Latest / The Beanstalk : A Podcast for Gardeners / Episode 28 — Sunchokes - Abundant, Resilient, and Infamously Gassy

Transcript

Episode 28 — Sunchokes - Abundant, Resilient, and Infamously Gassy · The Beanstalk : A Podcast for Gardeners

• 0:28
  Welcome back to the Beanstalk, fellow Beans.
• 0:32
  My name is John, your neighborhood garden buddy, and
• 0:35
  today we're diving into a plant that's tough as nails, wildly
• 0:40
  productive, and, let's be honest here, capable of clearing a room
• 0:45
  if you're not careful. We're talking about sunchokes,
• 0:50
  also known as Jerusalem artichokes, also known as
• 0:54
  fartichokes by anyone who's been betrayed by them.
• 0:58
  After dinner, a good friend of mine, Laura, actually gave me
• 1:02
  some tubers to plant this year, which kicked off my whole
• 1:06
  renewed obsession with these things, though I've been staring
• 1:09
  at my yard for weeks trying to decide exactly where to put
• 1:13
  them. Because once a sunchoke patch
• 1:15
  goes in, it stays in. So today we're going to break
• 1:20
  down everything you need to know before you commit to your own
• 1:23
  lifelong sunchoke relationship. Why we should grow Sunchokes
• 1:33
  Sunchokes are the kind of plant that makes you feel like a
• 1:36
  gardening wizard, even on your worst week.
• 1:40
  They grow like they've got something to prove.
• 1:43
  They shrug off heat, drought, poor soil, and general chaos,
• 1:50
  and they reward you with big, crunchy tubers that taste like a
• 1:54
  potato met a sunflower and decided to do its own thing.
• 2:00
  They're also beautiful, tall, bright and cheerful.
• 2:04
  And honestly, I love plants that show off while still being
• 2:07
  practical. And thanks one last time to
• 2:11
  Laura for handing me a handful of tubers like she was gifting
• 2:14
  me buried treasure. Now it's a matter of choosing
• 2:18
  their forever home, because once they settle in, you're basically
• 2:22
  married to them. How to actually grow Sun jokes?
• 2:31
  Growing sunchokes might be the easiest thing you do all year.
• 2:37
  You plant a tuber and the plant basically says cool, I'll handle
• 2:41
  the rest. They like loose, well drained
• 2:45
  soil, but they'll happily thrive in places where other veggies
• 2:49
  throw in the towel. Choose your spot carefully.
• 2:53
  The place you wouldn't mind dedicating to a long term tenant
• 2:56
  with questionable boundaries. Plant tubers about four to six
• 3:01
  inches deep and spaced maybe a foot apart.
• 3:05
  Though honestly they grow through concrete if you dared
• 3:08
  them. Give them full sun, water enough
• 3:12
  to get them started and then step back.
• 3:16
  They'll grow 6 to 10 feet tall like they're trying to achieve
• 3:19
  enlightenment. How to best Harvest Sunchokes
• 3:27
  The magic isn't waiting until frost hits.
• 3:31
  A good cold snap sweetens the tubers dramatically.
• 3:36
  Harvesting them is basically a treasure hunt.
• 3:39
  Dig carefully, because sunchokes are knobby little critters that
• 3:43
  love to hide. You won't get all of them.
• 3:47
  You can't get all of them. The ones you miss guarantee next
• 3:52
  year's crop, whether you meant to replant or not.
• 3:57
  Store them like potatoes but with higher humidity, or just
• 4:01
  leave some in the ground and harvest as needed through winter
• 4:05
  if your ground doesn't freeze solid.
• 4:10
  Here are some common pests and problems.
• 4:15
  The funny thing about sunchokes is that pests mostly ignore
• 4:19
  them. Deer may nibble, but usually
• 4:22
  only if they're bored or your garden has become the local free
• 4:25
  salad bar. You might run into powdery
• 4:29
  mildew late in the season, especially in humid climates.
• 4:34
  It shows up as a dusty white coating on the leaves.
• 4:38
  It's mostly cosmetic, but improving airflow, spacing
• 4:42
  plants out and avoiding overhead watering keeps it in check.
• 4:48
  The real pest, if we're being honest, is the plant itself.
• 4:52
  These things spread aggressively.
• 4:55
  If you don't want them taking over your yard like botanical
• 4:58
  Vikings, plant them in a contained area or use a barrier.
• 5:04
  Now for some companion planting tips.
• 5:09
  Because they grow tall, sunchokes make great natural
• 5:13
  windbreaks or shade screens. You can tuck shade loving herbs
• 5:18
  like mint or lemon balm on their northern side or grow vining
