Today I'll make some changes that will have a big impact on the look of our garden
and will help us transition the garden into the fall and winter.
If we're going to have a successful winter garden this year,
I've got to get more sunshine on the beds inside our hoop house
and that means the tomatoes and beans that grew up the hoops all summer long have to go.
I've removed some of them, but I'll remove the rest today.
And though I'm going to miss them a lot,
it's time to cut back these sunchoke stalks.
I love the way they tower over the garden in the summer
and right now they're about 12 feet tall,
but they're shading out our winter garden and it's time for them to go.
I'd prefer to wait until after our first frost to cut back our sunchokes,
and our average first frost date is only days away
but according to our extended forecast,
we won't be having a frost for quite some time.
So, to get some more sunshine on our winter garden bed,
I'm going to go ahead and cut these sunchokes back.
Though I'm cutting back the sunchokes today, I won't actually harvest any.
They're supposed to taste better after the first frost,
so I'll wait until after the first frost to start harvesting.
And when I do harvest,
I'll just harvest what we need for meals and I'll leave the rest of them right here in the ground.
Sunchokes don't store very well in the refrigerator,
but they store very well in the soil.
And over the winter, to enable us to continue harvesting,
I'll cover this little bed with storm windows to keep the soil from freezing,
and that way we can continue our harvest through the winter.
The two biggest concerns people have about sunchokes are that they're invasive
and that they cause gas.
Now, we found that by growing them in a small raised bed like this,
we are able to keep them contained.
Every spring I have to pull up a few that have escaped,
but otherwise they stay pretty well in this raised bed.
As far as gas goes, my wife and I find that
as long as we eat them in moderation they're not too bad.
It's kind of like eating beans.
But some people are very sensitive to them,
so it varies from person to person.
And you probably want to try sunchokes before you actually try growing them.
Try eating them first.
When I cut back the stalks,
I leave enough of the stalk in place
that I can come in and pull it up
when I want to harvest sunchokes.
That way I'll got a nice big clump of sunchokes up with just one pull.
We like our sunchokes roasted and we also have a
sunchoke soup recipe that we really enjoy.
I'll put a link in the description.
And again, as long as we eat them in moderation, they don't bother us.
All we have to do to make sure we have another sunchoke harvest next year
is to not harvest all of them.
We'll leave some of them in the ground
to produce the next crop
Okay, I think I've cut all the stalks.
Now let's remove the support from the trellis and get these into the compost pile.
I've got them connected to the trellis with a bungee cord.
Hey, Oscar!
You're here to witness the event?
Didn't think this through, did I?
Sunchokes produce an incredible amount of biomass.
Our compost pile is already about two-thirds full,
but I'm gonna try to get these in there.
I'm gonna have to cut them up quite a bit and that's going to take a while.
Okay, I'm gonna start chopping these up to see if I can get them into the compost pile,
and what I've done I'll be back.
Well, I have to say these plants have fit into the bin much better than I expected.
The bin is full of red wigglers
and this will give them a lot of food and some insulation from the cold.
All right. Very nice!
now let's go take down the trellis that supported the sunchokes.
Many of you have asked me how I keep my sunchokes from toppling over in the wind.
And now that the sunchokes are down,
You can see our eight-foot tall lattice trellis.
It's not nearly as tall as our sunchokes were,
but it's tall enough to keep them from falling over.
We attach the sunchokes to the trellis with twine and bungee cords.
Now let's remove the trellis.
Okay, with this out of the way, our winter garden is going to get a lot more sun.
And next I'll remove the last of the tomatoes and beans from the hoops.
Wow, what a difference it makes back here with those sunchokes gone!
There won't be any more of me popping out from behind the sunhokes for a while in my videos -
at least until next summer.
Now let's remove the last of our tomatoes and beans that were here on the hoops of the hoop house.
I've already harvested all the ripe crops.
Now let's remove them so these winter crops can get some sunshine.
I already harvested most of the ripe beans and tomatoes,
so we'll just remove the plants and put them in the compost bin.
Growing beans and tomatoes up the same support is something I've been experimenting with.
I've been happy with the results, and I'll probably do this again next year.
We had an incredible bean harvest this year,
and lots of tomatoes too.
Let the sun shine in!
Not much sun today.
Okay, I'll wrap up here,
I'll be back with you in a moment.
Well, this is last of it.
Let's get this in the compost pile, and my work for the day will be done.
What a huge difference that made!
I've been hardening off these winter crops that you see behind me,
and now that this area is open and there will be more sunshine, I can go ahead and plant them out.
if you enjoyed this look into what's happening in the OYR garden,
please give the video a thumbs up.
And if you haven't already, please subscribe for more videos
on how to grow a lot of food
on a little land without spending much
or working harder than you have to.
So, what to you think about the sunchokes being gone, Oscar?
Are you going to miss them?
No? Okay, good.... oh, my goodness!
There you go.
All right, say goodbye, Oscar.
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