EDIBLE ROOTS… for the community garden

Root crops are a concentrated source of dietary carbohydrates and proteins. They are among humanity’s oldest crops.

Edible roots are suitable in community gardens:

• with shared gardening space for root crops which grow as spreading vines
• with larger allotments of a size to cope with spreading vines
• with smaller allotments in which root crops with a shrub growth form, such as potato, can be grown.

Root crops come in both annual and perennial forms (perennials are those taking longer than two years to produce a crop).
For community gardeners, the root crops offer:

• a concentrated source of nutritional, carbohydrate-rich ‘energy food’
• a source of botanical interest where the less common species are grown
• a way to make use of unused garden space.

Source: Some of these root crops are difficult to find in nurseries. In Australia, you may be able to mail order them from:
Green Harvest
PO Box 92
MALENY QLD 4552
Australia
PH: 07 54352699
FAX: 07 54999791
FREECALL: 1800 681014
http://www.greenharvest.com.au/
Ask for their catalog.
Some crops are available only at particular times of the year.

Design

• annual root crops can be planted in the annual garden bed or allotment, depending on size
• root crops form one of the components of a crop rotation system with leaf, fruiting and leguminous crops
• in the southern hemisphere, locate the annual vegetable garden on the northern (sunward) side so as to maximise exposure to sunlight.

To keep your root crops healthy:

• protect them from strong and cold winds
  provide plenty of water but do not over-water
  monitor them for plant diseases and insect pests
  maintain soil fertility by adding compost and mulch.

Notes on the plant description

• growth form: sizes given are for mature plants and are approximate only – the size a plant will grow to depends on microclimate, watering, soil fertility and the incidence of insects pests and plant diseases
• botanic name: these are the names botanists and horticulturists use to identify plants; sometimes, a single plant will have more than one common name, leading to difficulty in identifying it; there is only one botanic name so it is a more reliable way to identify a plant.
• spp: abbreviation for ‘species’ which denotes a particular plant variety
• family: a larger grouping of plants, all with some characteristic in common, into which plants are classified
• propagation: how plants are started
• vegetative reproduction is started from a cutting or a sprouting root such as a rhizome or tuber

centre of diversity: the region where the plant originated and from where it spread.

CARROT

Botanic name: Daucus carota
Family: Apiaceae
Growth form: tapering tuber of variable length depending on variety.
Biennial:

• the plant produces the tuber in its first year
• flowers and produces seed in the second year
• orange or yellow coloured tuber.

Edible part: tuber eaten raw or cooked.
Cultivation:
There are many varieties of carrot, varying in size and colouration.

• from seed
• new plants can be sprouted by cutting of top of tuber and waiting until it sprouts, then planting.

Centre of diversity:

• probably eastern Mediterranean
• grown in imperial Rome and ancient Turkey
• yellow and purple varieties grown in Europe until the seventeenth century when the orange carrot was developed in Holland.

CHINESE ARTICHOKE

Botanic name: Stachys affinis
Family: Labiatae
Growth form:

• annual
• stiff stem to around a metre grows from tuber.

Edible part: tuber.
Cultivation:

• propagated vegetatively from tuber
• planted in winter in warm temperate climates.

Centre of diversity:
China

• recorded in Europe in 1882.

DAIKON and other radishes

Daikon is a member of the diverse radish group of plants that vary in:

• shape — cylindrical to spherical
• size — from as small as approximately two centimetres diameter
• colour — white, red, black, purple, yellow – depending on variety
• growth period — from weeks to months.

Botanic name: Raphanus sativus (daikon)
Growth form (daikon): white root to around 30 centimetres long and 4 centimetres in diameter.
Edible part: tuber; edible raw or cooked.
Cultivation:

• daikon is a slower growing variety of radish maturing in warm temperate coastal regions of Easteern Australia in late autumn
• the size of the tuber yields plenty of food
• plant smaller fast-growing radish varieties successionally every two weeks.

