Greater burdock (Arctium lappa) and its more wide spread relative, common burdock (A. minus), found its way to America with European and Asian immigrants who grew these crops as root veggies. Greater burdock grows in San Francisco, Santa Clara and Alameda counties. It is also commercially — as gobo — for medicinal and culinary use. Roots that are mature are mother lodes of luteolin, quercetin and the anti-oxidants acid. Burdock, found in Sonoma County, has spread to each state but Florida. It is a noxious weed in Wyoming and Colorado. Cultivate A. lappa in case you introduce burdock in your garden.
Choose a sunny to partly shady site big enough to to allow for the crops’ mature 6-foot peak and 3-foot width. Greater burdock has proved its tolerance for the winter temperatures of the Bay Area’s. In other areas of the United States, it survives to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit in U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zone 3a. A well-drained site with loamy mild or sandy -loam soil encourages root development that is optimum.
Prepare your burdock mattress for seeding. Till the soil to a depth of at least 2-feet to to allow for the crops’ carrotlike roots. Enrich the soil. Amend large clay by mixing in drainage-enhancing backyard sand. Burdock is not fussy about soil pH. It tolerates acidity to 4.6 and alkalinity to 7.8.
Soak your seeds in the container of water over-night to enhance their germination price. Sow them in late spring to get a drop root harvest or as late as possible in drop to get a spring or early summer harvest. Plant Long Beach them to a-1/4 inch depth, 2 to 3″ apart, in rows. Cover the seeds loosely. Water. Germination should occur within one to to 2 months.
Weed cautiously around the seedlings using a fork that is cultivating. Slim them to stand 4″ apart, when they reach 3″ tall. Lift them gently in the soil using a trowel, discarding those. Spacing creates crops that are mature with long roots, in line with the Plants for Another web site.
Continue weeding and normal watering. Feed using a high-nitrogen fertilizer in accordance with the suggestions of the manufacturer. Prune leaves using the stem pull shoots yourself, and clippers. Eat them raw or cooked. Remove the flowers Long Beach to prevent the plants. Harvest the roots in about 10 months. Work them around using a spade till they raise without resistance.
