Growing Productive Artichokes

January 28, 2018 Susan

Do you grow artichokes in your garden? I’ve been growing them for quite a few years now and have noticed that the plants can vary widely in productivity.

Here in Spokane, Wash., which is in USDA zones 5 and 6, artichokes need to be grown as annuals. Each year, I start the seeds indoors around the first of March. I usually transplant them out into the garden in mid-May.

However, it turns out that I’ve perhaps been babying my artichoke seedlings a bit more than I should… if I want to harvest a lot of artichokes, that is. I’ve learned that one should put their seeds and plants through a “vernalization” period. What’s that, you say?

Vernalization involves exposing the seeds and plants to cool temperatures in order to fool them into thinking they’ve gone through winter and need to start flowering.

There has been quite a bit of research into this and I believe this is why I’ve had pretty unproductive plants at times. If I had kept weather records, maybe I would’ve noticed a pattern of warmer spring temperatures in those years. And perhaps the weather was unseasonably cold in the spring of the years my plants really produced.

According to High Mowing Seeds, they recommend putting the seeds in the refrigerator (go to link for storage details) for two weeks prior to planting them, then start the seeds under normal conditions indoors and keep them there until two weeks before your planting-out date. At that point, move the seedlings to a cool area outside for 10-14 days, but don’t let them get frosted. Then you can plant them in your garden as you normally would.

So my plan this year is to place my artichoke seeds in the fridge on Feb. 1st and plant them indoors on Feb. 15th. Around May 1st, I’ll move them out to my unheated greenhouse to let them continue growing under chilly conditions (or outside the greenhouse, depending upon the weather). Then I’ll transplant them into the garden in mid-May.

I’ll let you know what happens. And if you try this method this year, let me know how it works for you! Just drop me a note at Susan@susansinthegarden.com. Thanks.