{"id":3830,"date":"2010-06-02T18:50:05","date_gmt":"2010-06-02T23:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/gardenlog\/?p=3830"},"modified":"2017-07-17T18:23:35","modified_gmt":"2017-07-17T18:23:35","slug":"cynara-cardunculus-artichoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/plant-highlights\/cynara-cardunculus-artichoke\/","title":{"rendered":"Cynara cardunculus, Artichoke"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\nSometimes it&#8217;s better not to do any research before impulsively buying a plant you love. What if I had read about the growing requirements of artichokes?\n<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;While climate is a more important factor in production of tender buds than soil, artichokes are heavy feeders requiring large amounts of nitrogen and moist but well-drained soil&#8230;winter temperatures should be above freezing and summers should be cool and foggy. &#8212; <cite>How to Grow Vegetables and Fruits by the Organic Method (Rodale)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\nCould Austin be any less ideal for growing artichokes? My soil is dry, poorly draining black clay. Cool and foggy? Austin? I planted my artichoke in the spring of 2009, smack in the middle of our 2-year drought and just before Austin faced the summer of 67 days 100\u00b0 plus temperatures. The artichoke struggled but somehow I managed to keep it alive all summer. Luckily, all I knew about growing artichokes was that someone up the street had one and it produced beautiful huge purple flowers.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIn September 2009, it began raining in Austin and rained all fall, winter, and early spring. The artichoke liked that.\n<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/400\/artichoke2.jpg\" alt=\"globe artichoke\"><\/br><i>2010-01-04. Artichoke plant just before the big freeze.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>\nBut in January, Austin got three days of freezing temperatures in a row that were unusually low for us (in the teens). I threw a sheet over the artichoke but was too busy worrying about even more tender plants to do anything else for it. It looked a bit shocked after the experience but as temperatures warmed it perked up. An afternoon of snow didn&#8217;t faze it.\n<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/400\/artichoke3.jpg\" alt=\"globe artichoke\"><br \/><i>2010-02-23. The artichoke weathered Austin&#8217;s snow day.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>\nA perennial, it sent up suckers, one of which I managed to remove and transplant successfully. By April 2010, the plant had doubled in size and the first bud was visible. Some bug ate it.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nSoon other buds formed.\n<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/400\/artichoke4.jpg\" alt=\"globe artichoke\"><br \/><i>2010-04-26. Artichoke bud.<\/i><br \/>\nFor six weeks, I watched the globes get bigger and bigger. We considered eating some but as neither of us really like artichokes decided to hold out for the flowers.\n<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/400\/artichoke5.jpg\" alt=\"globe artichoke\"><br \/><i>2010-05-11. Is it ever going to open?<\/i><\/p>\n<p>\nOn May 18th, we went on vacation. Still no flowers. When we returned a week later, the flowers had finally opened. Unfortunately, with temperatures in the 90s and no water in a week, the stems had bent to the ground under the weight of the huge flower heads. One had snapped. Talk about blooming its head off.\n<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/400\/artichoke6.jpg\" alt=\"globe artichoke\" width=\"400px\" \/><br \/><i>2010-05-27. Collapse of the monster plant.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>\nWas the artichoke worth the trouble? Oh, yeah!\n<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/400\/artichoke7.jpg\" alt=\"globe artichoke\"><\/p>\n<p>\nThe flowers are impressive. Even if they are upside down. Maybe next year we&#8217;ll eat a few buds.\n<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/400\/artichoke9.jpg\" alt=\"globe artichoke\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/400\/artichoke8.jpg\" alt=\"globe artichoke\"><br \/><i>2010-05-27. The artichoke finally opens its flowers.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[52,136,215],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5174,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830\/revisions\/5174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}