Category Archives: Tubers

Yam daisy aboriginal tuber cultivation

Yam daisy or murnong (Microseris lanceolata) from Australia, harvest outside in Malvik on 12th November 2011. I’ve had lower yields of other crops! Needs a bit of selection, but not an impossible project I think!
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
This post is inspired by this video about aboriginal Yam daisy agriculture, introduction of livestock by the Europeans largely destroyed this sustainable agriculture… https://www.farmingsecrets.com/growing-yam-daisies-australias-earliest-agriculture

Rice lily

The smallest of the tubers in yesterday’s dinner (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=9577) was so-called rice lily or riceroot (Fritillaria camschatensis), small (but many) sweet tasting tubers that often lie right on the surface all winter! One of the hardiest plants found in Western North America from Oregon to Alaska, Northern Japan and the Russian Far East…and quite a common ornamental for its almost black flowers…
See also my blog post Riceroot and Hog Peanuts (http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=480)
P1700349OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

..and end of the year Yacon harvest

Yacon (Polymnia edulis/Smallanthus sonchifolius) also gives higher yields when grown on inside until the end of the year in a large pot; however, it is much less day length sensitive than ulluco and oca…when I had a cold greenhouse, yacon would give at least as good a yield as this by October…
The sweet tasting tubers are becoming quite popular in recent years! Yacon is in the Asteraceae, the roots containing inulin like its edible tubered cousins Jerusalem artichoke and Dahlia.

P1700245
The yacon was moved into my living room which is heated…about 2/3 of the leaves froze off before harvest, but it resprouted from the base and continued flowering….

 

P1700240
The propagules were sprouting (small nodules used to start next year’s plants)

P1700248
P1700242
P1700237

End of the year Andes in Malvik tuber harvest

As the psychedelic (colour not effect) Andean tubers Oca (Oxalis tuberosa), Ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus) and Achira (Canna edulis) benefit from a longer season than I can give them outside, I grow them in buckets which I bring inside and harvest around Xmas time for a colourful christmas dinner…so here’s an album of this year’s harvest!

I was very surprised by one of the best ulluco harvests here, despite the leaves being mostly frozen off before moving the pots inside and not regrowing…I don’t understand…

 

Lily-chufa-parsley stir fry

Tonight’s dinner was a lily – chufa – parsley stir-fry (chinese style) with buckwheat noodles…

Lily = bulbs of Lilium martagon (Martagon lily), an important forest garden source of carbohydrate, liking the shady conditions of deciduous woodlands

Chufa – the delicious tubers of the grass Cyperus esculentus

My first Yacon flower after 10 years of trying!

I also finally flowered a yacon here! I’ve been growing Yacon now for 10 years, my first harvest here was on 28th October 2006 and I was pleased that I got 1/2 kg for each plant! I had got used to low yields on other South Americans like oca and ulluco when harvested in October, so this was a pleasant surprise!
This yacon was grown on the balcony outside in a large pot, was frosted 2 weeks ago, resulting in some leaf drop, but having moved it inside it has recovered and the flower bud has finally opened!

P1670652