GREAT NEWS: JA'S ARE AVAILABLE AGAIN IN 2013!

We've done a test dig, and the crop looks promising for a good starter harvest for this coming April/May.  We're keeping quantities conservative for this year to ensure you're getting the best seed selection, and we're putting more back into the ground.  Check it out: 2 new varieties to try, plus our standards return.  Long live the Jerusalem artichoke...one of North America's native plant foods!

It's hard for Hope Seeds to imagine our kitchen garden without a patch of Jerusalem artichokes!  Super easy to grow, great yields of nutritious tubers, and excellent over-wintering and storage qualities.  Even makes a pretty (and sturdy...really sturdy) windbreak or natural privacy fence.

Originating in North America, this perennial relative of the sunflower has nothing to do with the holy city of Jerusalem.  The “Jerusalem" is likely a corruption of the Italian work girasole or sunflower and "artichoke" may be indicative of its similarity in taste to real artichokes, although not everyone would agree.  The North American natives wild-collected and cultivated these tubers extensively and ate them boiled, roasted, or sometimes raw.  The natives introduced them to early settlers and they were taken back to Europe around the 16th century where they were more popular than potatoes for quite some time.

GROWING INFO:  Tubers are cut into seed pieces (much like potatoes) and planted 18” apart in-row and between rows.  Shoots emerge within 10-14 days, and grow sunflower-style stalks between 4-7’ tall.  Mulch if you can for weed control, harvest tubers when frost hits the plants a couple times in fall, or better yet, let tubers overwinter in the ground and dig them after snow melts to go with your Spring-dug parsnips.  Plants do not need to flower for tuber set.  Keep in mind: JA's are a persistent perennial, and will want to spread.  Plant them in their own patch or in a corner of the garden where you can mow or till around them.

INFO FOR INCREASED ORDER SATISFACTION:

  • Earliest shipping dates will be end April/beginning May.  We dig our JA's in the Spring as soon as the ground thaws.  In zone 3B, that's around the middle of April depending on weather. 
  • Planting info will be included in every shipment.
  • Please be aware that Jerusalem artichokes (and seed potatoes) are subject to a shipping surcharge in addition to our regular shipping charges.  They're heavy, they're bulky...they're worth it!
  • Note to International Customers: You guessed it - we can't ship ’em!  Sorry, but Hope Seeds does not send potatoes, garlic or Jerusalem artichokes over the border.