We are growing artichokes for the first time. On a whim picked up a pot containing 4 somewhat sad looking artichokes for 80 cents on the discount table. In the beginning they seemed to shrivel up, I thought perhaps one might survive if I am lucky. But then they took off, one after the other. They were labelled as "artichokes", nothing else, so I have no name of a specific variety to refer to.

I checked on- line about how to tell when artichokes are ripe for eating. They said when the bottom leaves start separating, which these two are doing now, and when they reached their full size. How do I know when that is ??? The stems of ours are still very short, on youtube they were much longer.

Pics 1 and 2 are from one plant, pics 3 and 4 from another.

Please help!