The odd couple

This month we feature two crops which share a name but in fact are the chalk and cheese of the allotment – globe and Jerusalem artichokes. KG editor Steve Ott takes a closer look at these often neglected perennial veggies

There are the familiar crops that nearly everyone in the UK grows on their plot, such as carrots, peas and potatoes, and then there are those that sit on the sidelines, perhaps because they are more of an acquired taste, or simply because they are less familiar to gardener and cook.

Globe and Jerusalem artichokes are two of those crops, yet they both have lots going for them, not only as tasty edibles, but as pretty ornamentals for the flower border, or in the case of the latter, even as a windbreak or screen to divide areas of the garden. Both are hard to find in the shops so growing your own may be the only way to enjoy them.