Here's a new pic of my Artichoke patch. Linda, one of my plants started to have a black smutty looking area near the crown. I pulled off the leaves that looked dead, and rinced off the blak area, and now it's sending out a new shoot. I don't know if that's the same thing that killed your plants or not.
My largest bud, now about 2 inches diamiter, and quite firm yet.

The whole row, as you can see my "bush type" cucumbers are not so very bush type! Peppers on the left, and an Iris bed, Potatoes on the right and some corn ect.

Might as well show you the row of peppers too, lol and my new iris bed getting ready for the new rhizomes to come.

Tom--your garden is beautiful!!! It looks like you have so much space--I garden on a well-landscaped, small suburban lot. I have to hide my veggies in amongst my shrubs and flowers. But potato vines are pretty, right? As are cukes, melons, tomatoes.........

I saw the dark area too, but when I pulled it up (pretty much toast at that point), that's where the larvae were.

I'm cheering you on for a good artichoke crop. If I can't grow my own, I can at least enjoy yours vicariously

Thanks for the well wishes Linda, I'll think of you when I eat that first artichoke if I can keep it growing long enough to eat. There are several more small ones developing now on the other plants. I'll be in artichoke heaven!
Love to steam them in white wine with a couple of whole cloves, and then dip them in lemon butter, Makes my mouth water.

You're making my mouth water too, Tom!!!!

I ate my first home grown artichoke tonight! Oh my, was it great, only thing wrong with it was that I needed another one! lol. It wasn't really large, but it sure tasted great. I've got a couple more that are about a week away from harvest. Can't wait.

YAY Tom!!! Way to go, and glad it was worth the effort!

I'll definitely try again next year, but I need to figure out what has caused my plants to die suddenly the last 2 years. Perhaps I need to try covering with them in case it is an insect problem (which I suspect, as I found the larvae this year).

I noticed in the plant files that one globe artichoke is hearty to zone 6a. (-10) I might try to find it and see if it would survive our winter.

Some updated pics of the Artichokes. The one with 3 on it was eaten by rabbits, and came back strong.

This one has some of that blackness to it's center. Not producing, but still alive. Linda is this what you found on yours?

My last container plant that died is now showing signs of life and sending up new shoots. I wonder if I can overwinter it indoors......or at least heavily mulch it to see if it survives another year.

Your plants look great, Tom. Yes, that black smudge is how it started, then when the center stalk died and I removed it, I found some worm-like larvae creatures in there. Not sure which came first....the larvae or the smudge.

I harvested two more artichokes today! Several more babies on the way.

My last container plant that died (had the black center, then the central stalk just rotted at the base) has sent up 2 new plants that are growing vigorously. I need to figure out how to overwinter these. The container they are in is way to tall to go in my cold frame, but I don't want to lose them!

Tom:

Are you overwintering your artichokes at all? I found something rather like a rose cone, except it can be vented. Since my plants are in a large pot, I"m going to give it a try--keep it up close to the house which gets southern exposure and warmth from the bricks of the house. Figure I don't have anything to lose.

Linda

Linda, I'm going to give it a shot, The plants are really big now, and they have had several nights in the 20's and it hasn't killed them. I'm planning to mulch them with straw and see if they will make the winter. I left one bloom hoping to harvest some seeds, but it got cold to quick, and it didn't develop fully. One of my plants got attacked by aphids, and I didn't catch it right away, and it killed it. Otherwise the rest are still alive.

Hope you will keep me posted on your results, and I will do the same. I'll try to get a picture of my protection device, (it kind of reminds me of an elizabethan collar that dogs wear after surgery :lol:)

Tom: Are you growing artichokes this year?

I'm running way behind this year. I had 7 week old seedlings that died while I was on vacation 2 weeks ago.(my tray with had a pinhole leak that let all of the water out way to early while we were gone )

Have new seed started.....hopefully enough time to recover.

Linda, I didn't start new seeds. Just waiting for the 2 feet of snow covering everything to melt and see if my plants survived the winter. I'm doubtfull, as we had some really cold days when there was no snow cover, but we'll see. I did cover with a thick mulch of straw though.

Well, Linda, they didn't make it. I didn't have much hope with the winter we had, too bad I didn't try this a year earlier, as the winter befor this was very mild. I'll have to get some seeds and try it next year.

Aww, Tom...sorry to hear that. I tried overwintering one as an experiment and mine didn't make it either. I just finished my 250 hours of vernalization, so mine are ready for planting soon. I lost several plants over the winter, including some garlic I think we just had too much moisture--garlic and lavendar don't particularly like wet feet.

When I had to start my seeds over, I only had a package that was mixed seeds--purple artichokes and green globe. I have no way of knowing which seedlings are which, so I'll have to plant more than I usually do. Now that I lost some of my garlic, at least I have extra room for artichokes, right?

You will have to share some pictures, then I can enjoy them vicariously

I will be sure to try and do so. I'm really curious about the violet artichokes....I've seen pictures of them before, but haven't actually seen then in person. I'm hoping at least one of the plants is the violet.