Growing Salsify

Latest Update 5th March 2020.

Salsify

• This is my first attempt at growing Salsify and its so far so good.  They grow in Spring and Summer, and I am planning to grow 4 batches of 3 plants this year.
• This blogpage is work in progress this year.

Description.

• Binomial Name:                                            Tragopogon porrifolius.
• Family:                                                         Asterales.
• Variety:                                                         Salsify.
• Garden Bed Type:                                          Drip Line or Ecobed.
• Plant Spacings:                                              375mm.
• Minimum sun per day:                                    4 hours.
• Weeks to harvest:                                          20 weeks.
• Good Companions:                                        Beans, Brassicas, Carrots, Celeriac, Endive, Kohlrabi. Leeks, Lettuce, Alliums and Spinach.
• Climate:                                                        Warm temperate.
• Geography:                                                   Southern hemisphere. 

Nutrition.

• This food is very low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
• It is a good source of thiamin, riboflavin, folate, niacin, calcium, iron, manganese, phosphorus and potassium, and a very good source of dietary fibre, vitamin C, and vitamin B6.
• More from nutrition data self.com.

Maintain Healthy Plants.

• This blogpage explains how I maintain healthy plants.  It describes how soil is prepared prior to planting, how to regulate the sun's intensity and how to help protect and feed plants through their leaves.

Propagate Plants Efficiently

•  This blogpage explains how I propagate seeds in a purpose built propagator.

Propagation Plan 2020.

• This blogpage tells you when to sow seeds.

Services Plan 2020.

• This blogpage tells you when to make compost and plan other garden/household related activities.

Growing Instructions.

• Sow a few Salsify seeds directly into a shallow drill in an EcoPropagator.  Cover them with sieved compost (about 4mm thick) and water them in well with captured rainwater.
• Once the seedlings have germinated and grown to a suitable size, transplant 3 of them individually with root balls intact into a prepared bed. 
• Water them in thoroughly with captured rainwater.

Harvesting and Storage.

tba

Organic Pest Control.

• Salsify, like most vegetables, are vulnerable to attack from certain pests in my garden.  My blog on "Controlling Garden Pests" explains a little about these pests and what to do to protect plants from them.  For details click on the appropriate link below.
• Slugs and snails.
• Cabbage white butterfly caterpillars.
• Greenhouse whitefly.
• Aphids (greenfly).
• Root knot nematodes.