seb@mtgzy.UUCP (s.e.badian) (02/01/86)
My husband and I adore artichokes and I would love to plant them in my garden, but they're perennials and I don't know how well they over-winter in sometimes chilly central NJ. Anyone in USDA zone 7 (lowest winter temps between 0 and 10 degrees F) have any luck with them? Should I just forget it and buy California artichokes like the rest of the country? (And before anyone says "Why don't you look in the gardening catalogs?", let me tell you that I have. THEY say they're hardy enough for zone 7 with heavy winter mulching, but I want some gardener testimonials before I spend the money.) Sharon Badian ihnp4!mtgzz!mtgzy!seb
donn@hpfcla.UUCP (02/04/86)
# Written 12:14 pm Feb 1, 1986 by seb@mtgzy.UUCP in net.garden # In Real Life: s.e.badian at AT&T Information Systems Labs, Holmdel NJ # Subject: Artichokes - How hardy are they? My husband and I adore artichokes and I would love to plant them in my garden, but they're perennials and I don't know how well they over-winter in sometimes chilly central NJ. Anyone in USDA zone 7 (lowest winter temps between 0 and 10 degrees F) have any luck with them? Should I just forget it and buy California artichokes like the rest of the country? (And before anyone says "Why don't you look in the gardening catalogs?", let me tell you that I have. THEY say they're hardy enough for zone 7 with heavy winter mulching, but I want some gardener testimonials before I spend the money.) Sharon Badian ihnp4!mtgzz!mtgzy!seb # End of text from net.garden on hpfcdc.UUCP
mmr@ritcv.UUCP (Margaret Reek) (02/04/86)
I tried to grow artichokes last summer, here in Rochester NY, which is colder than your area. The catalog said "plants", but what I got were dormant root, and they arrived so late that the 2 that actually grew never got mature enough to do anything. Also, artichokes need one winter before they will produce a crop. I am trying again this year, following the directions given in the National Gardening Association magazine. Apparently there was a big project to find new crops for Conn. farmers to grow, and they needed a way to get the artichokes to produce the first year, since the overwinter survival rate was only about 35% in that area, even with mulching. To get them to produce, from seed, the first year, you take the seeds and soak them in water for 2 days. Then put the seeds in damp peat moss and toss in a bag in the fridge. Check weekly for signs of damage, growth or lack of moisture. Keep in fridge for 3 to 4 weeks. They supposedly will germinate in there (mine haven't yet). Transplant into 1 quart pots, and give light for at least 8 hours a day until it is warm enough to move them outside for planting. I can't remember all the rest, but you are supposed to have artichokes by late summer. Each plant produces 4-8 chokes. Another way mentioned in this same article to overwinter, was to dig up the roots, and put them in a root cellar (or someplace cool), but the success rate there was only about as good as leaving them in the ground with mulch. Wish me luck, and to any other artichoke cravers silly enough to try this in northern climes. Margaret Reek Rochester Institute of Technology rochester!ritcv!mmr