A guide to growing globe artichokes
Market gardeners Niva and Yotam Kay on growing, propagating and eating.
Growing up in the Mediterranean, spring was always accompanied by pots full of artichokes at the dinner table. At my family home, they were always eaten simply steamed and dipped in mayo, aioli, tahini, yoghurt or salad dressing – a culinary treat we were always excited about. Globe artichokes (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) are perennial plants from the Asteraceae family. A type of thistle, globe artichokes were bred for their large, immature flower buds. They were known, cultivated and consumed around the Mediterranean for thousands of years. While globe artichokes are still relatively similar to their wild ancestors, modern cultivars are larger, have much fewer thorns, less bitterness, are more productive and can withstand a wider range of growing conditions.
Despite their hardiness, artichokes are best treated with love and care for larger yields, larger flower buds, an extended harvesting season and a longer life span. Artichoke plants can live in your garden for three to seven years and reach over a metre in height and width. To thrive, they need a good level of soil fertility, good drainage and regular watering when it is dry. In return, they can produce a crop of up to a dozen immature flower buds over early spring, well into summer, and even surprise you with another flush in the autumn.
Due to artichokes’ wild nature, there is a high genetic diversity within the species. The implication of this for us gardeners is that despite the huge effort made by plant breeders for uniformity and high yielding cultivars, we will see a significant variation between plants when we grow artichokes from seeds.
While I welcome plants that are different from each other, and I tend to start my new patches from seed, I don’t appreciate the plants that are thorny all the way from the ground to the flowering bud. After these thorny plants finish producing in their first season, I remove them from the patch.
If you want to ensure uniformity right from the start,
you can propagate artichokes from root cuttings, the way commercial growers do. Once you have identified the plants you like, whether from your own or a friend’s patch, take root cuttings from them.
You can do so with relatively little disturbance to the plant. Gently dig with a trowel on one side of the plant and cut off a piece of root thicker than 5mm for best results. Cut the root to pieces of 3–5cm in length, place them into pots horizontally, cover with a few centimetres of growing media and place in a shady spot and keep moist. Once the plants emerge, move them to full sunlight. When the plants are 10cm high or so, it’s time to transplant them to their permanent location. Sometimes instead of taking root cuttings, mature plants will grow an offshoot from the base, which can be gently separated and replanted.
If you’d like to take the more adventurous path of growing from seeds, there are several varieties to choose from, including the ones with lovely purple-coloured petals. Soak the seeds for eight hours or overnight to improve germination.
Sow two seeds in an 8cm or 10cm pot, and once germinated, leave the strongest and discard or prick out the weakest.
You can sow new plants at any time of year, but the best time is towards the end of winter. Through a process called vernalisation, we can trick the plants by letting them think they have passed a whole year of growth. We do this by simply altering their exposure to different temperatures – they will produce a significantly better crop in the first year.
To vernalise globe artichokes, sow about 10 weeks before the known last frost date in your area, in a tunnelhouse or inside the house next to a sunny window.
After four weeks of growing, move them outdoors. Spring temperatures will be enough for them to experience the feel of winter. Just remember to harden off the plants before transplanting them into the garden.
As artichokes grow to be quite large plants, plant them at least one metre apart in a sunny location. Although the plants enjoy full sun, they can grow in a semi-shade with at least six hours of direct sunlight. Interestingly, artichokes prefer cooler conditions, so plant them with plenty of room around them for increased airflow, keeping them cool and happy.
Plants require regular watering, similar to what you would use to grow your summer vegetables, so place them where you can water them. We tend to plant them at the edge of the vege garden, where they can grow undisturbed with plenty of space and capture the runoff from watering the vege crops.
Globe artichokes are good plants to grow between the orchard and the vege garden. As they have long, established roots, they can compete with tree roots and act as a buffer between them and your veges.
Prepare the bed for the artichokes like you would for other veges – don’t plant straight into a compacted
As artichokes have long, established roots, they can compete with tree roots and act as a buffer between them and your veges.
paddock or a lawn. To keep the plants free of weeds, we tend to either plant the artichokes into UV stabilised weedmat or spread a thick layer of woodchips around them twice a year.
Once the season ends and the plants die down, you can keep the plants tidy by cutting the foliage close to ground level. If your winters are freezing and you experience hard frosts, cover the plants with a layer of mulch.
Globe artichokes are hardy plants with no significant disease or pest pressure. The only time they are vulnerable is as young seedlings, where slugs and snails can find them attractive.
To enjoy artichokes at their best, cut the immature flower buds while they are still compact, with a little bit of stem. The flower buds can vary in size, with generally larger buds forming on established plants in their first flush. When we want to enjoy a meal of artichokes, we usually harvest all the available immature flower buds.
There is usually a window of one to two weeks for each bud, when it is best picking before they get overmature. Pay close attention to your plants while they are in season, so you don’t miss out on the prime eating time.
If you are in doubt, it is always better to pick them earlier rather than later. If they have started to wrinkle or the stems have browned, their eating qualities will be diminished. After the bud has opened up, it will be more fibrous to eat and not as nice. But artichokes also make for a lovely cut flower! So even if you left some flowers past their eating time, cut them with a bit of stalk for the vase. It is always best to remove older flowers so that the plant doesn’t keep investing energy into them.
Globe artichokes are incredibly versatile and can be eaten raw, cooked, steamed, roasted, fried and even made into jam! We cook or steam them for about 30 minutes until the petals easily peel off.
The edible parts of the artichoke include not only the large base, known as the heart, but also the fleshy bottom of every petal. You can bite into the fleshy part at the bottom of each petal, scraping it with your teeth, pre-dipping the petal in mayo or any other dressing as you go.
In the middle of the artichoke, on top of the heart, are the immature, non-edible florets called the choke or beard, which are particularly tough in more mature buds. Carefully remove these with a spoon so you don’t end up eating them.
If you haven’t eaten a fresh artichoke before, only preserved ones, you are in for a treat. While getting the most of your steamed artichoke may seem fiddly, as you peel them one petal at a time, it is well worth it!
Their rich taste and creamy texture is a culinary treat, unlike any other vegetable at your table. ✤