Garden Answers - March Digital Sampler

gourmet grower
Roots to relish (clockwise from above left)
yacon tubers, multicoloured carrots, horseradish,
Hamburg parsley
germinate and they sit quietly into the
winter waiting to be used. Sow March to
May and you can harvest from September
onwards; they’re particularly good roasted.
Salsify is one root I return to every few
years because I’m keen for another hit of its
delicate and appealing but rather strange
flavour. Beautiful in creamy gratins it’s
lovely roasted too. The roots are long and
Purple kohl rabi stems
partner well with
feathery fennel
slim (winkling them out of the
ground can be tricky) and they
discolour once peeled, so pop them in
water and lemon juice to stop them
going brown. They’re also called
oyster plant but I’ve never detected
that flavour; I’d put them closer to
globe artichoke. Sow in spring into deep,
well-drained soil and harvest from October.
They keep well over winter in the ground.
Coloured carrots are nothing new, but
some of the variously shaded cultivars
provoke fierce debate over differences
in flavour. Try ‘Night Bird’ for long purpleblack
roots with an intense colour that
goes to the core. Or, go for an extrasweet
root with yellow ‘Jaune
Obtuse de Doubs’ or super-sweet
off-white ‘Creampak’ F1. Sow
carrots April to June into a
deep, free-draining soil and
cover with fleece to prevent
carrot f ly.
Although a swollen stem
rather than a root, kohl rabi
is often lumped into root
veg territory. This brassica
remains woefully
undervalued in this
country. The aim is to grow
it fast in lovely rich soil and
harvest when young. I grate it
into coleslaw for a sweet, mild
cabbage-cum-broccoli taste.
Sow direct March to
July and watch out
for slugs and snails who love the
seedlings. Try ‘Azure Star’.
An overlooked root that I’m rather
fond of is horseradish. A good roast
seems incomplete without its pungent hit.
The plants are thugs so site them carefully.
They like damp ground and often seem to
end up hidden at the end of a garden near the
compost heap. Plant the thongs (bare roots)
in March or April, potting them up first if
the weather’s frightful. Harvest once the
weather cools in autumn and winter.
Digging up plants (as best you can) and
replanting healthy roots will stop it
spreading too far and keep plants youthful.
Finally, for an unusual and incredibly
bountiful harvest in a fertile sunny site,
yacon has beautiful late summer and
autumn foliage that looks perfect in a
tropical border. Once frost knocks back the
leaves (like a dahlia), dig up the tubers.
You’ll find two types: huge baking-potatosized
tubers to eat, and little knobbly
growing-tip tubers, nearer the surface,
which you can overwinter in a frost-free
shed. I put mine in barely damp potting
compost, then bring them back into growth
in a greenhouse container the following
spring and plant out after all risk of frost.
The tubers are a sweet, crunchy delight (a
cross between water chestnuts and pear)
that I like to use in salads and stir-fries. ➤
76 Garden Answers