Sun Chokes

This is my sun choke harvest this year. I dug them up weeks ago, and we are still working our way through them. There are well over 100 pounds here. I gave a lot away, sold some (here they go for $5-$7 a pound) and we are working our way through some. Some, though, I will save for next year because they do THIS:

Fucking gorgeous. Also good for privacy. 

They will, however be grown in 55 gallon barrels because all that great stuff they say about them? Disease resistant? Low maintenance? Heat tolerant? These are all things that mean this plant is invasive and will, if allowed, take over your yard. I got a bunch of them from one of the local community gardens, for FREE! so I had to take them. I listened carefully to the planting instructions the master gardener gave me, and at no point did he ever mention containers. I procrastinated, and they got shoved to the back of the refrigerator. When I finally remembered them, they were a little moldy and inedible. So I dug a trench in the middle of February thinking they wouldn't survive, but hoping they would. They did. They flourished. 13 feet tall, pounds and pounds of sun chokes per plant, and I am pretty sure there are some still lurking in the ground. Spring harvest? Maybe. They're delicious, roasted in garlic and a little oil. Also, the chickens like them.

On the Garden, Thoughts On Next Year

2013 Tomatoes

The final fall clean up of the garden has been done. I pretty much have a clean slate for next year. NEXT YEAR I will have plans and won't cram so much stuff into such a small space. I stand on the balcony and look at the yard, and think about what will go where. I know what I want, but it's maybe more than I have room for. I will have a garden journal. That's important. I need to know what's where. I was frustrated by a particular tomato plant all summer, and almost too late realized those tomatoes were supposed to stay green because they were the Granny Smith tomatoes I had been gifted. Things need to be accessible, because so much of the garden turned into a great big mass of growing things and I sometimes had a hard time finding stuff.

I'd like to preserve things next year, can tomatoes and stuff. If I can get things going well enough, it would be nice to have some to sell, too. There are restaurants around here that buy stuff grown by people locally. I sold some of my sun chokes for $5 a pound to the bakery that does Saturday brunch. THAT made me happy. But mostly, I want to be able to preserve things. I had the very best of intentions at the beginning of the gardening season, but I didn't get the yield I wanted, I lost my motivation, I had bug problems. I meant to freeze all of those herbs, but then things got really hectic with working 12 hours a day for 4 days and when I went to harvest, everything had gone to seed. So, you know, I must plan better, do what I can when I can. Pay more attention to things. 

 Now that there is nothing left growing, I feel anxious for the spring to get here, so I can fill the little pots with dirt and start the seeds. I liked working outside, pulling weeds and growing things and the feeling that I had after being outside all day, working in the dirt, seeing the insects that had taken up residence among my plants. I loved to go outside and pick vegetables and realize that night we would not need anything from the store. That everything I put on the table came from my very own back yard. And the herbal teas, made from raspberry and blackberry leaves and the mints I grew myself, that was lovely. So already, I am looking forward to spring.