Now that we’re approaching the depths of winter, and all the vegetables have slowed down, you might imagine that we’re not up to much at Norton Nursery, and you’d be wrong! We’re busier than ever catching up on improving the infrastructure, doing the big hardy jobs that we don’t have time for in the spring and summer. We’ve been building compost bays, re-mulching our paths with woodchip and revitalising old council planters for growing grape vines!
Our harvest is of course a bit slower this time of year, and we hope you’ve had the opportunity to try one of our winter salad mixes. We’ve saved our Jerusalem Artichokes for you to enjoy over the festive period – and we hope you enjoy them
Jerusalem artichokes (also known as sunchokes or earth apples) are a sweet nutty knobbly tuber that is a member of the sunflower family. This year we’ve had our best harvest yet.
How we grow Jerusalem artichokes at Norton Nurseries
We grow them in the old Amazon crates that the warehouse received when their depot closed down last year. This helps prevent them from spreading everywhere and makes it much easier for us to harvest!
We grow ours in a mix of well rotted manure and leaf litter kindly donated to us by Graves Park Animal Farm. At a certain point in the year, when the tubers have grown tall leafy stems, we top the crates up with this compost mix to give the tubers a bit of extra nourishment and space to grow.
These tubers were originally donated to us from Wortley Hall Walled Garden, from one of our volunteer drivers, Ivan. They’re also mentioned in our new book, ‘Our Food Works’, so grab yourself a copy to find out more!
Cooking with Jerusalem artichokes
Jerusalem artichokes do have a bit of a reputation for making you a bit windy – but this is no reason to avoid them. Their high sugar content means roasting at a high temp in the oven for 30 minutes makes them crunchy caramelly tender crispy deliciousness – well worth the following flatulence!
Sign up for a weekly patron box
Our boxes contain something different every week, but if you want to try some of our Jerusalem artichokes or other veggies we have growing at the farm, then sign up for a weekly patron box.
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Food & Meals , Subscriptions
Weekly patron box subscription
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Eat well. Waste less.
For a minimum contribution of £10 a week, you’ll receive a generous selection of surplus food. The boxes can include anything from fresh fruit and veg, cereal, jars, tins, food plants from our Farm, and even our homemade frozen ready meals.
