Growing Artichokes

[Lavenderblue]

Am really sorry if this has been posted before - I had a quick look and nothing seemed to show up.

Has anyone any experience of growing these fantastic things? i am thinking of the globe ones, (you eat the hearts) rather than the other type. Any suggestions of soil type, ground preparation needed, varieties to plant and when to plant them?

thanks.

[smallblueplanet]

Are you sure mean jerusalem artichokes, its globe artichokes you eat the heart of?

[Lavenderblue]

oh i always get these mixed up. yes you are right - will edit.

Silly me!

[smallblueplanet]

Love eating globe artichokes, reminds me of France (what doesn't?). Just been looking at growing info for these. There is one that is supposedly able to crop in one year from a seed sowing, that is Imperial Star. Not tried it yet, got some seed, but can't say.

[veg4681]

Count me in, I'm interested in growing artichoke too this year but they do take up a lot of space for my garden (having seen them in some allotment).

I have bought Artichoke seeds called Imperial Star (supposedly an improved version to the usual Green Globe) but just last Saturday, I came across Artichoke crowns (a pack of 3) sold at Wilko for �2.

Also my thoughts are, how many do you need to grow? How many buds would you get on average to eat from a plant? Is it better to go for crown than raise from seeds. I gather that it is still possible to harvest artichokes from first year of sowing.

[smallblueplanet]

Here's two articles I've printed off that look interesting, the bit about vernalisation was useful.

ARTICHOKES for every climate

Artichoke

[veg4681]

Thanks for link Manda. I'm thinkng of starting off with 3 plants at least but the Imperial Star appears to be annual (biennal if you can push it), still no dfferent to growing courgettes .

[smallblueplanet]

Most artichokes grown from seed you get the crop the year after they're planted (perhaps the same year with Wilkos crowns). Imperial Star crop same year.

[ChocClare]

I was given some imperial star seed late last August, and of course planted it straight away (what am I like?) in the greenhouse in tiny little starter pots.

When we moved to our new house (October) I dug up a rectangle of lawn as my experimental bed to see what would grow and I bunged two of the artichokes in opposite corners. I can report that despite temperatures of -5 and (lately) sightings of Noah rounding up the animals they are still growing away happily, though admittedly only about 5 inches high.

I also left 2 imperial star artichokes in a 2-litre pot. I haven't transplanted these into bare soil mainly because I forgot they were there. They are sitting outside in their pot in a more sheltered alcove between the two "wings" of my house. They are noticeably bigger - about 8 to 10 inches.

So they overwinter OK then, it would seem!

I have passed on some of the remaining seed to Jennie Atkinson and I have kept 2 or 3 seeds myself to experiment with planting at the "correct" time in early spring. We'll have to compare notes later!

I must admit that I didn't realise imperial star was an annual/biennial. Boo hiss! I thought it was perennial. Have to go hunting for some green globe artichokes now for comparison purposes!

[smallblueplanet]

I don't think it has to be an annual, it was grown for parts of the US to grow where the weather conditions mean artichokes won't over-winter. From what I've read they over-winter okay same as other artichokes. Read the bit on vernalisation relating to amount of 'buds' yielded, interesting.

[Lavenderblue]

ooo thanks for excellent links. The chilling stuff looks a bit complicated but i might give it a bash.

[JennieAtkinson]

Mine arrived today - thanks Choclare! - and looking forward to trying them. I wonder whether I should grow them in the tunnel or try them outside? Do the stand up well or do they need staking?

[smallblueplanet]

ooo thanks for excellent links. The chilling stuff looks a bit complicated but i might give it a bash.

Don't think it should be too difficult LavBloo (). I'm not gonna put the seeds in the fridge, but when the seeds have germinated and are growing a bit put them outside during the day in the cold and bring them in overnight - but don't let them get frosted. That should do it I reckon, the info reckoned it could make a big difference to the number of buds you get growing.

[smallblueplanet]

Mine arrived today - thanks Choclare! - and looking forward to trying them. I wonder whether I should grow them in the tunnel or try them outside? Do the stand up well or do they need staking?

Ours were okay until the wind blew - then we staked 'em! But last year we only had a few growing....they were very yummy.

[wormlady]

Hiya
Ive grown artichokes for a few years now - I got them as offsets from someone else and didnt let them fruit in the first year (chop the buds off as they form) and I got a pretty good crop last year - about 7 artichokes from one plant although I dont know what variety it is.

Im in Leeds and we've had a few hard frosts but the plant seems ok still. My book suggests earthing them up over winter but I forgot! My soil is pretty much clay.

When it comes to harvesting, cut the first (king) head and you should get more lateral ones sprouting and make sure to harvest them before the leafy-petal bits start to open. If you cant get round to eating them all you can cut them off the plant with a bit of stalk and stick them in damp sand for a week or two.

In Autumn time you can get youreself some more plants by carefully scraping back the soil and separating baby plantlets from the mummy plant.

mmmm artichokes, sooo goood!