Two of the four artichoke plants.They're still rather small, not like the ones grown professionally. Either they're a different variety, or I'm not fertilizing, or they just don't like to be grown where we live. I wonder about that last one, though, because I see lots of artichokes in people's gardens around here.
These are ready for picking!At any rate, our artichokes are edible. There's not much to eat, and they can be a bit tough, but they taste pretty good so far.
A flower bud.Our friend Chris pointed me to a website that tells you how to divide the rootstock to propagate the plants and continue the artichoke harvest. I have to look into that and decide if I'm going to give it a try.
Close up of a bud, with a bee (or something) crawling in the middle.
I don't think I've ever seen an actual artichoke plant before. But you've got me thinking - I know that they were in Thomas Jefferson's garden here in VA. I want to try to grow them too!
ReplyDeleteWow that is amazing. Found you over on Chez Loulou, just called into say Hi.
ReplyDeletequinn, good luck! My plants are as large as they could be. Be sure you have plenty of space.
ReplyDeleteanne, thanks for stopping in! I hope you'll wander back from time to time! :)
I've been Googling artichokes - I can grow them in VA. You are so right about the space - from what I've been reading they grow three to four feet! I'm excited, I love artichokes! Hope they'll winter over, like yours did.....
ReplyDeleteThinking about the artichoke fields in Watsonville and the ones we grew in our place in the Sunset in San Francisco. The thing they had in common was sandy soil. A neighborhood old timer told us that most of the Sunset had been artichoke farms at one point. Took the history lesson with a grain of salt. Hope you're enjoying your crop!
ReplyDelete...Susan