The French province Brittany has hundreds of acres of artichokes. Here’s what their farmers do to grow in-demand artichokes

Growing artichokes – Artichokes are considered an exotic type of vegetable with many gardeners thinking that growing artichokes is difficult and that you’ll need lots of sunshine. I can promise that growing artichokes is pretty simple.

An artichoke plant is a beautiful feature to have in any garden because it has such attractive large, silvery green leaves. Not only that they also have the most beautiful artichoke heads that so many people love to eat.

You can start growing artichoke 2 ways from seeds or from a side-shoot from an existing plant.

Growing Artichokes – Sowing

I started all my artichoke plants from seeds. I sowed them in pots. I filled the pots with multi-purpose compost, water the compost and now you can place 1 seed in each pot – then cover the seed with a little compost.

You can sow the seeds inside from February to April – the earlier you sow the seeds then you might need a propagator to get the seeds to germinate. The later sowings won’t need a propagator to germinate.

Once the seedling is grown to around 8 – 10 cm tall and they are starting to get mature leaves – you will need to harden it off to plant it outside. To harden the plant off you place it outside on a warm sunny day. Then in the late afternoon or early evening you bring the plant inside and you do this for a week so that your artichoke plant is getting used to being outside.

Only plant the artichoke plant after all the dangers of hard frost have passed.

If you know someone who has a mature artichoke plant you can ask if they could give you a side-shoot to start growing artichokes.

Removing a Side-Shoot

You can also plant an artichoke plant from a side-shoot. You will need to either have a mature artichoke plant or know someone with a mature artichoke plant.

To grow an artichoke plant from a side-shoot you will need to remove it from an existing artichoke plant.

Dig in deep around the existing artichoke plant using a spade you need to get under the roots. Then using a knife you need to separate the shoot from the base of the existing artichoke plant.  The best time to do this is either in the spring or autumn. Now you can re-plant the side shoot to start growing artichokes.

Growing Artichokes – Soil Conditions

Artichokes actually prefer a warm and sunny location and like to have fertile and well draining soil. Prior planting dig in some well-rotted manure in the soil as the artichokes will greatly benefit from this

The plants are pretty strong and can cope with wind location. The artichoke plants get pretty big so they will need around 16” to 24” between each plant. Each plant will produce several artichokes. If you get too many then you can cut a few off so that the plant can grow the biggest artichokes possible.

Growing Artichokes – Feeding

Feed the artichoke plants with some general-purpose fertilizer and also mulch around the plants to stop any weeds.

Harvesting

The artichokes don’t usually crop the first year. It’s better to encourage the plants to grow a strong root system – so pick off any young artichokes. You can pick artichokes the second year.

You need to pick the artichokes as they become firm and the size of a tennis ball. The artichoke will taste much better if it’s picked when the head is closed. If you allow them to stay on too long they will start to flower and even though they have a very beautiful flower which is very popular with bees – you won’t be able to eat them once they have flowered.

To pick the artichokes just take a sharp knife and cut them just below the stem.

Artichokes can be cooked by boiling them for around 40 to 50 minutes.

Artichokes are well worth trying to grow…

As they do have a delicious taste and can be eaten hot or cold with a nice dressing poured over them. When they are prepared right they can simply melt in your mouth much like asparagus in butter can! Indeed like asparagus do not expect a big crop in year one, indeed you will find far better results if you remove all of the flowers in year one. This will allow the artichokes to grow much stronger.

However whilst you can grow them from seed this can be a hard process. You would be far better off to buy some sucker plants from a specialist grower on the Internet, rather than trying to start your artichokes from seed.

When it comes to harvesting they are actually like a flower (and indeed they will flower if left for long enough), however they must be picked before they actually flower to get the best taste from them. And as I mentioned above do not aim to get a crop in year one, but encourage the plants to grow strongly instead, and aim for a crop in year two.

To crop the artichokes simply use a sharp knife, cutting just below the stem. Always pick them before the “Flower” leaves expand and open. The artichoke will taste far better if picked when the head is closed. Artichokes can be cooked by boiling them, or roasting them, but they can also be eaten cold, and the leaves are delicious when dipped in a vinaigrette.

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