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RARE & UNUSUAL TUBERS Yacon Here is another unusual tuber, modelled by Catherine in the Round Garden. Yacon is a large plant from South America, distantly related to sunflowers, and it has huge, attractive fuzzy green leaves. It has very pretty little yellow flowers at the top of each stalk. The plants are very easy to grow and seem to thrive in almost any soil or climate. Underground, it grows a bit like a dahlia - with a small clump of knobbly growing tips, and large storage tubers radiating out in a circle. At the end of the season you dig it all up and the storage tubers are the bit you eat - they are really sweet and crunchy. The knobbly growing tips you divide and replant, so you don't need to keep buying it. The sweet storage tubers are peeled before use - and nice two ways: raw in salads, and stir fried as a substitute for water-chestnut. The tubers store very well and its a very welcome addition to our winter salads. A final interesting point about Yacon is that the type of sugar in the tubers is inulin - the same as in Jerusalem Artichokes - and for which most people don't have a digestive enzyme - so it has almost no calorific value whatsoever, despite its sweetness. How it is propagated: The plant makes a lumpy mass of growing tips at the bottom of the stem. We cut these apart, and post them to all the yacon people all on the same day, possibly separately from any other seeds you order. Each yacon set will be a lump of root, maybe about 1 cm square, maybe a bit bigger, with a growing tip on it. What you have to do: As soon as you receive them - RIGHT AWAY - you put these in small pots with nice, damp compost. They will make roots and once they are a bit bigger, after all danger of frost is past - you can plant them out in the garden. What you get: We are selling you 1 yacon. But we actually send you 3 growing tips to be sure of success, and in fact we expect on average, that 2 of these will grow. We will replace or refund if you do not get 1 surviving plant from the 3 tips, as long as you plant them in a pot as soon as you get them. For future years you should not need to purchase again as you can divide each plant yourself in the same way to give 3 to 7 new plants each time! Order TuYA - Yacon (3 tips to give 1 plant) £9.90 YACON is only available overwinter - come back after NOVEMBER 2010 ~ A Seasonal Special: "OCA" ~ (Latin name: Oxalis Tuberosa) This is a favourite of ours from South America. Oca is grown and used just like new potatoes. It has a lemony taste and is very easy to grow as long as you have a moderately long season. It is completely unrelated to potatoes and so of course not affected by blight! One of the 'Lost Crops' of the Incas, this is one of the staples of people in Bolivia & Peru. A very easy crop to grow, with a taste just like potatoes with lemon sauce. No need to peel, just boil and serve with butter. Mmmmm. And the lush green foliage with yellow flowers is actually rather pretty in its own right. Very few pests seem to like it, so its a real 'no work' crop. The tubers are formed in short days, often as late as November, so if you have early frosts this may not be for you. On the other hand, if the autumn is mild, as it has been this year, you should get a big crop of surprisingly large tubers. We got about 1/2 a kilo of Oca from each tuber planted. We have grown it successfully for years: both in Cambridge and on the west coast of Wales, but we don't know how it would fare further north. It is very easy to multiply up - you just keep a few tubers back for replanting. So if you like it you don't need to buy it each year but just replant your own. More details on storage and cooking included with your tubers! The oca has been incredibly popular - last year we grew loads but it all went really quickly! We keep planting more but can never keep up with demand. HOW MUCH DO YOU GET? These are little seed tubers, like seed potatoes. We pack by weight (100grams) , and you'll get a mix of sizes. But you'll definitely get at least 5 tubers (if they're big), or could get up to 9 (if they're small). If you like them, just keep some of your own back for future years - you'll not need to buy them again. OCA will be available from the new harvest after November 2010 , we have lots of new varieties growing well