to cook these first then peel, either oven or boil.

AH!. You're supposed to peel them? Drat!. I just poach them and eat them.

[Arzosah]

I've baked them in the oven, just like tatties, prick first, the skins came away quite easily.

The knobbly ones cane be difficult and wasteful to peel unless you're diligent about it, so would be better to cook these first then peel, either oven or boil.
If you choose the variety "Fuseau", it's much smoother, so easier to peel and less waste,

Growing your own, pick out the smoothest ones to replant for future crops, so your artichokes, over time, will become much less knobbly; worth doing.

Best thing you can do with artichokes is soup.

That's very useful, thanks. It was the wastefulness I was concerned about, exactly. I'll check out the fuseau variety.

Can I ask, how come the soup? Is the texture iffy to your taste?

[lowlander]

No, not at all, I love them in any form, but the soup is the best imo - a thick, grainy texture with a nutty slightly smokey flavour.