Several had asked for better pictures of the entire artichoke plant so here are a few pictures.
Artichokes
There are 5 artichokes in the picture – three on the right (that are too close together) and two on the left, with two celery plants in the middle, a few weeds and a couple of potatoes that got left in the ground last year and have now sprouted.
Artichoke
This is a full view of one of the plants.
Artichoke
This is with a 5 gallon bucket, for perspective.
Artichoke
This is a plant from a seed I planted on March 12 this year. It’s quite a bit bigger than the seedlings I bought last year so they grow pretty fast. It was later in the summer last year when I planted seeds and seedlings and they didn’t produce this year. I’m not expecting any of the plants that started from seeds this year to produce but they may. They’re growing pretty quickly.
Artichokes
When I was planting the seeds in March, Vince was out doing something else and he hollered for me to come and help him. I had a bucket of compos next to me and I thought I was putting the seed packet down with the open end up by I dumped the seeds in that compost bucket. There wasn’t much compost left in it and I thought I had fished all the seeds out but there were four seeds left that sprouted. I dug two of them out and planted them in the garden to see if they would survive. They did so when I was taking these pictures, I dug the other two out and planted them.
Some people say there are male and female artichokes. Some say there are not . . just different varieties. Some say rounded leaves pointed inward are female; pointy leaves pointing outward are male. Honestly . . I don’t care . . I just want lots of them and if they do well, I am going to have LOTS of them. At last count, I have about 26 plants now growing. Hey . . we’re going to need something to eat once the asparagus quits making! 🙂
Asparagus
Speaking of asparagus, that is one invasive plant. I never knew the female asparagus produces seeds . . little round balls a bit smaller than a pencil eraser and they blow! Now, there are baby asparagus plants all over . . inside the garden, outside the garden. I leave them alone but they’ll probably get trampled but who knows . . maybe we’ll end up with lots more asparagus in a few years.
Sherrill says
Do you get one artichoke out of the center of each plant or more?
JudyL says
Yes, more than one artichoke per plant. As the plants age, they’re supposed to produce more, but smaller artichokes. I’m expecting to get 5 to 7 artichokes from each of my young plants this year.
patti says
your thumbs are definitely green… mine are purple.
JudyL says
Not sure about my green thumb but I spend almost all day out working in the garden. With that much effort, something has to succeed! 🙂
Dar in MO says
that was my question too. The plant is very decorative and big, but it must take a lot of nutrients out of the soil if you only get one artichoke per plant.
JudyL says
We add back lots of compost. We compost all our fruit peelings, vegetable clippings, leaves, chicken poop and I get rabbit poop from a friend. Artichokes benefit from fish emulsion (5-1-1), which I go through like water around here.
Karen langseth says
You know, if you had some spare time when those seeds on the asparagus plants were ready to fall off, and if you were to shake the plant into a plastic bag so you could save those seeds, I’m sure you could send them to a couple your faithful followers…..like pick me!!!