Artie chokes four for a dollar

That's the punchline of an old joke. I'll spare you the groan-inducing details. These four artichokes, however, are no joke. They're in our garden. Although they're not really good enough to eat, they look nice and will have brilliant blooms later this summer.

I'll take a dollar for these four. Any interest?

You can see the four-square vegetable garden in the background. I call it that because the garden is made up of four plots, each four meters square. Last year we added another plot along one side that breaks the symmetry, but gives us more planting space.