Oca as a Late-Planted Crop… Seems to Work

Most growers start their oca tubers in pots indoors as early as possible, and move them outside to their final planting site as soon as the threat of frost has passed. This gives the longest available growing season, and hence more foliage with which to make more tubers. This is quite logical, but oca grows slowly in Spring, and quickly in late Summer, so the question arises - why squander valuable Spring planting space on widely spaced small plants? Why not treat Oca as a late-planted follow-on crop utilising space made available by the harvest of Spring crops? Worth a try I thought, so these plants…

... were held in modules until the beginning of August when a crop of garlic was cleared to make space for them.

Here they are on the 28th of October...

...less than three months after planting out, having seemingly made up for the late start. The yacon (another slow-starting crop) were planted at the same time.
During November, there were a few mild frosts, but the killing frost came on 10th December...

…followed by an unusually wet and stormy winter, which meant that harvest was delayed until early March. Rather late, so I was expecting the voles to have polished off most of the crop, but actually...

…most plants have done no worse than those planted at the conventional time. Maybe the voles drowned this year.

I have to conclude that there is probably little benefit in the labour-intensive business of starting plants early under cover. The fact that oca tubers survive prolonged storage, and are resilient enough after sprouting, means that it is not even necessary to hold the tubers in chilled conditions until the chosen planting time.
With yield apparently unaffected by early August planting, the crop can comfortably follow or relay with overwintered Alliums, Brassicas or roots, early potatoes, peas, or green manure crops.

That's one less thing to do in the April rush.

Skirret—Growing, Selecting (and Eating)

I grew skirret from two sources last year; seed from a commercial supplier, and a few root-cuttings presumably from plants which had already received some selection.

Seed-grown plants are highly variable, and give the chance to select for larger root production, so rather than lift the plants piecemeal as required for the kitchen, I'm checking the whole crop to choose and propagate from the best.
About two dozen plants...

…showing wide variation in quality and productivity...

... those with the thickest and largest roots are used for division. Skirret crowns conveniently provide ready-rooted shoots which can be split off...

…ready for potting up or planting out directly...

Apart from being easy to propagate, skirret has a lot else going for it. To my taste, this is one of the best flavoured and textured vegetables I've eaten; sweet and floury, with more character than say potato or parsnip.
It's perennial, easy to grow, showing no sign of pest damage, tolerates rough weather, and produces attractive flowers and ample seed. In my experience, it stores well simply left in the ground until needed.  With all this, it seems sad that it has almost disappeared from the vegetable garden just because it's a little fiddly to clean compared with potatoes or carrots.

There are varied ideas about the best way grow the crop, but I sowed indoors at the end of April, transplanted the strongest seedlings to modules, and planted outdoors promptly to avoid any risk of amusingly shaped roots. I used block planting, spaced at 12" on a bed of silty soil in full sun, and mulched with 4" of raw woodchippings. During mid Summer they got a sprinkling of wood ash, and a little dilute nitrogen feed. During dry spells, they got perhaps 2gal of water per sq.m/week.

I can also see potential for my now improved stock in a polyculture system, perhaps with alliums, as the two are active at different ends of the year, but I need to experiment more with basic cultural conditions first before I start getting too creative.

- And not forgetting the taste test...

…mmm, farinaceous!
Many reports mention skirret roots having a woody core, but I've seen no instances of this in my harvest, and suspect it may be due to cultural conditions, perhaps lack of water.

There is a recipe for an impressive Skirret Pie here, and more about growing the crop here at The Backyard Larder Blog, and here at Wetting the Beds.