artichoke planting in a container...does it work?

hi

i want to plant artichokes for the first time here in the PNW....i have read they can come back year after year.... so i was wondering has anyone ever grown them in a container?.....if so....how did they do?

thanks

rose....who will be going out tomorrow rain nor shine with her dollar store rain poncho that hubby bought last night to plant her peas!

FamilyGardening,
This will be my first try ever! Started "Imperial Star Globe Artichoke OG" yesterday after a fair amount of reading.
You may need a very big container!
"Artichokes are large herbs growing up to 6 feet tall and 6-8 feet wide." Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier, pg. 96.
I only have 1 or 2 spots with enough room and sun, and will grow them as an annual.

Over the winter I picked up Edward C. Smith's book "Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers" because it was on clearance for $2 at Half Price Books. Artichokes were listed throughout the book as one of his "top picks" for successful self-watering container growing.
His "secret soil formula" uses one 20-quart bag of high-quality compost, and one 20-quart bag of planting mixture (sphagnum peat, vermiculite or perlite, and limestone) ....well gosh, I have all that! He has also had great success without additional fertilizer, but mentioned he will sometimes add: 1/3 cup of blood meal for nitrogen, 1/3 cup colloidal phosphate for phosphorus (duh) 1/3 cup greensand for potassium & trace elements, and one tablespoon azomite to the mix, "just for good measure"
For growing as an annual he suggested using the Imperial Star variety, using a container that holds around 30 quarts of soil (plus space for the water reservoir) The containers can be purchased (in fact, I'm sure I have a few) ...but also appear to be quite easy to make. A search on Google/YouTube gave me some additional ideas to get started.
I'm in Nebraska, so I certainly don't have 180-360 days for growing, but I've always wanted to try! After reading that book & seeing his pictures, I thought...what the heck! They may not be gigantic artichokes, but I figure it will be a great learning experience & will allow me to try something new. * I should mention I only have tt boxes and various other containers as my garden, because the EPA found mercury in the soil around my neighborhood. * I'm curious if others have tried this method, or if self-watering containers really would offer any advantage.
Let me know what you think!
~ Laura

Stella,
Like you I'm experimenting, too. In fact, I made half a dozen self-watering containers (SWC) during the winter lull. They are pretty easy to make! My two largest are 20 gal. (24" x 19" tubs), and the others are 5 gal. buckets. But, the plants I'm growing in them are all doing well. So a large enough SWC should work for you.
I've successfully sprouted a couple of Imperial Star seeds already. Still waiting on #3.

I've identified a couple of non-sfg spots that may work, so I may start a few more. But all mine will be planted in the ground.
Good luck!
Lee

What about a non-self-watering container? I planted artichoke plants in a corner of my garden in the fall... it's still small but I worry. I've been thinking I'd just tie / pull the leaves in that corner away from the other plants.... but yesterday a friend came by for tomato seedlings and brought a 10 gallon "foam" pot which was too big for everything else. She left it here and I saw this post. Should I try using it?

FamilyGardening, in our area, artichokes are perennials and will come back every year. Mine are starting their fourth year.

I have not grown artichokes in containers, just in the ground in amended soil like from original SFG. They take up so much room I did not want to give up that much SFG bed space in MM. Mine grew about 5 ft high and 3 - 4 ft wide.

can you grow plants under the artichokes after they get bigger if pruned properly?

I never pruned mine. The leaves grow directly from the ground and arch outwards, which would make the area under the plants very shady.

we have three baby seedlings doing very well....so i think i will plant one or two of them in the ground if i can find a place and then try one in a container and see how it does.....

thanks for all the responses!!

hugs

rose who loves gardening!

I have never grown them but it is my understanding from multiple sources that the divine globe artichoke has a taproot that grows about six feet down. Unless you take the bottom off the container I think your plant will most likely suffer.

http://www.mmdtkw.org/VArtichokes.html

The taproot is 6 feet long or six feet down? If the latter, does 6 inches of MM work?

wondering if we should put these guys into the ground??

they seem to be growing great.....but...i found that they are starting to have a tiny bit of yellow on some of the leaves......

do you think its safe to transplant them into the ground? or have we waited to long?

hugs

rose

If they are still alive it's not too late to transplant them, but I encourage you to do it sooner rather than later.

For anyone with cold winters. I read from The Experts Book of Garden Hints that artichokes "frost-kill easily and doesn't begin bearing until its second year". It goes on to say that the author Eliot Coleman who wrote The New Organic Grower says you can grow medium size artichokes in the North. You have to simulate summer planting followed by an overwintering period. You start plants indoors early and then expose them to a cool period in a cold frame before planting them in the garden. He suggests starting seeds inside about six weeks before the date when temps in your area hold at 26 degrees F or higher.

