Thursday, March 24, 2011

Artichoke

At long last, a peek into the center of the whorl of artichoke leaves reveals a small terminal bud forming.  The artichoke plant requires a lot of space in the garden as its diameter can reach six feet with height of three to four feet.  This terminal bud will be the largest with smaller buds forming along the lower stem.

These plants will stay in place through May when I may have the luxury of harvesting up to fifteen artichokes.  Eventually, they'll be removed to return a huge planting area to my garden.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I've never seen an artichoke in the ground before. When might i plant my own? Are they a fall plant/spring harvest?

earlysnowdrop said...

Not quite sure where you are in Southern California. See if your nurseries carry them this time of year.

In Pat Welsh's book "Southern California Organic Gardening," she states artichokes can be planted in March for the summer.

I planted mine late last fall and it is right on schedule for March to May for peak production. I also have one as part of the landscape. It acts as a perennial, which is awesome.

earlysnowdrop said...

I went back to a 2007 posting. Looks like I planted that artichoke around March. Here's the link:
http://earlysnowdrop.blogspot.com/2007/05/artichoke-madness.html

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