Alaska gardeners, meet the achocha

It is always a delicate balance writing about plants that need to be started indoors, because we don't have an outdoor growing season long enough to support their entire life span.

We need the information about when to plant so we can get moving in time. You know the rule here: Miss the week, miss the season.

Still, some plants merit my full attention, while simply listing others in the calendar that always follows this column provides enough detail.

Then, there are the new things that come to my attention.

We all like new flowers and vegetables. I think the last new plant I raved about was the yacon. These originate in Bolivia and produce 3- or 4-foot plants with huge leaves and two kinds of tubers, one of which can be eaten.

The edible tubers are unbelievably sweet — literally candy when allowed to dry. If you save the other kind of tuber they produce, you can have new plants in just the same way dahlia tubers reproduce.

Now is the time to order yacons if you don't have tubers from last year. (I know some of you kept them.) Nichols Garden Nursery is my source.

Order them right now so they can reserve some for you since they go fast. Nichols mails them out later in the spring, just in time to pot up and get growing here. Of course, if you have tubers, start them again. If you know how the plant grew, so you know how to plant them.

Recently, my friends at Terroir Seeds wrote about an ancient Andes plant related to cucumbers called the achocha or caihua ("kai-wa"). Nichols carries them as well. Hmm. I have never tried this plant, and while I would usually do so before writing about it, I figure life is too short. If you've tried it, let me know how it did.

These plants spread vines, as gardeners would expect from a relative of cucumbers, squash and pumpkins. It looks pretty prolific too, when it comes to leaves.

They look very much like cannabis leaves, by the way, and friends may question you about it for that reason alone. The fruits look like small, 2-inch long hot peppers. They are apparently quite tasty raw and can also be cooked, "stuffed" like a pepper.

I cannot find a growing zone for achocha, but everything I read about it says it doesn't do well in the heat of warm climes. Sources stress it needs to be started early so it can grow and get ahead of the heat in those places. That says cool crop to me.

While it apparently won't fruit if it is too hot, one thing that caught my eye is the plant needs warm soil, 60 degrees. I am quite sure it will do well in a greenhouse or in an enclosed porch. Outdoors, I plan on using a container or raised bed and covering the soil with clear plastic to heat it up.

I write about achocha and yacons because now is the time to order them from Outside. This is one of the few exceptions to the "Buy Local Rule," at least until we get local sources of yacons — and, if they prove to be a good crop, achocha.

Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar

Seeds to start: Lobelia (needs 20 days to germinate, seeds need light; don't cover), snapdragons (10 days to germinate; need light and cool temperatures), carnation (two days to germinate), verbena (20 days to germinate), Pelargonium

Herbs to start: Lavender, lovage, lemon balm

Corms: Glads, unless you want to plant them directly

Tubers: Dahlias, yacon

Learn Garden Design Basics: Alaska Botanical Garden offers this 3-day class at 6-8 p.m. March 28-April 11 at the BP Energy Center, 900 E. Benson Blvd. To register or for more information call 907-770-3692 or visit alaskabg.org.