Propagation: from seed.
Use in garden: plant as catch crop between slower growing vegetables to make use of garden space until slower growing plants fully occupy the space.
Centre of diversity:

• Asia
• recorded in use in Egypt from 2980BP (before present)
• ancient crop in Japan.

GALANGAL

Varieties: greater galangal; lesser galangal.
Botanic name:Languas galanga
Family: Ziniberaceae; same family as ginger.
Growth form:

• similar to ginger
• leaves grow from stiff stem
• knobbly rhizomes grow in soil.

Edible part: rhizome

• can be dried or grated fresh
• used in curry and satay sauce
• used as spice to flavour food.

Cultivation: vegetative – sprouting rhizome planted.
Centre of diversity:

• South East Asia, southern China
• occurs wild in jungle clearings and is also cultivated.

GARLIC

Botanic name: Allium sativum
Growth form:

• similar in appearance to onion
• bulb enclosed in a papery, whitish/ purplish skin.

Edible part:

• bulb
• used as food flavour
• medicinal uses

Cultivation:

• sprouting clove planted
• provide warm microcllimate.

Centre of diversity:

• Central Asia, China
• in use since ancient times in India, Egypt, China.

GINGER

Botanic name: Zingiber officinale
Family: Ziniberaceae
Growth form:

• long, narrow leaves grow from stiff stem
• rhizomes (the root structure) form underground cluster
• grows to approximately one metre in height.

Edible part:

• knobbly rhizome used as spice to flavour food
• rhizome can be dried and grated
• eaten raw or used in cooking
• used as a tea
• medicinal uses.

Cultivation:
Ginger is a tropical/ subtropical perennial.

• shade tolerant
• prefers a hot, frost-free environment
• grows in a large container.

Propagation:

• vegetative — sprouting rhizome planted
• prefers moist, well-drained soil.

Centre of diversity: South East Asia.

JERUSALUM ARTICHOKE

Botanic name: Helianthus tuberous
Family: Compositae; same family as sunflower and yacon.
Growth form:

• similar to sunflower
• tall, single stem to around a metre in height, sometimes more, with wide, soft laves
• yellow flowers like, but smaller than, sunflower
• produces cluster of rhizomes in late autumn/ early winter in warm temperate coastal climates of Eastern Australia.

Edible part: rhizome

• cooked as vegetable
• used in soup
• edible raw.

Cultivation:

• frost hardy
• tolerates a variety of soils
• rhizomes ready to harvest when foliage dies
• rhizomes may be stored in soil for limited period
• high productivity in good conditions.

Propagation: vegetative; from rhizome.
Centre of diversity:

• North America
• cultivated and collected from wild by Indian peoples.

OCA

Also known as: New Zealand yam; cuiba (Venezeula); iribia (Columbia)
Botanic name: Oxalis tuberosa
Family: Oxalidaceae
Growth form:

• low-growing annual bush
• forms clusters of red tubers to 10cm long

Edible part: tubers eaten after cooking.
Cultivation:

• as for potato
• fertile soil, regular watering.

Propagation: from tuber.
Centre of diversity:

• Andeas region of South Ameica
• staple crop of Lake Titicaca region of Bolivia
• introduced into New Zealand from Chile in 1869 where it is now known as ‘New Zealand yam’.

ONION

Botanic name: Allium sepa
Family: Alliaceae
Growth form:

• annual bulb
• colour variable with variety — white, red (used raw in salads), brown, purple
• shape variable — spherical, oval, elongated.

Edible part: bulb; eaten raw or cooked.
Cultivation:

• from seed
• plant in sunny, well-drained position.

Centre of diversity:

• probably Central Asia
• cultivated by ancient Egyptians at least as far back as 3400BP (before present).

PARSNIP

Botanic name: Pastinaca sativa
Family: Apiaceae
Growth form: Parsnip is biennial; the plant produces the tuber in its first year, then flowers and produces seed in the second.

