Plant them on the nort, northeast exreme end of your garden. But to trim, I think you should do it when they are like 3 ft tall. By TRIMMING i mean toping them. Then they might get bushy instead of tall.

BTW, what do you do withe the tubers ?

"BTW, what do you do withe the tubers ?"

that's quite the question seysonn.

are you asking how to plant them, or how to eat them? i plant them 5 inches deep or 4 is fine too. i didn't pay too much attention to spacing because i see no point. by nature they spread through the dirt and grow so close to each other i figure that they can be just a couple inches away from each other, or a whole foot and more. in the empty spaces i planted runner beans. they work well together. i water it every day because the tubers love it, and drainage at this spot is efficient. i also give it a watering cocktail composed of generous amounts of comfrey and willow leaves and branches. willow is a rooting hormone, and it's the roots (well, technically the tubers) that we are after. i do this once every week or two. i only back off if the leaves show sign of over nourishment. i find these guys, and beans as well can tolerate a good regular natural fertilizing. they're that easy to grow. as for cooking, i'm inexperienced with jerusalem artichokes. yesterday i made a stew. the liquid used was leftover from the kimchi i fermented a couple months ago. i added some coconut oil simmered onions, a few beets and carrots. the result was a borscht-like stew. i really enjoy it. i usually don't get around to cooking with them because they taste so damn good right out of the ground! they have the most flavor in raw form.

hope this helps.

do you have any experience with chopping the tops at 3 ft? that sounds short; especially because i have runner beans growing along side and i'm encouraging them to climb up the JA's. i was imagining more like 6 to 8 feet. last year some were well over 11ft, and they barely weren't strong enough. if you say 3 ft is better for tuber growth, i can easily guide the beans up something else.

Altito.
I meant what do you do with the harvested tubers. I know how to plant it.
I personaly like to pickle them. They make real crunchy pickle. You can also use the like Chinese water chestnut in stir fry or in soups(as you mentioned) or just raw .

I have never had to cut them back. But I can imagine that if you cut them they should grow more than one branch, just like sun flowers. When you cut them at 3 feet, they will grow branches which the will grow several feet.

pickling sounds delicious; i'll definitely do that next time. cutting at 3 feet does sound better when you explain it like that. it'll make the stem extra sturdy because the new branches should be fairly thin compared to the main stock. i like it. the extra branches should also be great for the bean poles. i planted too many compared to the jerusalem artichokes. this will even out the climbing area. thanks for the tips.

by the way, i'll cut some at 1 and 2 feet as well; for experimental reasons. check out this thread at the end of the season and i'll be sure to post an update.