The fall garden is in, sprouting, and growing. Whew, glad that’s done. Of course that means that it is time to start planning for the SPRING garden! I love that. I love garden planning in general, I get really excited about it. I could look through Baker Creek’s website for hours.
But here in AZ we have something… in between. It’s not part of the of the fall garden, definitely not part of the summer garden… it’s more of an EARLY spring thing, or mid-winter thing (if we had a winter). If you miss the fall planting, you still have a chance to do that. In fact a lot of the things that you grow in the fall/winter here can also be planted in January to grow during the early spring.
A couple things, however need to be ready to be started in January. Yup. Kind of crazy huh? They are both root crops. The first one, that you need to preorder from someplace like here, is Jerusalem Artichokes or sun chokes. I’ve never grown these before, but I am this year, or NEXT year… you know what I mean. You have to preorder those NOW and they will ship them out mid-January… and that’s when you need to plant those little tubers. Patience is key (from what I’ve read), since according to our planting calendar you won’t harvest these bad boys until late November or December. Ouch. Nothing like an 11 month growing season! J
The second thing to be ready to get into the garden in January is potatoes, actually potato transplants. So make sure that you start sprouting your little spuds in December, so that they are ready to go in the ground in MID-January. If you don’t the tubers won’t have time to form before it gets too hot. This is another crop I’ve never grown before, but I would LIKE to try this year. Harvest is in May/June time frame, right about the same time your sweet potatoes are starting to take off.
Of course, it’s never too early to start thinking, planning, and dreaming about the spring garden!
As always, consult the growing calendar, here. It has been very reliable for me over the last few years.
The Jones Garden Blog 
Oh do I wish I could share some sun chokes with you. I bought two at a plant sale and every year we have 20-40 of them – they spread – a lot.
I’ve heard they are a little invasive. I think they might go into some containers.
Keith, I’m glad the garden season is winding down here and it’s time to rest and plan for next year. It’s been a challenging year with great successes and large disappointments, many accomplishments and far too many failures. Next year will be better. Right?
Jerusalem Artichokes are something to be under strict control here or they will quickly get out of control and take over. Most folks will grow them in containers to prevent their spread. I personally have never grown them for that reason. On the flip side, they are easy to grow and maintain.
Have a great winter garden day.
That’s exactly what I thought too, Dave. Containers. Although I did see an interesting video on them where the gardener had used plastic containers and the sun chokes SPLIT the plastic. Very impressive. At the same time I get excited about a crop that grows so prolific that it’s OUT OF CONTROL! Food, growing out of control! Nice.