My artichoke!
 

I'm so excited. My artichoke is starting to make what looks like its a center stalk in the middle of the plant. Is that where the flower stalks come out of? This is the first time I've ever grown artichoke. I planted it last fall. It's about 3 foot across and very pretty.erfect for a desert front yard.
Not sure if it will need a shade structure for summer or if I can just let it die back and go dormant, regrowing in the fall.
Anybody have some experience with artichokes? This is a very pretty vegetable and I can't wait for it to produce some chokes for me.

I have experience but not in an area like yours. I have grown them in Canada and the UK.

It will send a main choke up first, the king choke, then after that it will send up slightly smaller side ones.

Pick them before they start to open and get the butter ready. Cut them with aabout 2 inches of stem left on.

In cold areas they die back at the end of the season and we have to mulch them to get them through the winter.

The plant will make side suckers as it gets older which you can pot on for more plants, you will see them very easily.

Do you know waht variety it is.

Well done and enjoy.

XX Jeannine

I started two varieties and I'm not sure which one survived. I think this is a Tavor. I plan to start a hunch more this fall. This year was an experiment.

Ate a choke last night. Hubby and I split it. It was big and delicious! The monster plant has about six more baby chokes in the making!
This fall, I'd like to split the plant off to make more, I think I heard that's possible?
May have to move my lovely lavender, I never thought the artichoke would intrude on it but looks like it is. The lavender appears to be suffering slightly. Have no idea how I can even begin to move a 3-4 year old lavender.
Hubby didn't even know he liked artichoke. Now he wants me to plant more. I might have to build more gardens. I've got my eye on a new sunny area, now that we had to chop down a couple of huge, dead pine trees.

I adore artichokes. As a small child, my requested birthday dinner was steak, french fries, and artichokes. Yes I know, I was a strange child. But I still love them!

In my climate the artichokes never go dormant. I took this picture of mine yesterday.

[URL]http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/404091_10150680083742424_631702423_9657099_561100067_n.jpg[/URL]

this is something else I've never grown. Is it hard to grow?

babice, I think they thrive in a Mediterranean climate normally, but seem to handle our humidity down here just fine, although they do pout a bit when we get those hot summer rains when it rains every afternoon for a week of two. Not sure how they would handle your winters.

I was told they go somewhat dormant in the summer in AZ and that I should hack it down to the ground. I'm not sure if this is true? I may try shade cloth, first.
Other than climate, I find it incredibly easy. It has a long taproot, very few pests. Really, it's a thistle, how hard can it be?
If growing in a colder climate and treating as an annual, make sure to start early and give it a "cold season" because they need some chill hours of around 45 degrees. I think it's about 6 weeks but please verify this. I think you do this with the seedlings after they are growing.

babice, when I went out to weed today, I found a few thistles, and I saw this huge one near my flower bed. All of a sudden, I realized that this was the artichoke plant that I had pulled out of the deer-protected part of the garden last fall, and had just dropped it on the ground on my way into the house sometime in late fall. Not planted, just sitting on the lawn. (shame on me)

It's getting to look like I'd better move it this week, or it will be too settled and large to move soon. They do have prickers.

I'd guess I'd say they're really easy to grow. I don't know if they're perennial where you live, though.

This is my second year with this plant. It produced a few chokes last year, but they say that they do better the second year. I hope so!

j

Does anyone know why the huge artichokes in the stores with rounder leaves have little if any heart?
The smaller ones with the thorny leaves have good hearts.
The heart's dessert !

[QUOTE=Deborah;269895]Does anyone know why the huge artichokes in the stores with rounder leaves have little if any heart?
The smaller ones with the thorny leaves have good hearts.
The heart's dessert ![/QUOTE]

Good question, no idea.
We're having our second choke tonight. There is a smaller third about ready to pick but I'm hoping it will get a little larger.
Does anybody know how much I should fertilize this beast?
It's had a few aphids this week, along with an ant infestation. I tried some amdro and blasting the leaves. Aphids are less and don't seem to bother the plant. Still a lot of ants. I hate our summer ants here!

[QUOTE=Tracydr;269947]Good question, no idea.
We're having our second choke tonight. There is a smaller third about ready to pick but I'm hoping it will get a little larger.
Does anybody know how much I should fertilize this beast?
It's had a few aphids this week, along with an ant infestation. I tried some amdro and blasting the leaves. Aphids are less and don't seem to bother the plant. Still a lot of ants. I hate our summer ants here![/QUOTE]

There are several varieti8es of Artichokes.

[url]http://www.saveur.com/article/Techniques/Nine-Artichoke-Varieties[/url]