• 5:23
  beads up their sturdy stems. If you want a bit of living
• 5:27
  trellis magic, just don't plant them near slow growers or
• 5:31
  sensitive plants. They will over shadow and out
• 5:34
  compete neighbors without guilt. Let's look at some seed saving
• 5:42
  tips. Unlike most vegetables, you
• 5:46
  don't save seeds from sunchokes, you save tubers.
• 5:52
  Choose healthy, solid ones with several little eyes and store
• 5:56
  them in a cool, humid environment until plenty time.
• 6:00
  Or do what I'm doing, stare at the tuber sitting on your
• 6:05
  counter, debating where in the yard they can live without
• 6:08
  becoming a generational problem. Let's cover some pros and cons
• 6:15
  of growing sunchokes. Sunchokes are durable,
• 6:21
  productive, and tasty. They're also pretty pollinator
• 6:26
  friendly and require almost no maintenance.
• 6:30
  The cons? They spread, they're nearly
• 6:33
  impossible to fully remove, and let's be honest, they can turn
• 6:38
  your digestive system into a tube of concert if you're not
• 6:41
  careful. Introduce them to your meal
• 6:45
  slowly, unless you enjoy risk taking.
• 6:50
  Here comes the recipe, Roasted sunchokes with garlic and herbs.
• 6:59
  Let's make one of the easiest and tastiest sunchoke dishes
• 7:03
  you'll ever eat. Grab about 2 lbs of sunchokes,
• 7:10
  scrub them well and slice them into half inch pieces.
• 7:15
  No peeling needed. Toss them with three tablespoons
• 7:20
  of olive oil, 4 minced garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2
• 7:28
  of a teaspoon of black pepper, and a tablespoon of chopped
• 7:32
  fresh Rosemary or thyme. Spread them on a baking sheet
• 7:38
  and roast at 400°F for 35 to 40 minutes or so, flipping halfway.
• 7:49
  They come out nutty, crispy, and unbelievably good.
• 7:54
  And yes, maybe just a little dangerous later, but worth it
• 7:59
  all the same. Now for some fun facts about
• 8:04
  sunchokes. Sunchokes aren't from Jerusalem,
• 8:09
  and they aren't artichokes. They're actually native North
• 8:13
  American sunflowers, which feels like the plant world's version
• 8:18
  of a bad nickname that's stuck. Early European settlers used
• 8:24
  sunchokes as a survival crop because they could count on them
• 8:27
  even in rough conditions. And honestly, that vibe hasn't
• 8:31
  changed. Their gas producing reputation
• 8:36
  comes from indolent, a carp humans don't digest well.
• 8:40
  So when people call them fartichokes, it's not slander,
• 8:44
  it's science. Sunchokes were once considered
• 8:50
  as a fuel source because inolin can be turned into alcohol.
• 8:54
  So yes, your dinner could have been gasoline in another life.
• 9:01
  They grow so tall and fast that some gardeners use them as
• 9:04
  living fences. Cheap, renewable and edible.
• 9:10
  And here's a weird one. Some people grow them
• 9:14
  specifically to feed wildlife because deer and rabbits enjoy
• 9:18
  the foliage but rarely bother the tubers.
• 9:23
  Welcome to the garden, nerd corner.
• 9:29
  Botanically speaking, sunchokes are Helianthus tuberosis, a
• 9:34
  cousin to the common sunflower. The tall stems and yellow
• 9:40
  blossoms might fool people into thinking they're ornamental, but
• 9:44
  underground they're forming complex clusters of inulin rich
• 9:48
  tubers. Indulin is fascinating.
• 9:54
  It's considered a prebiotic, meaning it feeds healthy
• 9:57
  bacteria in the gut. That's great, up to a point.
• 10:03
  Too much and your gut microbes celebrate by throwing a rave.
• 10:09
  What's also interesting is that Native American tribes
• 10:12
  cultivated sunchokes long before Europeans arrived, selecting for
• 10:17
  sweetness and size. So every sunchoke patch today is
• 10:21
  part of a long history of human plant tinkering.
• 10:28
  Thanks again for hanging out with me today on the Beanstalk,
• 10:31
  fellow Beans. If you want to keep the
• 10:34
  conversation going, we've got a growing community over at the
• 10:38
  Beanstalk Garden Club on Facebook.
• 10:41
  Come join us, share your garden photos, swap ideas, and let's
• 10:47
  nerd out over plants together. If you're enjoying the podcast,
• 10:53
  don't forget to hit follow on Spotify so you never miss an
• 10:57
  episode. We'd also love to hear your
• 11:00
  feedback or questions for future episodes from our patch to
• 11:06
  yours. Keep on climbing.