Grow Sunchokes in Pots

This year, we're getting more organized about planting and growing sunchokes. They are also called Jerusalem artichokes, which is a persistent name despite their not being artichokes and not being from Jerusalem. Instead, they are a native sunflower species, Helianthus tuberosus. As the latin name implies, they combine the height and glorious blooms of a sunflower with edible tubers that have a nutty flavor.

Sunchokes are super productive, but also spread aggressively underground, which means that they could easily take over your garden if not constrained. Thus the idea of planting them in big plant pots, and setting them on cardboard as further assurance that the roots won't sneak out the bottom of the pots and start spreading into the garden.

With good soil, sun, and water, you may end up in late fall with a tub packed with sunchoke tubers. Then the question is how to get them out of the heavy tub, a few at a time. The clever but untested answer I came up with years ago is to cut the dead stems in late fall, turn the tub over, then leave it upside down through the winter. Upside down, the tub becomes a cover that can be lifted whenever you want an artichoke to eat raw or cook. This year, it looks like we might get organized enough to see if this approach works.

Here's a plant pot filled with the harvest this spring from last year's big black tub. I expect that more attention and prep will, as in past years, yield far more.

My source for tubers has been the produce section of the Whole Earth Center in Princeton. There's another variety, with reddish, more linear tubers, that I also have. Both taste good.

Related posts:

Sunchokes--The Native Sunflower That Stirs Gratitude and Grief

Fill-a-Pot Sunchokes - 75 tubers from one pot!

Native Tuber Harvest - Another candidate for potting up, lest it otherwise spread in an annoying way, is ground nut.