Artichokes and Cardoons

[karstopography]

Anyone grow these? I’ve got three romanesco artichokes seedlings up and growing along with three ROUGE D'ALGER CARDOON seedlings. The county ag extension says sets should be put in here September or October. I’ve got one small green globe artichoke already out there that I planted in the spring. It was about dead in a container being crowded out by other plants, so I moved it to a place with more room. Not exactly thriving in the heat, but hopefully it will rebound over the fall and winter.

Wondering how much special care and cold protection these plants might need.

[pepperhead212]

I grew cardoons one season...actually two, since they came back the next season. But they they didn't produce much, and the second year they had nothing to harvest - just some spiny flower heads, not harvestable, like artichokes, and the stalks had nothing to harvest. Never tried again; I think they like cooler weather.

[habitat-gardener]

I've grown both, when I lived in a slightly different climate. I never harvested the cardoons, because you have to wrap the stems (the edible part) in brown paper to blanch them. But I enjoyed the flowers. Artichokes grew like a weed in my prior garden! I inherited several in my garden plot and never knew what variety they were.

I'm hearing from neighbors in the community garden that gophers love artichokes here. I have enough space for a few artichoke plants, and have been thinking about growing from seed to get some of the more interesting varieties. From the little research I've done, it seems the spiniest leafed ones are also reputedly the tastiest!

[karstopography]

I used to make a cardoon soup that was really good, but that was when I lived in the city where I could find cardoons in the market. Baby artichokes were another delicacy I loved to cook with, sadly, those seem impossible to find in the small town markets here.

I have seen artichokes and cardoons grow here so I know it is technically doable. But, is it something I can pull off, time will tell.

[Shule]

We purchased a Bonnie Plants Green Globe artichoke plant in the spring of 2019 (May, early June, or so). It came with a mild disease, or something, though, by the look of it when we purchased it. Anyway, it produced artichokes nicely that year. The flowers looked really nice (and were huge); so, I didn't eat any of them; I just let them bloom. The bees loved them. This year, the plant grew back and produced more artichokes. I didn't let any of them bloom, but I harvested them too late. I did eat some anyway, though. The plant died a few weeks ago, I think, but the artichokes were all done quite a while ago.

I didn't have to do anything over the winter to protect it, although it was growing in a place with black plastic, which probably helped to keep the soil warmer than it would have been. We do have cold winters, but it didn't get especially cold for my area that year.

It seemed to have a lot of mites or something like that on it around the time I harvested the artichokes, this year (which again, was too late).

I kind of see it more as an ornamental, but it is very ornamental.

Here are some pictures from 27 Aug 2019:

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Here's the plant again on 30 May 2020:

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[karstopography]

Those are very pretty and showy. I’d be thrilled if that’s what mine do.

Yes, my wife likes a pretty garden (so do I) and I was looking at these artichokes and cardoons as sort of dual purpose plants, something to look at with the possibility of something to eat, too. Plan is to stick them in some corners so I can leave them unmolested all fall, winter and spring.

[Shule]

You know how I said our Green Globe artichoke died? Well, it grew back a while ago. I'm considering digging it up, though, due to the disease that it came with (not visible in the picture).

[GoDawgs]

I've always wondered how artichokes would do here. How much elbow room do the regular green globe plants need?

[Shule]

I've always wondered how artichokes would do here. How much elbow room do the regular green globe plants need?

I think mine gets about 4.5' to 5' wide, all the way around. I'm not sure how much space between it and other plants is ideal.

[karstopography]

My one ROUGE D'ALGER Cardoon that survived 15° last December and also survived 107° this summer, barely, is perking up in the now cooler conditions of October. I direct seeded some more ROUGE D'ALGER Cardoon in the same bed. Maybe, likely, it won’t get so cold this winter and I can get some of these to maturity.

[PlainJane]

My artichoke just couldn’t handle the relentless heat and finally gave up in September. I will try again!

[karstopography]

I have my one surviving cardoon in one of the in the ground beds out in the yard where there was an oak tree, now cut down and the stump ground up. The bed is sub-optimal as there are old oak roots still in there plus now living cypress roots intruding into the space. I pulled out several thumb diameter sized cypress roots running just below the surface out yesterday. There are root free pockets of fairly loose and deep soil in this bed. I don’t really want the cardoons in my better raised beds for the real estate is too valuable there for an experimental space hog kind of crop like Cardoon.

Peanuts did well enough in this oak and cypress root infested bed and so did fava beans and various flowers like zinnia and sunflowers so it isn’t as bad as it might sound.

[karstopography]

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Making an attempt to blanch the cardoons.

I keep on working on the soil in these former oak tree spots. The soil is improving. There are less petrified live oak tree roots than before.

Come fall of 2024, I will be seeding some artichokes. Fellow gardener right up the road nails artichokes so it is more than doable here, but the soil needs to be right.

[Tormahto]

IMG_3691.jpeg
Making an attempt to blanch the cardoons.

I keep on working on the soil in these former oak tree spots. The soil is improving. There are less petrified live oak tree roots than before.

Come fall of 2024, I will be seeding some artichokes. Fellow gardener right up the road nails artichokes so it is more than doable here, but the soil needs to be right.

I recommend painting the wrappings red...

(for your dog)

[Julianna]

I have artichokes in pots. I had gorgeous ones in the ground until they were sucked under by the gophers.

[karstopography]

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GOBBO DI NIZZIA Cardoon and Green Globe Artichoke sprouts.

[loulac]

Starting artichokes from seeds can be disappointing.Some seeds only give plants full of sharp thorns. I much prefer cutting young stems with some roots and grow them in light soil. By the way artichokes can be killed by cold in winter. Any suggestions to protect them when they can be up to 2 feet tall?

[karstopography]

Freeze cloth? Freeze cloth seems to help with protection against frost and freeze with other vegetables so long as the cold isn’t too prolonged or deep. Our big box stores around here all stock it in rolls and squares and I believe Amazon sells it online in the US.

I’ve thinned my Artchoke and Cardoon seedlings some, but I might wait a bit to do any additional thinning to see if any have the thorny expression or nature. All the plants now are putting on their true leaves and gaining size. I put a little fish emulsion on them yesterday. The weather lately seems agreeable to them.

[loulac]

Thanks for the suggestion. Freeze bags are sold in different sizes, I will try to find something big enough. I can detect thorny artichokes only when they are adults, enough space is needed to keep extra plants till then. 1 out of 10 artichokes bought in stores in my place get thorny, I dig them out after the first crop.

[pondgardener]

My one ROUGE D'ALGER Cardoon that survived 15° last December and also survived 107° this summer, barely, is perking up in the now cooler conditions of October. I direct seeded some more ROUGE D'ALGER Cardoon in the same bed. Maybe, likely, it won’t get so cold this winter and I can get some of these to maturity.

Is that the variety you are still planting? I am interested in starting a variety of cardoon that is suitable to the hot dry summers here in Southern Colorado.