• tapering tuber
• white colouration

there area number of varieties of parsnip that vary in size
Edible part: tuber — eaten cooked.
Cultivation:
from seed
new plants can be sprouted by cutting of top of tuber, waiting until it sprouts, then planting
Centre of diversity:

• Mediterranean region
• grown by ancient Roman and Greek civilisations.

POTATO

Botanic name: Solanum tuberosum
Family: Solanaceae (tomato family)
Growth form: small annual shrub.
Edible part: tuber— boiled, fried, roasted, steamed.
Cultivation:

• there are numerous varieties of potato
• high productivity achievable in good growing conditions
• plant in well drained soil.

Propagation:

• vegetative — from sprouting tuber
• from seed potato from a nursery.

Insect pests: scab; viruses; aphids; slugs
Diseases: potato blight.
Centre of diversity:

• Central and South America
• potato is an ancient crop of Indian cultures
• recorded in Europe for the first time in the 1560s.

SWEET POTATO

Other common name: kumera (Polynesia).
Botanic name: Ipomoea batatas
Growth form:

• perennial
• scrambling vine
• heart shaped or lobed leaves
• flesh colour of tuber variable – whitish, purplish, yellow.

Edible part:

• tuber — boiled, fried, roasted, steamed
• tips of young shoots cooked.

Cultivation:

• prefers warm conditions
• tolerates light shade
• plant as a ground cover in the orchard
• use as perennial living mulch in orchard or elsewhere.

Propagation:

• sprouting tuber planted
• from tip cuttings

Centre of diversity:

• South America
• cultivated for thousands of years in South East Asia, Pacific Islands and New Zealand.

TARO

Also known as:
•    cocoyam
•    dasheen
•    edo
•    elephant’s ear.
Botanic name: Alocasia esculanta
Family: Araceae
Growth form:

• large, pointed, broad leaves grow from tuber on stiff stems
• grows to around one metre in height depending on type.

Edible part:

• large round or elongated tuber
• leaf
• tuber can be made into flour.

Caution:

• do not eat any part of the taro plant raw
• cook all parts well to destroy irritating calcium oxylate crystals
• Joy Larkom (Oriental Vegetables, 1991, John Murray, London) says when cooking the young taro leaf to boil twice, discarding the water to remove the acrid flavour.

Cultivation:

• grows in wet tropical/subtropical/warm temperate climates
• prefers moist soil
• tolerates medium shade or grows in full sun
• will grow in mud
• grows in shallow water
• grown ‘wet’ in paddies in Asia or ‘dry’ in soil.

Propagation:

• by planting the sprouting tuber
• cut off top of tuber with shoot then plant.

Centre of diversity:

• probably India
• found throughout the wet tropics — South East Asia, Pacific Islands, PNG, China
• an ancient crop in use for at least 7000 years.

TUMERIC

Botanic name: Carcuma domestica
Family: Ziniberaceae; same family as ginger.
Growth form:

• similar to ginger
• leaves grow from stiff stem
• elongated rhizomes in soil.

Edible part: rhizome used as spice to flavour food; dried or grated.
Cultivation/propagation: vegetative — sprouting rhizome planted.
Centre of diversity: South East Asia.

YACON/ ?PERUVIAN GROUND APPLE

Botanic name: Polymnia sonchifolia
Family: Compositae
Growth form:

• an annual to 2 metres resembling the sunflower
• soft, heart-shaped leaves along a stiff stem
• a cluster of underground tubers is formed; moist flesh is off-whote to pale brown in colour

Edible part: tuber eaten raw or cooked
Cultivation: high productivity in good growing conditions.
Propagation: vegetative – from tuber.
Centre of diversity: Peru — grown by Incas.

YAM

Botanic name: Dioscoria spp
Growth form:

• scrambling vine of variable length
• heart-shaped leaves
• tuber size varies with species.

Edible part: tuber; cooked.
Cultivation: can be used as a trellis crop or left to scramble over the ground.
Propagation:

• by sprouting tuber
• from tip cuttings.

Centre of diversity:
Asia — an ancient crop collected in the past as wild harvest and now cultivated
Australia — varieties collected by Aboriginies as wild harvest.