Something New Here: Jerusalem Artichokes and why I grow them

This year I planted Jerusalem artichokes because the idea of a sunflower looking flower and an edible tuber really appealed to me. It like me will be useful as well as ornamental and pull it's weight around here.

I like the way that this photo shows how tall they got compared to the storage bin and the house.

I was excited to see the butterfly here this morning, I guess they like them too.

Here's a view from the street.

As you can see there's plenty to inspire drawings and paintings here.

I can't wait to get started.

Weird and Wonderful Perennial Vegetables and Edible Flowers

There isn't much to do in a Minnesota Garden over the winter except plan next years growing. This time of year my mailbox overflows with garden catalogs which make it easy not only to pick the things that I want to be growing but to compare the prices on everything as well.

I see no real benefit in maintaining a lawn when water is so precious so the majority of my city lot around my house is devoted to growing things that are both beautiful and useful.

I'm lucky that everyone here would rather pick dinner than mow lawn.

Perennial veggies are new to me so I'll begin with organic Egyptian walking onions that I hope will grow well here. I'm a bit concerned because they say 250 days and we've got such short seasons here but I'm looking forward to trying them anyway.

So far all I've come up with for flowers is Chamomile which I plan to use for tea, nasturtiums and chives.

I'm sure there are many other possibilities so I can't wait to settle back in with the catalogs and explore.