Learn how to plant, grow, and harvest globe artichokes
Artichokes: they’re the spiky garden thorns of the vegetable world, and they’re totally worth the effort. These edible flower buds may look a little intimidating, but they’re surprisingly easy to grow (and impressively pretty, too). Whether you’re after gourmet garden snacks or a striking, silver-leaved statement plant, growing artichokes will add both flavor and flair to your veggie patch. Let’s get to the heart of it—literally!
About Artichokes
The buds (i.e., the “artichokes” that we harvest and eat), if allowed to flower, are thistle-like and violet. These large plants can be grown in rows in the garden, as informal hedges, or planted as a wide border. Artichokes can reach heights of 3 to 5 feet.
Artichokes prefer cool, humid summers and mild winters. In cool regions, plan to treat the artichoke as an annual.
One plant will produce many artichokes. The biggest bud grows on the top of the plant, and many smaller ones grow beneath.
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Growing
- Keep the soil moist. Artichokes need lots of water to form the edible buds.
- Mulch around the plants to keep the moisture in the soil.
- Apply a balanced organic fertilizer once every month during the growing season.
- Remove the mulch when the plants begin to bud and cover the soil around the plants with compost.
- Artichoke plants will go dormant in hot weather.
- When temperatures cool off in late summer and fall, the plants will start growing again and you may get a second harvest.
- In cooler regions, after the fall harvest, cut the plants back to about 6 inches and cover the crowns of the plant with leaves.
- For extra winter protection, add an additional foot of straw on top.
- Remove the straw and leaves after the last frost in the spring.
How to Propagate Artichokes
- Select shoots from an established plant that produced well the previous year.
- Remove shoots in the spring when they are about 8 inches high.
- Cut the shoot off below the soil, at the point where it is attached to the mother plant at the root ball.
- Carefully pull the roots that are attached to the shoot from the root ball.
- Plant the shoot in a new spot or share with friends!
Types
- ‘Green Globe’ matures early and is a good choice for northern gardeners. This variety can be grown as an annual.
- ‘Violetto’ produces purple slightly elongated buds. Best grown as a perennial.
- ‘Imperial Star’ has tasty round buds that mature early. It is an annual and will produce well-developed artichokes the first year from seed. Plants grow about 3 feet tall. Each produces 1-2 small primary buds and 5-7 smaller secondary buds.
- ‘Emerald’ has thornless buds and is very productive. It grows glossy, deep green buds on 4 to 5 feet tall plants. Grow it as a perennial in Zones 7 and above.
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Cooking Notes
Artichokes are delicious raw or cooked. They can also be pickled or canned.
Before cooking, slice off the bottom of the stem and any tough outer leaves. Cut off about 1 inch of the spiky top of the artichoke.
Steam artichokes, don’t boil them. Steaming cooks them with just the right amount of moisture.
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The artichoke is a flower bud, so the ants could be looking for nectar to feast upon. They could also be looking for aphids, which produce a sweet substance called honeydew. Ants are known to "farm" aphids; they protect the aphids from predators (such as ladybugs) and eat the sweet honeydew that the aphids secrete.
Sure, if you live in the right climate (such as coastal areas of California) artichokes will produce buds throughout the entire year. For those who don't get buds until summer, probably not. Prune the whole plant down by about a half, which usually stimulates rebudding.
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