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Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 12:17 pm
by 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.

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:43 pm
by 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.

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2020 5:36 pm
by 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!

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2020 9:29 pm
by 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.

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 3:37 am
by 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:
artichoke_IMG_20190827_182151.jpg
artichoke_IMG_20190826_094918.jpg
Here's the plant again on 30 May 2020:
artichoke_IMG_20200530_164552.jpg

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 8:29 am
by 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.

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:22 pm
by 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).

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2020 5:49 pm
by GoDawgs
I've always wondered how artichokes would do here. How much elbow room do the regular green globe plants need?

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2020 9:02 pm
by Shule
GoDawgs wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 5:49 pm 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.

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2023 8:05 am
by 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.

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2023 8:15 am
by PlainJane
My artichoke just couldn’t handle the relentless heat and finally gave up in September. I will try again!

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2023 9:11 am
by 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.

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2024 4:25 pm
by karstopography
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.

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2024 5:04 pm
by Tormato
karstopography wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2024 4:25 pm 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)

Re: Artichokes and Cardoons

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2024 12:18 am
by Julianna
I have artichokes in pots. I had gorgeous ones in the ground until they were sucked under by the gophers.