Friday Rookie topic: Globe Artichokes

Thanks for the quick answer GWN. I thought of the paper towel method a couple of days ago but I forgot about it. It has only been 7 days since planting in soil cubes, guess I do need patience. But I just got finished building my plant light stand and want some artichokes to put on the stand.

I will try the paper towel method tommorrow. I am doing a new batch of seeds in soil cubes tomorrow so I may try that again also.

What's a pirate's favorite food? Arrrrrghtichokes!

sorry, couldn't resist

toledobend,

I laughed out loud!

GWN,

I've never tried to sprout artichoke seeds before, but you gave me a wonderful idea to multi-purpose my new water heater. Out with the Imperial Star seeds! And the paper towels. And the baggies!

For those northern gardeners OR those in zones 6 and below, I thought I would share my experiment with you.
First off, if you are starting seeds now, get them growing and put them outside VERY early and expose them to SOME cold weather in April, I started putting mine outside at the beginning of April last year. They can tolerate a mild freeze. That way they get conditioned to think that this is their second year and they WILL produce for you.
The OTHER thing I have done is I took all of my artichokes (except one) and cut them down to about an inch above ground (in the fall after they die back) dug up the roots.( they were easy to dig up because the first foot down was mels mix) and I put them all into large buckets of peat moss and have left them in my greenhouse for the winter.
I have a heater in the greenhouse that only comes on if the temp drops down to 3 degrees Celcius (37 farenheit) ( I also have LARGE jugs of water in the greenhouse to absorb the heat from the day) Anyways.
All the roots have started to sprout new artichokes as the weather is getting warmer (the greenhouse gets up to 25 degrees without any heat, just the sun)

So through this process and the plants can be divided as well so I will have 30 plants this year, all second year plants.

Our artichokes are ALIVE



they made it thru their first winter..... :drunken:

sorry there is some flower debris that blew over there while i was taking the picture....

the one that flowered last year....you can kinda of see it behind our new fruit tree wood post...its tiny....we thought we may have lost it...but its coming back to life.... .

the larger one in this pick....did not flower last year...and it didnt die back as much as the other one did... it seems really healthy

we are so happy!

happy gardening
rose

Did you know that not only the buds but the stems are edible. I found this out by experimenting one year long ago when I lived in the Monterey Bay Area of California. I had a chock with a long stem and left the stem on when I prepared it. The stem is just like the heart. Very, Very Tasty. So next time you harvest your chocks take some stem along with the bud, you wont be sorry. As to how much of the stem is edible, I have no idea. You who are growing chocks can tell us how far down you can go on the stem before it gets to woody to eat.

GWN wrote:The secret is Patience
They are slow to germinate. But not that slow. I did nothing special and I grew several varieties last year.
My latest way to germinate has been to lay out a piece of wet paper towel and lay the seeds on it, fold up the paper towel, stuff it in a baggie, label it and put it on top of the hot water tank
Works like a charm. Just check every day to see signs of rooting and ASAP put them in potting medium

Thanks GWN, that worked. I got about 50% germination on my older seeds and 80% on this years seeds. Now if I can keep them alive long enough to grow a good root structure.



Enough water, too much water, enough sun, not enough sun, enough fertilizer, not enough fertilizer. Arrrgggghhh !! Experiment, experiment is the answer. Try and try again.

that is great, the thing you have to do now after they seem to survive is to expose them to some cold weather, to trick them into thinking they have been through winter.
Last year I put mine out in april with temps down near freezing at night, seemed to do the job

Why do they need cold? Memory seems to think they grew fine in SanDeigo with out frost, maybe at most into the 40s in the winter. Or maybe it is how cold is cold enough?

The reason they need the cold is that they tend to flower in their second year, and so in order for them to produce artichokes in their first year they need to be stratified.
In our area many people do this all the time since they do not overwinter here because it gets too cold. So they have to get the flower the first year, or not at all.

Thanks. So it is to force them.
The degree of cold needed must be fairly mild though.

O look what I found at last
Artichoke Cold Tolerance/Season

When growing artichokes, time your planting so seedlings will have 10-12 days with temperatures below 50° F (10° C), to encourage early bud set and longer fruiting.

They can tolerate a freeze, they just cannot tolerate MUCH frozen.... like 10 below freezing celcius...
When we lived in Oregon, they were fine down to the low 20s

I just got thru building 4 cedar boxes 21" x 21" x 6" to plant my artichokes that I bought at a nursery. I am just waiting for the ground to dry out enough to set the boxes. I have been leaving them outside for about 2 weeks. Our nighttime temps are 35 - 45 sometimes down to 30. Hope that is low enough temp. Here are the four I purchased from the nursery.



Here are my babies I started from seeds. I have 6 that have their first set of true leaves and another 4 inside that just have their first seedling leaves. (the back two plants are basil).


QUESTION: When I transplant my babies, how many do I put in each cedar box. If you look at the following close up of one of the artichokes I purchased at the nursery, it appears to have five different shoots coming up. Would this be five different artichokes or one artichoke plant with many side shoots?
I know you are supposed to plant them about 3 feet apart, but do you group a couple young ones together.

 Second year Artichokes

Last year we let them go to flower....this year we are eating 2 of them tonight!  :drunken:







happy gardening
rose

GG

  that is SOOO great.   We also have 2 that are ready to eat.. only problem is that there are 3 of us.

FamilyGardening wrote:we also found out that our five year old loves to eat artichokes he would have never wanted to try it...if it wasnt for the fact that we planted some and he is watching it grow and decided he would try some that we found at the store...

Isn't it amazing how kids who think they don't like veggies, love just about anything they grow themselves, pick from the family garden, or recognize at the grocery store, from a school gardening project.

GWN wrote: In the past I have found that when I harvested some, then cut back the plant, it came back and grew a few more in the fall

I did that by accident. I had given up on a plant, cut it back to dirt-level, then planted something else on top of it. Here's what came up. Maybe there's still hope for it.

I had given up on artichokes until the one I tried to kill came back and whispered "please try again."

I just ordered seeds from Baker Creek, then came over here and found this topic. Seems like my timing is perfect. I still have time to get them grown out enough to put them in the ground before winter, and (hopefully) get them to produce next year. I'll have to figure out a way to keep the deer out of them, however.

The one I thought was dead is coming back!  It looks as if it'll spend another winter in the garage, and hopefully next year will produce a harvest.

donnainzone5 wrote:The one I thought was dead is coming back!  It looks as if it'll spend another winter in the garage, and hopefully next year will produce a harvest.

YEE-HAH! Let's hear it for the indestructible artichoke.

I know it's not Friday, but I came across this topic and wanted to bump it.  Anyone growing artichokes?  In beds with Mel's Mix or in amended dirt?

The one year I tried them in my Zone 9A I got this beautiful flower.

May 24, 2020