Healthy Garden Competition: Artichokes

August 2011

I just came across a gardening competition run by @dobartim. I’ve been a strict organic gardener since 2008, and a not so strict one for a decade before that.

I’ve grown artichokes here in Western Mass for decades. I started growing them because they support liver function and my husband is in end stage liver disease. Plus we just love them!

Some years we get a lot of them, and other years, none. The determining factor is whether they get 3 weeks of 50F temps consecutively, without hot days mixed in. This year, it was so cold in April, I am expecting a bumper crop.

I start the seedlings on April 1 each year. Once they are big enough they go to the cold frame for their chilling.

This year’s crop, planted and mulched

I always mulch them heavily. I’ve also amended the soil per a comprehensive soil test prior to planting.