General information and discussion about cultivating all other edible garden plants.
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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Central Illinois
Posts: 1,836
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I decided to try my hand at growing a dozen artichoke plants this year, any tips?
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#2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Wichita Falls, Texas
Posts: 4,832
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MMMM, yum.
No tips, but do you have plenty of room for them? They can get pretty big. |
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#3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Central Illinois
Posts: 1,836
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At one garden I have about 2 acres with only half of it being used. Looks like they are planted 4' apart and can grow 6' wide. I don't think they will grow as a perennial here so I'll have to replant every year.
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#4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Wichita Falls, Texas
Posts: 4,832
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IF, huge IF too- if I recall correctly, you can cut them back pretty low and over winter them with some cover.
Been a very very long time since I lived in northern California and grew both cardoons and artichokes. |
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#5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: MN Zone4b
Posts: 292
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Check out the instructions on Johnny's Select Seed site. They don't overwinter in Minneapolis, so it's important for us to get one of the varieties bred to work as annuals and to plant them early enough so that you can transplant them while they still get some cold nights (50 degrees) before the season warms up. We've grown Imperial Star (F1) the past couple of years and they've done well for us. They like fertile soil and plenty of sun.
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Bitterwort |
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#6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Omaha Zone 5
Posts: 2,514
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Bitterwort, were your Imperial Star artichokes as large as supermarket equivalents? A top notch local gardener that is also with the county extension said her Imperal Stars never grew to full size. They were more like an ornamental. Same for myself. What the heck did you feed them?
- Lisa |
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#7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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I have had artichoke hearts before and they were okay.
At work they served the whole thing and it was like trying to eat a tree stump or cactus all the way to the heart. Nothing there to eat. What is the deal with this, am I missing something? ![]() Or did they just get some that were over mature? ![]() Is my thick hillbilly blood not pure enough for such high brow cuisine. ![]() Worth |
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#8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Omaha Zone 5
Posts: 2,514
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Yes you are missing out on the real deal Worth. Its a great summer food to sit around eating when they go on sale for 99 cents. You steam them and pull off each leaf individually, dip the tip where it meets the stem in butter and scrape the meat off with your teeth. If you like steamed with butter style asparagus it is somewhat the same flavor. The heart is the same taste but easier to get at. Just another green vegetable best when eaten as fresh as possible. Nothing really high about it except the price off season.
- Lisa |
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#9 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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![]() Quote:
It was like an asbestos shingle all the way down. ![]() Of course the same bunch got a ((deal))) on whole turkeys one year. The meat was rancid and nobody noticed but us farm guys. I think they got the same ((deal)) on the artichokes never saw them again in ten years. Worth |
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#10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: MN Zone4b
Posts: 292
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Lisa, my Imperial Star did not get to supermarket size, but I didn't expect them to from the catalog description offered. Since we're in Minnesota, not California, I thought it was great to get any--and they made quite a few nice smaller buds. From other things I've read, the bud size increases the second and following years--so if I lived in a milder climate, I might be tempted to cover them over heavily with straw and trying to overwinter them that way. I haven't had any luck so far in digging the roots and getting them to overwinter in a cool spot in the house.
As far as feeding them, I added a lot of compost to the bed and threw in a good handful of 10-10-10 granular fertilizer in the planting hole. Then I hit them with liquid fertilizer (probably the blue stuff) throughout the season. They made a nice flush of buds early in the season; then sulked in the midsummer heat before getting going again as the temperatures eased off. The plants themselves were never over a couple feet or so tall and they didn't take up as much room as I expected. I'm trying Colorado Star, a purple annual variety, from Johnny's this year as well as Imperial Star.
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Bitterwort |
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#11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Southeastern PA
Posts: 1,420
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Artichokes make fruit aka bloom in their second year so it is important to give them at least a week of cold nights if you are starting them from seed. This tricks them into thinking that they have gone through a winter in So. Cal. and are now 2 years old and then they will bloom for you.
I grew Emerald Globe from seed 2 years ago and they were smaller than the supermarket artichokes but so much better tasting and super tender. I covered them with a heavy layer of straw after the first frost but they didn't come up the next spring. |
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#12 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Brantford, ON, Canada
Posts: 1,341
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Zone 5.
http://durgan.org/2009/From%20Previo...HTML/index.htm 18 September 2008 Globe Artichoke (Cynara scolymus) I grew artichokes for about four years. They were placed in the garden in the Spring (June) from seedlings started in the Winter. They never over-wintered in Zone 5. Above is the best picture that I could find. A plant gets huge and needs a spacing of 2.5 feet from center to center.. They like warm weather for max production and a fair amount of Sun. They are basically a large thistle. They are basically perennials and produce in the second year, but mine produced well in the first year. Zone 5 is too cold and I never got nine to over-winter due to frost. One year a plant survived but it did not produce a head. ![]() http://durgan.org/2011/ |
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#13 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Delaware
Posts: 234
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Beautiful pictures, Durban. I rescued 3 little tiny half-dead plants from the garden center for a buck each (I mean like 3 inch pots and plants only 6 inches tall). I put them in 15 gallon grow bags and just waited to see what would happen. They are very pretty plants, almost look like aloe. I would think Cali would be the best climate for them. They didn't seem to like being watered very often. I knew they would get fairly large because grocery store artichokes are pretty large blossoms. But these grew so fast: they got to be over 3 feet in diameter before the frost hit.
They are over-wintering now. I shoved the bags up against my house and covered them with straw and a frost blanket. I peeked under the cover last week and the outer leaves were brown but there was lots of green toward the center. Thanks for letting me know they will need food. I will give them some MG when I take the cover off. |
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#14 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Omaha Zone 5
Posts: 2,514
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That photo is very interesting. It looks like the artichoke I saw in the supermarket this week. The leaves were light green and rather loose like yours are.The head is slightly elongated. Typically the variety they sell in the summertime is round, tight and more of an olive green.
I might try and wake up some old seed I have on hand. - Lisa |
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#15 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7
Posts: 3,207
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They are heavy feeders and like a lot of composted horse manure,kelp,fish emulsion.lots of water but excellent drainage,no water when dormant. Watch out for aphids and get them some ladybugs as soon as they appear.
They are worth growing even as ornamentals if nothing else. Cardoons are more cold hardy and supposed to taste similar,you do have to blanch them. I'm growing artichokes for the first time since moving here from AZ to NC. In AZ they would die back in summer because they don't like it too hot. I'm trying to figure out the best spot for them in NC. |
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