How Do Artichokes Grow?

With elegant and distinctive leaves, very endearing to the eyes and aesthetic to the environment, artichokes are a wonder to the eyes. It serves as a very important and nutritious addition to your vegetable garden. Its ability to thrive in different climatic conditions makes it all the more endearing.

Growing artichokes is relatively easy as you are only required to note a few things and follow the right process. When you time your planting period properly, ensure you plant on good soil and water the plant regularly, yield is sure to be bountiful.

Knowing how do artichokes grow and the intricacies involved in caring for the plant goes a long way to influence harvest. This article gives insight into how to grow and care for the artichoke plant. The proper time for planting, the time to expect harvest amongst others are explained here.

However, before we delve into how to grow and care for artichokes for the best possible result to be attained, let’s consider a few facts about the plant. An understanding of what artichokes plant really is will influence your decision to have them in your garden and how you go about caring for them.

Things To Know about Artichoke – How Do Artichokes Grow

Understanding a few facts about the artichoke plant will give you insight into growing and caring for the plant. The buds of the plant are the artichokes that you can harvest and eat. If allowed to flower, it becomes thistle-like and purple.

Artichokes are usually large to behold and can be grown in rows in the garden, or grown as informal boundaries or planted in the wide border. This plant has the ability to grow as high as 3 to 5 feet under the right conditions.

A single plant can produce many artichokes, with the biggest bud growing at the top, while the others below it. The artichokes are mostly edible, and best harvested when the flower bud is still immature and green.

This plant has the ability to survive both in warm and cold climatic conditions without growth being affected.

How To Plant Artichokes Seeds

If you intend to begin growing artichokes from seed, you should ensure to do the following:

• Prepare Soil Indoors: it’s best that you plant artichoke seeds indoors in late winter or early spring. This is best done about two months before the weather outside is ready for transplanting. the soil should be well-drained and rich in organic materials or fertilized.
• Sow your Seeds: after the soil meets the above specification has been prepared indoors, you should sow. sowing should be done about three or four inches apart and about half an inch deep into the soil.
• Water Regularly: after planting the seeds, ensure to keep the soil bed evenly moist. You should be careful not to get the soil too wet as your seedlings begin to sprout.
• Thinning: it is always best to plant a little more than what you actually need, just in case some don’t germinate. So when the seedlings grow, you can thin them so that there is only one plant growing from a particular spot.

• Transplant to a Permanent Location: when you are done vernalizing your seedlings, you may transplant them into your garden bed. Ensure to do this carefully so as not to disturb the root of the plant as this may affect the growth.
• Spacing after Transplant: after transplanting the seeds, you should space them about 2.5 to 3 feet apart in rows of about 3 to 4 feet apart. Transplants usually have a slow growth between October through January. But growth improves significantly in early spring.
• Water: after transplanting your seeds to their permanent site, ensure to water them regularly and nourish their new home with the right nutrients.

How Long Does It take for Artichokes To grow?

You must know this from the onset. Artichokes are relatively slow growers. They would as such take between 85 to 120 days of the proper weather condition-spring or summer, to produce flowers.

However, some varieties of this plant do not produce flowers until about two years after planting. Choosing the right variety and exposing it to the right conditions is therefore paramount.

It is imperative to note however that vernalization usually encourages the plant to produce flowers in its first year.

Seed Needs, Green Globe Artichoke (Cynaria scolymus) Twin Pack of 30 Seeds Each Non-GMO

Tips On Growing And Caring For Artichokes

For the best possible result to be achieved, you should adopt the following tips when growing this plant:

• Seed Variety: there are different seed varieties you can grow which will help with the desired result. These include the Green Globe, Violetto, Imperial Star, and Emrald. These varieties will flow quickly and usually grow faster and better than others.
• Climatic Conditions: artichokes are naturally coo-season plants. They, therefore, do better when the daytime temperature is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and the nighttime temperature is about 15 degrees cooler. Therefore, they excel in areas with cool summer.
• Sunlight: this plant is best grown in full sun. This means they require about 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight per day. Where, however, very hot and dry summer is witnessed in your area, you can plant them in shades.
• Water: this plant requires a lot of water to survive. As such, you should water regularly throughout the growing season. You should even add weeds to cover some part of the plant to protect the moisture content until buds begin to form.
• Harvesting: you should harvest artichoke buds when they have swelled but are still tightly closed. You can use a sharp knife to cut across the stem just about 2 inches below the bud.
• Pests and Diseases: very few pests and diseases affect this plant. However, slugs, aphids, botrytis can be a few disturbers of this plant. Removing affected and discolored leaves as soon as you notice them will help prevent a spread. You can also use pesticides occasionally.

How Do Artichokes Grow: Conclusion

How do artichokes grow? By, now, you must now have an idea of how artichokes grow and what to expect when you plant them in your garden. The intricacies involved in growing this plant have also been demystified in this article.

Be sure to observe these guides when planting or caring for artichokes. If you do, then your good yield will be guaranteed.

FAQ’s