The All-Tuber Polyculture Mound, Part 2 ... Room for One More

A previous post showed how last year I used mound culture to grow a mixed tuber crop (Yacon, Oca, and Chinese artichokes) with the minimum of labour input.

Here's what's left of the mound... 

...untouched since last December when it was torn open to yield over 20 lb of harvest.  As I anticipated, there are plenty of volunteer Oca and Chinese artichokes appearing amongst the annual weeds this year, so I only need to add a Yacon to restore last year's successful system.

Less than five minutes after the previous photo...

... and the weeds are blotted out by a heavy covering of garden compost, and a pot-started Yacon is added to the top of the heap.

This much compost might seem like an extravagance, until one thinks back to the amount of biomass which was removed at harvest; here's the near hernia-inducing Yacon root as a reminder...

I'm also adding a fourth member to the polyculture. The Hog Peanut, or Talet (Amphicarpaea bracteata) is not a true tuber-crop, so stretches the concept slightly,  but will clamber and twine amongst the Yacon, potentially fix nitrogen, and hopefully add to the overall interest and subterranean yield of the mound with its wacky underground beans.

It's another self-propagator by all reports, so like the Oca and Chinese artichokes, it should be back every year...

...whether I like it or not.

Update photo, 1st August...  ...five foot high an' risin'.