Sunday 27 October 2019

What size are skirret roots

Skirret (Sium sisarum) is the best root vegetable I have ever eaten.  Skirret is a perennial vegetable that is well suited to being grown at home, it is one of the best permaculture vegetables, and even though it is more delicious than any other roast vegetable you will likely never see this for sale in the markets. 

I grow skirret in Australia organically and it never has any problems.  I have seen some photos of skirret that is riddled in root knot nematodes, but mine have never shown any signs of this.

It is simple to grow skirret organically, I have written a few blog posts about how I grow skirret to help give people an idea of what to do.  I am suggesting that what I do is prefect, I am merely saying what has worked for me.  You may find better ways to grow skirret.

People often ask me how big skirret roots grow.  Skirret roots seem to grow different sizes depending on the soil, the age of the plant, the weather, how much water they receive, how much sunlight they get, competition etc.

Usually my skirret grows pretty long with a good amount that are fat enough to bother cooking.  The photos below are of my plants grown in NSW.  Skirret roots can grow longer, and they can grow shorter, but these are some that I dug up this past winter for dinner.

Skirret for sale Australia
Skirret roots - we washed, cut, and roasted these
Skirret roots are not the fattest root vegetable in the world.  They make up for this in how great they taste, how many meals they can be used in, and the sheer number of roots that each plant can produce.



I sell skirret offsets and skirret seed through my for sale page.  I am one of the few people in Australia that sell skirret and other perennial vegetables through the post.

If you do buy from me please note that I am not selling large plants, I sell seed or offsets.  Larger plants tend to suffer transplant shock and need a lot of water and some shade to recover, offsets are usually planted so their leaf tips are just below the soil surface.

While offsets are small they transplant well, they grow fast, they flower and provide seed in autumn, and their sweet white roots are ready to harvest in winter.

Typical skirret offset - note how tiny they are

Skirret plant, this is what a tiny offset grows into in one year
Skirret offsets are around this small, sometimes a bit larger

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