FIMBY: Plant artichokes now, enjoy for years to come

This is another installment in our Food in My Back Yard series, dedicated to edible gardening.

One plant really stands out in Sacramento vegetable beds: Artichokes.

In fact, they can be at home in ornamental landscapes and pollinator gardens, too. They’re well-adapted to our climate, soaking up winter rain and going dormant during our dry summer.

California is artichoke country. Our state supplies most of the nation’s artichokes, with more than 70% grown in Monterey County.

A Mediterranean native, artichokes are a member of the thistle family. For centuries, they’ve been cultivated for their edible flower buds, the vegetable we think of as an artichoke. (A close cousin, cardoon, is grown for the edible ribs of its silvery leaves as well as its smaller flower buds.)

A perennial, artichokes are planted in December and January as bare-root plants. Green Globe artichokes – with fat, round bud heads – are the most popular and familiar variety. Imperial is a relatively thornless hybrid.

Home of artichoke lovers for generations, Italy offers dozens of heritage varieties, some of them with very wicked and sharp spines. Among the best known are Romanesco (large and green with purple streaks and fewer thorns), Violetto Toscano (a small, pointy and thorny purple variety from Tuscany) and Violetta de Chioggia (a less thorny and very purple heirloom variety with exceptional flavor).

In the garden, artichokes need room. Plants often take up a space 3 to 4 feet square. Their handsome, silver, sharply cut foliage contrasts with softer, rounder plants. At the back of the bed, they make a dramatic backdrop for annuals. Or they can be an eye-catching focal point all their own.

Because they’ll stay in the same place for years to come, make sure their new home has good drainage and plenty of organic matter such as compost worked into the soil. Ideally, choose a spot with morning sun and a little afternoon shade to avoid sunburn in summer.

Artichokes need about six hours of sun a day to produce flowers (which is the whole idea). For comparison, that’s about the same light requirement as roses.

This perennial does its growing during winter; that’s when it needs the most water and nutrients. Fortunately, rain supplies most of its required moisture. (During dry spells, irrigate once a week.) As for fertilizer, artichokes benefit from monthly applications of aged compost. That also acts as mulch, keeping the soil evenly moist.

Watch out for ants. These clever colonists like to use artichoke plants as homes for aphids, which they “milk” for honeydew. Get rid of both with regular strong blasts of water from a hose.

As weather warms, watch for flower buds to emerge in spring. The plant will sprout flower stalks (some 5 or 6 feet tall). The biggest artichokes will form at the top of those stalks. (They’re terminal buds.) Several smaller buds will form along the sides of those stalks. Those “baby” artichokes will never reach the size of the terminal buds; they’ll stay small (but are still tasty).

This perennial does more than offer us an unusual treat; they also feed the bees. Artichokes are harvested before the flowers open. But the purple powderpuff inside the edible petals is what the bees love. (They also look spectacular in the garden.)

When harvested, those amazing flower heads are still maturing. (They form the fuzzy choke above the meaty artichoke heart.)
Allowed to develop and fully open, the artichoke flower becomes a bee banquet, irresistible to these important pollinators.

One reminder: Those bees are pollinating those artichoke flowers, which likely will form seed. According to the UC Cooperative Extension, the seed produced by globe artichokes (California's most popular variety) reverts to a wild, invasive and very thorny cousin.

So, cut the flowerheads off when they turn brown before they can distribute seed throughout your garden. One more plus: They make attractive dried flowers, too.

After flowering, artichokes die back to the ground to rest over summer. By November, they sprout to start the whole cycle over again.