I will post the raised bed in the development stage and here are the artichokes on 10-12-13.

This post was edited by CharlieBoring on Sat, Oct 12, 13 at 8:19

Before planting.

Another angle with an Asian pear tree in the foreground.

That is gorgeous! What variety artichoke are you growing?

I believe they are Globe. I lost the seed packet, but I know I was intending to buy a short period producer.

This post was edited by CharlieBoring on Tue, Oct 15, 13 at 7:49

This is a pretty quiet forum - I'm really excited about my artichokes, but this my first year as well, and can't offer any post-year advice. I've planted asparagus crowns along side of the artichokes. My shinseiki asian pear is going through it's second year reasonably well, but hasn't fruited yet. Cardoons are also an interesting artichoke-related plant to consider.

Today is April 11, 2014. I was in my backyard yesterday admiring the approach of spring. My burgundy plum and elberta peach are blooming. My shinko and hosui asian pears are almost at the blooming stage. My moorpark apricot trees are also starting to produce blooms. My hardy kiwis should bust out soon, since the buds are swelling. My fuzzy kiwis are still dormant, but I see they survived the winter and the buds are swelling. I tried to overwinter six artichoke plants by covering the plants with leaves after the first frost and then convering the pile of leaves with a piece of plastic, a garbage can lid, two tubs, a 5 gallon bucket, and a large pot. I have six plants so one makeshift cover per plant. After such a cold winter in Northern Virginia, I was not very hopeful of a successful saving of the plants. I took the make shift covers off of the plants on three days ago and today I noticed one of the plants has started to sprout leaves. Now even that plant has wilted. I hope all survive because this will tell me how Thomas Jefferson must have raised artichokes in Northern Virginia. I will post pictures later when/if the plants grow. My hansen bush cherries, stella cherry tree and fuyu persimmons have still not bloomed. My angel red and Russion pomegranites may not have survived; they look dead.

This post was edited by CharlieBoring on Fri, Apr 11, 14 at 12:43

My Artichokes did not survive the winter. I also lost my celeste, brown turkey and Texas everbearing figs and my blackberries and pomegranites.

I lost my pom, but my Green Ischia and Black Mission figs made it through. They were killed to the ground though...buds around the base only.

Weird that you lost the blackberries..

Update on the 2015 growing season. Successes: Fuyu persimmons - I harvested a bit over 200 from my tree; still eating them. My apache and arkansas 45 blackberries produced a bit of fruit their first year. My artichokes produced as an annual; harvested about 35 chokes from 13 plants. My russian pom survived the winter. Raspberries - harvested about a gallon from one bush. Hardy kiwis - harvested about a gallon. Failures: Peaches - lost most to insects, chipmonks and squirrels. Asian pears lost most to fire blight, insects, chipmonks and squirrels. Figs - using the 6 and pinch method harvested only a handful from 4 small trees that were killed back to the ground by the cold. Cherries - lost most to birds, and squirrels.

Update, Year 2 is growing well. I now have 4 artichoke plants and all are doing well after completely disappearing for the winter. They take little maintenance and are coping with the hot sun. Since I have never seen what artichokes looked like if left on the plant, I tried it... Wow... beautiful flowers!

And Then!!!

Wow