Yacon
€9.95
Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) is a tender perennial from the Andes, offered here as a small-medium potted plant, grown for its sweet, crisp underground tubers. It grows tall, to 1.5 to 2 m, with large, rough-textured leaves and bright yellow, daisy-like flowers in late summer that pollinators enjoy. The tubers can be eaten raw, roasted or made into syrups and preserves, valued for their natural sweetness and prebiotic inulin content. Yacon is very frost tender, so in Ireland it needs planting out after the last spring frost and lifting before the first autumn frost. It takes a little care, but it's well worth growing, bringing both ecological value and a genuinely high-yielding, unusual harvest to permaculture gardens and food forests.
Quantity
Available again from march onwards
Growing Instructions
Plant in full sun in well-drained, fertile soil enriched with organic matter, spacing plants 40 to 50 cm apart. Water regularly through the growing season to support strong leaf and tuber development, and mulch with compost or leaf mould to retain moisture. Yacon is frost-sensitive, so lift tubers before the first hard frost and store them somewhere cool, dry and frost-free, or replant selected tubers the following spring. Harvest once foliage begins to yellow and die back.
