Harvesting potatoes ©Janet AllenPotatoes are one of the kinds of vegetables that grow in the ground!
(But we describe potatoes in the Nightshade section.)

Some vegetables grow in the ground. It's surprising to find that some people don't understand this.

We'll never forget a middle-aged woman we met—very well-educated otherwise—who told us the story of her first garden the previous year. She had planted carrots, and at first she thought she had a successful crop. The seeds sprouted and started to grow. The leaves grew taller and taller. But still no carrots! After waiting for weeks, she finally gave up in disgust and yanked them out of the ground. To her amazement, there were the carrots!

(And we're not making this up…)

Our root crops

Some of the root crops we've grown include beets, parsnips, and carrots. (We describe potatoes in the Nightshade section.)

Other root crops we've tried

Jerusalem artichokes ©Janet AllenJerusalem artichokes

We've only accidentally grown Jerusalem artichokes. We grew them many years ago, but now they're growing outside of our edible garden amongst some shrubs along the road. We sometimes dig them up, but mostly they serve as flowers for butterflies.

Celeriac ©Janet Allen Young celeriac starting to grow

We experimented with celeriac. It was easy to grow, as advertised, but we didn't like it enough to bother peeling the knobby roots. Maybe we just didn't find a good enough recipe for it.