At first glance, artichokes can seem intimidating to grow and to eat, but they’re actually pretty simple. And in today’s video, I’m gonna share my best tips for adding this beautiful and delicious vegetable to your garden. If we haven’t met before, my name’s Angela from Growing in the Garden and I love to share garden inspiration and helpful tips so you can be successful growing your own garden. The artichoke that we love to grow and eat is actually the edible flower bud of a native Mediterranean thistle. Like plant artichokes are grown as a perennial in sunny warm climates in zone seven to 11 and are easy to grow if you have the room for them. In cooler zones, artichokes can also be grown as an annual. If you’re gardening in a hot climate, you might also be interested in cultivating strawberries in extreme heat, another rewarding challenge for warm-zone gardeners. Here are my five best tips for learning how to grow artichokes. The first tip is to understand how artichokes grow.
Understanding the Artichoke Plant Lifecycle
If you’re growing artichokes as a perennial, it’s important to understand the lifecycle of that artichoke plant. Artichokes can be planted either from seed or transplant, and they will grow and grow up, produce those buds, which will then form blossoms, which in turn form seeds at the end of the season. That plant is cut back and goes dormant during the hottest months of the year, and then that plant will come back again, often sending out new sprouts. Each year that that artichoke plant grows, the number of bulbs will increase for about four or five years, and then that artichoke plant will have reached the end of its lifecycle and new artichoke plants should be added. My next tip is to plant the right variety at the right time for your climate. Green globe and purple Italian globe are varieties that grow well in warm climates. Like Arizona, you can plant artichoke seeds or transplants in November here in the low desert.
Planting Schedules for Warm and Cool Climate Varieties
Allow them to grow through the winter. You can also add transplants to your garden in early spring from January to about march. Those artichoke plants will probably produce bulbs in April or May in cooler climates. Look for varieties that are adapted to cooler areas and bread to produce bulbs in a single season. Start seeds indoors for those plants, plant them outside. Once danger of hard frost has passed, plants will grow through the summer and produce bulbs in the fall. Imperial star artichokes are a type of artichoke that do well in cooler climates.
Spacing and Soil Requirements for Artichoke Plants
My next tip is to give artichokes plenty of room artichoke. Plants can grow large about four feet wide, so it’s important to give them enough space to grow and develop. If you’re growing artichoke plants as an annual, they can be spaced a little bit closer together about three feet. But give artichoke plants plenty of room. If you’re planning out your garden beds, you might also consider planting beans for a bountiful harvest in nearby beds, as they make great companions and use vertical space efficiently.
Managing Artichoke Side Shoots and Leaf Maintenance
Using Companion Planting to Shade Artichokes in Summer
How to Cut and Store Artichoke Buds After Harvest
Artichoke plants typically live for four to five years, so choose your location carefully ’cause those plants are gonna be there for a little while. Artichoke plants aren’t too picky about their soil, but it does need to be well draining. Waterlogged soil will cause those artichoke roots to rot.
Watering and Fertilizing Artichokes for Maximum Yield
My next tip is to give artichokes what they need to grow. Well, artichoke plants don’t like to dry out and need adequate water to produce well. Regular deep waterings will encourage the artichoke roots to grow nice and deep as the buds are developing. If you see black tips on your bulbs, that often means the plants haven’t had quite enough water. Artichokes are large plants with deep roots and are heavy feeders. Amend the area that you’re planting in with plenty of compost and then provide regular organic fertilizer in the form of granular organic fertilizer or fish and seaweed emulsion.
Shade Management and Microclimate Creation
Try to feed your artichokes about once a month throughout the growing season if you’re growing artichokes as a perennial. Once all the blooms are done and all the buds are harvested, go ahead and cut that artichoke plant back down nearly to the ground and then cover with a several inch layer of nice, thick mulch. Those artichoke plants will go dormant. You could plant some kind of a vining plant in that area to help shade those plants from the heat of the summer. In late fall, you’ll see those first leaves start to appear and the process starts all over again. Plants often produce side shoot, which should be removed to encourage all of that energy to go into that main plant. As the artichoke plant is growing, it often has several leaves that will kind of wither along the base of the plant. It’s okay to remove those leaves as the plant develops.
Pest and Disease Control in Warm Regions
In early spring, you may see that the artichoke plant is sticky or has aphids. A nice strong spray with water can help manage any of those aphids or other bugs on the plants. You may need to treat repeatedly, and if you’re still having an issue, you could make that soapy water and that should take care of the problem. An experiment I’m doing this year with artichokes is to plant Roselle hibiscus in the same area. Artichokes grow and bloom in the spring, and Roselle really gets growing once temperatures heat up and the artichoke plants are done. So I have planted my Roselle plants nearby the artichoke, and I’m hoping that they will grow up and help shade those artichoke plants during the hottest times of summer. My next tip is to harvest the artichokes at the right time. Artichokes harvested at the correct time are tender and delicious.
Harvesting and Post-Harvest Handling in Hot Weather
Artichokes left too long on the plant are tough, so when is the best time to harvest an artichoke Well, as you see that bud grow and develop, it will be nice and tight and grow larger and larger, and then those bottom bracks will begin to separate from that bulb. That is the best time to harvest that artichoke, no matter the size you want. The rest of those buds to be tight and firm. For the best tasting artichoke to harvest, simply cut the stem two or three inches down from the bulb with a sharp knife. Believe it or not, that stem is edible. When harvested young. You can store harvested buds in the refrigerator for about two weeks.
Letting Artichoke Buds Bloom to Attract Pollinators
If the buds begin to open and you leave that window, you can still harvest it to encourage more buds to appear, or you can leave that bud in place and those bras will continue to open to reveal a brilliantly colored flower. Those beautiful blooms attract pollinators like nothing else. Enjoy the beauty that they add to the garden. If you let those blooms continue to ripen, you can also harvest the seeds from those flowers.
Growing Artichokes Successfully in the Low Desert
Artichokes are definitely on my list of plants that are easy to grow and grow well here in the low desert of Arizona. If you enjoy growing heat-loving vegetables, you might also want to explore growing okra in warm climates, another productive and easy-to-grow option for hot desert gardens. Thank you so much for watching.