First artichokes!

[TheWaterbug]

See last night's dinner? Here it isn't:



They're smaller than commercial artichokes (no drip watering or fertilizer yet), but they were really tasty. I transplanted them from store-bought Home Depot plants last year, but didn't harvest anything last year. The only 1-2 flowers they sent up I let bloom.

Then this year they really took off, and my two plants are now ~4' tall and ~6' in diameter. I crowded them a bit, but it's too late to do anything about that now. I counted ~15 immature buds between the two plants, so I should be eating plenty of artichokes this year.

The one in the picture makes these long buds, and my other plant makes more spherical buds.

I _just_ put them on the drip system a few days ago, which means they'll also be getting fertilizer. I hope this makes the 'chokes a little bigger.

[Northernfox]

Mmmmm I wish!!! Have you seen the growingyourgreens.com videos on YouTube ? In California it would be the same

[gumbo2176]

I've had good success with chokes. Last year I got close to 25 or so from 3 of the 4 plants I put in----one died for some reason. The first chokes you get will be a bit larger than the ones that follow it. If you want to see a very nice looking flower, let one go to bloom.

[TheWaterbug]

Hmmm. That was short. It looks like the heat is killing them off:



They're on a drip system, so they get plenty of water, but this one just looks like it's done for the year. The other one doesn't look much better, and its flowers were really hard anyway.

I have very mild winters, so it will survive, but should I prune it back? Or should I just let it do whatever it wants?

Last year it pretty much did nothing through the winter. It didn't grow much, but neither did it die back or yellow much.

[RogueRose]

My friend in Yorba Linda had an amazing artichoke crop this year. She had so many she had to let some flower. This is one thing I wish we could grow here.

[gumbo2176]

Hmmm. That was short. It looks like the heat is killing them off:



They're on a drip system, so they get plenty of water, but this one just looks like it's done for the year. The other one doesn't look much better, and its flowers were really hard anyway.

I have very mild winters, so it will survive, but should I prune it back? Or should I just let it do whatever it wants?

Last year it pretty much did nothing through the winter. It didn't grow much, but neither did it die back or yellow much.

I've had them over-winter for me before and I usually cut them back to ground level in the fall and they emerge in the early spring. I've had it go both ways for me where first year plants did nothing and came on strong the second year and I've also had first year plants put out amazing amounts of chokes. Weird how things like that happen. But that is gardening.

[TheWaterbug]

My friend in Yorba Linda had an amazing artichoke crop this year. She had so many she had to let some flower. This is one thing I wish we could grow here.

I'm cooler than Yorba Linda, but generally in a similar climate.

Can you ask your friend what she does with her plants in the fall/winter?