Growing Artichoke

Toastie on 4/26/2010, 2:46 am

Hi,
I am down on the bayou in zone 9 and I would love to try growing some artichokes.
Has anyone ever tried this or can give me some tips. I have heard they are pretty big and take 2 years to grow

Dietryin on 4/26/2010, 6:06 pm

I'm in Zone 5a and would love more information also.
I went to the store this weekend to buy seeds. But after reading the how-to on the back of the seed pack, I didn't buy them. I thought...2 years before I can eat this veggie? Do I want to take up my valuable 2 sq ft squares for 2 years?

AFLfan on 4/26/2010, 7:58 pm

I have grown artichokes for a few years now. First, you can get some chokes in the first year, at least we did. But I would NOT put one in a SFG. These plants get huge (4 feet tall, maybe 5-6 feet wide). I would put it oudtside of a box for sure.

The plant grown huge, and then you cut it down to nothing after the harvest, leaving the roots in the ground. You won't see anything for several months, then in late Fall/early Winter, you will start to see the leaves growing up again.

You will get one large artichoke per stalk, then a couple of smaller ones. I have never grown anything as large at the artichokes that you see in the stores, but they sure taste good!

Toastie on 4/27/2010, 1:36 am

Cool
What I was thinking of doing is getting one of those big plastic pots to use for a plant and grow one in there
Wonder if it is too late to start some seedlings

boffer on 4/27/2010, 1:45 am

We grow artichokes just for the flowers-they are absolutely beautiful, and the bumble bees make it their very own playground. Sometimes they'll be a dozen at a time laying on their backs wiggling around!

We discovered the flowers by accident our first year because they never got as big as store bought. So we let them flower.

Triciasgarden on 6/9/2010, 12:07 am

I got two packages of artichoke seeds from Loews in March and started them indoors. The package says they take 180-360 days. It also says plant them three feet apart. They sure wont be going into my square foot garden. Oops. I live in Northern Utah so it will be interesting to see if they over winter. My husband got me a used greenhouse off of KSL last year so if we can somehow find time to put it together, maybe I can plant them in it. I just did a search for artichoke flowers and I can see why you grow them for the flowers. They sure are beautiful. How long do the flowers last?

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