The artichoke is one of the exotic ornamental and vegetable plants. Their flowers beautify every garden. Leisure gardeners who observe these practice-proven recommendations when cultivating will be equally pleased with an attractive ornamental and medicinal plant as well as a culinary delicacy.

Anyone who manages to cultivate the prickly noble plant in their garden benefits from the external beauty and the valuable ingredients. The artichoke has a cholesterol-lowering, detoxifying and stimulating effect. Under ideal growth and location conditions, you can admire the flowers and enjoy their fruits for 3, 4 or even 5 years.

Location and artichoke plants

Artichokes love a warm, sunny and sheltered location. As deep-rooters, they prefer loose, nutrient- and humus-rich soil. Artichokes can be preferred on the windowsill or planted outdoors as direct seed. If you want to harvest artichokes in the same year, you should start sowing in February. It is best to sow three seeds per seed tray and only cultivate the strongest plants. The ideal germination temperature is between 20 and 25 degrees. In mid-May you can grow the artichoke plants outdoors at a distance of 60 centimeters.

Variety selection according to regional climate

In order for the cultivation of an artichoke to be successful, a variety should be chosen that tolerates the regional climate. The purple artichoke, for example, is extremely sensitive to rain and loves the sun. The robust variety "Große von Laon", on the other hand, also tolerates damp and cold weather. The most well-known artichoke varieties:

Great of Laon - edible, cold-tolerant, proven variety
Kardy - edible, cold-tolerant and richly flowering ornamental artichoke
Orlando F1 - edible, tasty and thornless artichoke
Madrigal F1 - edible, medium-early and large-budded variety

Harvest time from the 2nd year of life

From the age of two you can harvest your artichokes from summer to late autumn. The fruits are ripe as soon as the outer leaves open. Then it's harvest time, because the edible soil becomes inedible as the artichoke blossoms. Therefore, remove the flower heads before they open. Both the base of the flower and the bracts are considered a delicacy worldwide.

Overwinter artichokes safely

In late fall, when the artichoke leaves are turning yellow, cut back the long flower stalks and loosely tie the leaves together. The stolons remain on the cane for division in spring. A layer of straw with an additional fleece cover offers optimal winter protection. To avoid moisture damage, uncover the plants again in April.

tips and tricks

Do you want to overwinter your artichoke safely? Then take the plant and its roots out of the ground and keep them in a box of sand in the basement at 15°C.

Category:

Vegetable garden