Artichokes in Zone 5

[lucyem]

According to Fedco seeds it is possible for me to grow artichokes but need to start them inside in January or February. Has anyone else grown artichokes? How would I go about it? Step by step for an idiot would be great!

[steffanie3]

[Owen'nZoe]

I'm curious to see if anyone has grown them this far north, too! I was thinking of trying Cardoon this year, since one seed catalog said it might be more successful in the north.

[lmonter]

First off, good luck. I tried one year. And have given up because I can find artichokes at the store occasionally for $.78/ea for the 5 times a year we buy them. I'm lazy.

Anyway. They don't produce fruit (or whatever) until the second year. So you have to trick them. Meaning, you need to start from seed right about now. Let the plants get something like a foot tall or so, in a 70*F or so environment. Then you need to chill them. As in, they need to be kept around 50*F for 3-5 weeks or some such thing, no fluctuations to 70*F. They think they've had winter with that treatment. Then you can bring them out to join the rest of your plants and they can keep growing and then you can do the hardening off thing later on as the weather cooperates. And because our growing season is so short, the artichokes you do get are not going to be as big as the ones in the store. Think the size of a 6yo's fist or so - at least that's about how big they get at the local organic farm near me, maybe a teeny bit bigger (but not even close to the size of the behemoths in the grocery store!)