yacon

I dug up some large tubers from one yacon plant and pruned the dead stems from another bush as they beginning to look unsightly.  In the top picture I placed a nasturrtium flower to compare the size.  The long green chilli I plucked accidentally and that will give you some idea how big the tubers are.  There are still a couple of yacon plants, with leaves looking barely alive, and in the picture there are a couple of the yellow flowers making a brave last stand before the cold send them withered and black.
The yacon needs loamy soil with plenty of humus and watering in summer.  In poor soil the plant will grow, sometimes to a metre high but will produce very small tubers.
I put aside tubers with shoots for next season.  Growing yacon is like growing dahlias. Look out for snails when the new leaves appear.  Yacon are good, baked, fried or boiled and when sliced thinly will cook quickly in a stir-fry.  It has a sweetish flavour and does well roasted with potatoes and Jerusalem artichoke.  This is a South American plant and quite rare in this country.

Gardening in the tropics

In the tropics growth seems to leap with such alacrity one has to be determined to continue with the task of weeding.  It was with such determination that I cleaned out the noxious weed lalang from the upstairs balcony planter box.  I had to cut down the sharp edged long grass to about an inch above ground before digging out the roots and suckers.  As I was on holiday gardening took second place to recreation and when I returned a couple of days later the grass had grown, as shown in the picture.
My mother planted vegetables and flowers in the planter when she was able but as she was not even capable of climbing up the stairs I would describe my progress when I took a break to drink more water and wash away the stinging sweat.  My eyes felt the sting and it was a case of continual blinking.
I worked a small section at a time, digging out roots and soil until I could see the cleared floor of the planter.  The roots and suckers were removed and I painstakingly searched for the smallest bit of sucker in the soil to avoid another invasion.  By the middle of the second week of my holiday I had completely cleared the whole planter box.  I could have finished earlier if the thunder, lightning and rain of the late afternoon did not interrupt my progress.

Here is a picture of the planter box without the lalang.  I did not have compost to add to the soil so made do with a couple of small bags of composted matter I found at the base of the banana grove.  That should help the seeds I put in.  For mulch I chopped up twigs and banana leaves and dried up banana stems.  I sprinkled some fertiliser granules.

This is the planter with seeds of four angled bean, chilli, tomato, and choi sum.  At one end I planted a turmeric tuber, some shallots and garlic and a couple of seedlings of the pea eggplant (rimbang) and pennywort.  I can only hope for the seeds to germinate and grow to encourage some interest in the planter box, enough to help with watering, feeding and weeding.  It was hard work gardening in the tropics but if I could see the fruits of my labour it would be worth all the sweats and backaches.