He then moves the plants to the cold frame around April 1 (his area of Vermont) and runs the cold frame backwards, more to cool than to warm and to keep temps between 39 and 43. After six weeks they are ready to be transplanted. During the first six weeks inside they think it's summer. During the six weeks in the frame they think it's winter. When you put them out, they think that they're two years old and its time to make flowers. Because they are grown in the north, they will be small to medium so don't wait for them to get grocery store size. You cut them as soon as the bottom leaves start to open.

You can also seed flats, leave them for a day or two, and then move them to the refrigerator for a month as a substitute for the cold frame system. They like uniformly moist soil with high organic matter content and about 5% of plants don't bear at all. I condensed this info.

thanks for all the great info!

we are going to transplant them this week if our weather holds up

they were planted from seeds started in doors.....we get plenty of cool wet weather here.....i will keep in mind that they may not give us anything this year.....

hugs

rose

Family Gardener your artichokes are beautiful! I love artichokes. You will have to keep us posted on how they are growing!

thank you Triciasgarden

i will keep ya posted on how they do.....a bit nervous to take them out of those pots....those are big pots they are in....but i know hubby can do it....he transplanted our large blue berry plant into the ground he can do these guys too....we are a bit worried about them fighting for underground space....as our neighbor has a lot of bushes/treas next to the fence line.....but we dont have any other place that gets enough sun....so they will go where they are at now and we shall see how they do.....i love artichockes and will be thrilled if they produce some.....if its a fail...well...they started out as just a couple of seeds and we can try again next year and find a better spot for them.....

hugs

rose

ok they went into the ground last night

forgot to take a pic of transplanting......the root ball was good size...but not root bound.....they had plenty of room to grow for a little bit....i would say the root ball was about 1/3-1/2 of the planters space.....

here they are in ground and lets hope happy~



hugs

rose

Artichokes are my big thing this year, living in a colder climate where they will not overwinter.
I am doing a few things.
I started several of them from seed this year and put them out in the cold in April to harden them off, it apparently can make them think they have gone through a winter and they can be tricked into thinking they are in their second year and hopefully flower.
I also planted 7 plants last year and 4 overwintered.

What I am going to try this fall is to dig up the tubers in the fall and store them in a cool place sort of like what northerners to with the other bulbs.

In oregon i had HUGE artichoke plants and divided a huge plant up into about 20 small plants and then in December in my hoop house I put them all into smaller pots to allow them to grow and they did....
They were getting to be great plants when we moved at the end of January.
So I might do the same this year.

GWN we didnt know that artichokes make tubers.....hmm....didnt know we could devide them later on.....cool!!

keep us posted on how yours are growing....would love to see pics too!

hugs

rose

GWN...love your bug pic!

I read an article recently on how chokes are from the Mediteranean, and grow well in in SoCal but are difficult everywhere else.

I hope yours do well Rose! The plants around here are 4'x4' or larger, and are in there year round. My neighbor's didn't do anything for 3 years, but grow, then produced about 17 heads at once, a month later than the others. Some of her flower heads are blooming now.

Do you know the types of chokes by head shape? There's the round one (globe?) and then the more triangular shaped one...that's what's around here, but I don't know the name.

Ava

we planted *Green Globe Improved* by Ed Humes

on the back of the seed package Ed's special advice:

*Plants prefer a sunny location in rich well drained soil where summers are cool and winters are moderate. A crop cannot be depended upon elsewhere. Protect from aphids. Cut back yellowed stocks and mulch to protect from winter cold*

we did put a lot of mulch around them and also planted some green onions to help protect them from aphids.....we need to add more now that we transplanted them into the ground.....also think the slugs like them....noticed some leaf damage now that they are in the ground.....boo hiss.....

hugs

rose

Hi family gardening
I am not sure if they are tubers, but they looked like tubers to me, not bulbs.
I separated them.... I think I would call them tubers...
As a regional host I am going to write a friday rookie article on artichokes, but I am having a very busy week with family stuff.
Just know that Artichokes are very heavy feeders, needing some form of compost/manure to thrive.
The first year I grew them I was told to give them lots of chicken manure and it musta worked because they grew very well.
SO now in a new place I am feeding them lots, between compost and my worm castings.
I am sure though that they are waiting for the nights to warm up to really start to grow

thanks again GWN....we wouldnt be doing so well gardening with out ALL the help from our memebers here!!

how often are you feeding the artichockes?....we go by how the plant looks and acts....but since we never have grown an artichockes not sure what to look for....i know the seed package said to keep the yellow leaves trim, so that told us its normal for the leaves to sometimes turn a bit yellow.....

we did add more bag compost cow manure and compost worm castings when we transplanted mixed in with the native soil .....along with a nice drink of water with a bit of fish em, kelp and bat poo....just a small amount of each to enrich the drink....

hugs

rose

Rose
I think you are treating them well.
My thoughts are that they are waiting for warmer weather.
I grew so many this year, some are in one area, and some are in another.
The ones closest to the greenhouse, where I am close to compost etc to give them, are growing
The ones out in hinterland are not growing, further evidence that they need food, ...ie nitrogen