Hello, and a very warm welcome back to the garden.
And in today's video, I know we're all busy planning and thinking about the next growing
season, but I think it's really important to try and include some underrated vegetables.
And today, I'm going to highlight what I think is the most underrated vegetable that everyone
must grow, and also show you two or three others as well.
So hopefully, get you thinking about the plan and what you should grow next year.
Around a year ago, I made a video showing how one plant can bring you free food forever,
and I'm standing in front of one of these plants, and for me, this is actually the most
underrated vegetable in the vegetable garden.
And there are so many reasons why, and I think it's getting a lot of bad stick, or people
just aren't so keen about it, and it's actually a perennial vegetable.
And one of the great things about perennials is that they're usually so much easier to
propagate from, and that is a huge advantage.
So these two are some artichokes, also known as sunchokes, have been staying and growing
in the same space for over 15 years now, and I'm going to start harvesting them, and I'm
going to show you exactly why and tell you why this is such an underrated vegetable,
and why I believe everyone should be growing this crop.
I honestly believe that there aren't any vegetables which fit into the overrated category, because
every vegetable serves a really important purpose.
Even if it doesn't taste too good, it can provide a natural benefit.
And I think a lot of people might think that kale is quite overrated, mainly because of
its flavour, but when you think about the importance it has during the winter growing
season, and then also bringing edible flower shoots which are so delicious in March and
April, and even into May, you can see how important things are, no matter how boring
you think they are.
Now, I also believe though there are lots of vegetables which are underrated, and we
forget about them.
Now for me, Jerusalem artichokes fit into the underrated vegetable category, and I'm
going to start harvesting these, and I'm going to talk you through why these are so important
and so crucial.
And even though they are technically a perennial, you can treat them as an annual vegetable
as well.
So if you've got a vegetable garden just focusing on annuals, you can treat this just like an
annual and add it into your crop rotation.
However, for me it doesn't make sense doing that, because all the time, we can just leave
them in the exact same place every year, and this is a very, usually between summer, it's
a very, very shaded spot, and the fact that we can get a consistent crop from it every
single year is really powerful.
So I don't see a reason to crop rotate, because it doesn't really suffer from diseases either.
And for me, a huge benefit of Jerusalem artichokes is that they can be stored in the ground all
through winter.
Unlike something like oca, which is a great tuber, it doesn't really quite have the same
crop quality as you do with Jerusalem artichokes, and the other issue is that mice and vermin
seem to love going for oca tubers.
However, I've never had an issue with them going for Jerusalem artichokes.
And the fact that we can store food in the ground through winter is huge, because it's
December at the moment, and unlike potatoes, which you can't really store in the ground
as easily, or you need to harvest them, to avoid getting issues with diseases like blight,
or scab.
With Jerusalem artichokes, you store them in the ground, and the great thing about that
is if you live in a really small house, or you struggle for storage, or maybe you don't
have a cool shed or outbuilding to place your harvest in, like your potatoes, to store,
just keeping them in the soil is the best way to store them.
So when it comes to wanting to have a meal, you can come up into the garden or the allotment,
and just pick what you need, and I think that is a massive benefit, not having to do a huge
harvest.
I mean, I'm going to do one of those today, but being able to keep them in the ground.
In under three square feet, which is quite a small space, this so far, is the harvest,
and I would say this is roughly from maybe three or four different plants, and even though
I'm going to harvest all of these, I don't need to store them in the house, and I'll
be showing that as well because it's so simple.
Now, something great about Jerusalem artichokes is that they're technically a carb, but they
have a kind of starch in them, which I believe, makes it really kind of hard to digest.
In fact, our body doesn't really digest it, and it seemed more of a fibre.
So you can feel like having a nice hearty soup or something to fill you up during winter,
so if you're looking at doing a bit of maybe a detox or a diet after Christmas, then using
Jerusalem artichokes as your carbohydrate staple, is so powerful.
And I'm also going to highlight another vegetable a bit later on, which can serve that same
purpose.
This Christmas, we're definitely going to enjoy plenty of Jerusalem artichokes, whether
they're going to be made into a real nice soup, or roasted, and I'm really looking forward
to it.
And I think Christmas is a really important time to relax and take a bit of a break from
gardening, and even planning next year's garden, and kind of just reset our minds by trying
new and trying something different.
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There's a lot of vegetables which require a lot of sun, and just takes up a lot of space
in the garden, and you're always looking for sun, but if you've got a shady place and you're
fed up of growing just rhubarb there, because our rhubarb is grown, literally just to the
other side of these Jerusalem artichokes, then add some Jerusalem artichokes into the
mix, because they're still going to thrive and give you a fantastic crop.
I've just given these a quick wash, so you can see more clearly without the dirt what
the tubers look like.
Now in terms of maintenance, Jerusalem artichokes could not be easier.
They grow so quickly, so they smother out basically all of the weeds and that's a huge
bonus.
So it's literally harvest plant in the same session, and then add a bit of compost if
you want, and then leave them to it.
It's as easy as that.
Being in Wales, you can't have a vegetable garden without growing at least a bed of leeks,
and I believe leeks are highly underrated.
The main reason is because they hold so much power when it comes to winter.
And just like the Jerusalem artichokes, leeks can stay in the ground all through winter,
rather than having to harvest them and store them elsewhere.
So we'll be harvesting leeks until about March.
Another highly underrated vegetable, and is also a winter veg, the swede.
I've got quite a massive one here.
And the reason why I believe these are highly underrated, is because you can use them as
a carb and you can replace these for a lot of meals, instead of potatoes.
And in fact, per 100 grams of potatoes and swedes compared, swedes will have about half
the calories of potatoes, and I think that's something really important.
And again, these can store in the ground, and a fantastic source of greens.
And finally, you see these leaves here?
Well, these are also edible.
So another fantastic crop to add into the must-haves.
And of course, the final vegetable has to be beetroot, and I think this as well, is
very underrated.
It's so easy to grow, the seeds are really cheap.
It's not too hard to save the seed either, it just takes a couple of years.
And beetroot, this has survived many frosts, and we've still been able to harvest.
Now, I would only keep these in the ground until around about Christmas, but what you
can do if you want to keep them in the ground more, is cover them with a big mulch of hay,
or straw, or leaves to keep them good.
So again, you don't have to worry about storage.
But beetroot tastes delicious, especially homegrown ones, they're nothing like what
you get in a supermarket.
And you can harvest them within three months of sowing, so you can start sowing them from
March, all the way through until July.
As you are planning your vegetable garden, I think it's really important as well to maybe
consider trying something else rather drastic and different, and that's re-evaluating how
you approach crop rotation.
So make sure you check out this video to look at crop rotation, and perhaps see it through
a different pair of eyes.