How to grow artichokes

Artichoke is a thistle-family perennial grown for its immature flower buds, harvested while the bracts are still tight, before the bud opens into a purple bloom. A mature plant spreads three feet or more across and sends up several flowering stalks, each bearing a handful of buds, so one plant holds real bed space for its whole life. Gardeners in Texas often grow it as a cool-season annual, harvesting through April and May, while gardeners in milder winter climates keep the same crown producing for years.

The hardest part of growing artichoke as a perennial is carrying the crown through winter. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension notes plants need protective covering once temperatures drop below 25 degrees Fahrenheit, and Utah State University Extension describes what that covering requires: mound four to six inches of soil over the crown, then add eight to twelve inches of leaves or straw, or in colder areas dig the root system and hold it in damp sand over winter before replanting divisions. A gardener who treats the plant as reliably hardy and skips this step loses the crown to one hard freeze and starts over instead of reaching the larger harvest an established crown produces.