Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: simbamara on June 13, 2013, 01:17
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I am very keen to grow both small Purple+Global Artichokes from seed.
Any suggestions/advice/tips on best source of seeds,method of growing,pest contro;,up keep etc please ?
Thanks
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They are, really, really easy to raise from seed. I grew both green and purple last year, but it would seem that the quality of the plants raised from seed may vary. So it is said to be best to propagate from cuttings. If you have room to grow a few extra from seed,you can always select the best, but this would be quite a long term way to do it and require a lot of space, as you won't know until you get the flowers which are the best! I just selected and planted three.
I didn't do anything special at all to get them started, just in multipurpose compost on my kitchen window sill. I potted them on until they were a good size. I did find that the slugs were pretty keen at the lotty and they were seriously attacked! They don't seem to have bothered this year, so I think they must like the baby plants better. :)
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I've just given you the update you requested on the other thread. ;)
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=93049.msg1195126#msg1195126
Edit to add link before the other thread drops away again.
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"Any suggestions/advice/tips on best source of seeds,method of growing,pest contro;,up keep etc please ?"
Just one really - wrap them up for the winter, with a pile of straw of similar on the crown. I grew 3 splendid plants from seed last year and lost 2 to the cold.
This was suggested on the growing advice I`d read, but having seen them around, I figured they were fairly hardy in our local climate. :(
Very easy to grow however
Will
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I grew a few from seed last yr. I put 3 in the poly tunnel and 3 outside. The 3 in the poly tunnel had a few flowers on each plant, but the plants all died over winter. The 3 outside only had a couple of insignificant flowers but are still there this yr.
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How timely - I'm just in the process of planting them too - what's not to love? Difficult and expensive to buy in the shops, utterly delicious, and a perennial on top of that! I've gone for a mixture of the traditional Green Globe, a Purple one (supposed to have best flavour) and Travor, which is related to Green Globe but meant to be quite a lot hardier.
I'll be planting them along the southern edge of my plot to get as much sun as possible, and will chuck a bundle of straw over them for winter. In two years, I'll start making baby plants from them as, despite being perennial, they're only supposed to be at their best for 3 or 4 years. Easy to propagate from off-shoots, I'm told.
REALLY hope they work - I LOVE them!
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Thanks Everyone.I was hoping someone would comment about where best to get the seeds from ?Cheers
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I got mine from premier seeds on ebay.
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Thanks
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My little seedlings from seed are coming along fine in 3 '' pots..They are a height of about 2 inches and each seedling has 2 to 4 leaves.When should I transfer them to ground ?Or should I let them grow a bit in bigger pots?
Thanks
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I see some white 'squiggle'' like marks on some of the leaves of the seedlings.Does that mean anything please ?
Thanks
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It's often a leaf miner - if you can see or feel where it is, squash it with finger and thumb either side of leaf.
They don't really do much damage if you can't find it, though ;)
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Update
I have many plants now ( about 12 in all) Some have plenty of & tall leaves BUT hardly any chokes & a few plants are small , not too many leaves bit relatively more chokes !! Why ? Should I remove the bottom leaves from the plants that have many leaves ?
Best feed for artichoke plants & how often/when ?
Thanks
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Some give early globes, some produce later. Over time you can decide which are the best plants and get rid of the less productive. You can always increase the numbers of your best ones by dividing them and replanting the offsets, once the plants are well established.
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I wouldn't cut off any leaves, it weakens the plants.
I usually give mine a shovel of compost/manure in the spring and a handful of general fertiliser (eg BF&B/Growmore) a bit later in the year.
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Some bloke in red left a packet of artichoke seeds in my stocking last December. So they are new to me this year....in fact I have never eaten artichokes. So a new experience all round...........if they grow!
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Thank you , mumofstig : Much appreciated. I usually only cut off the leaves that have dried up or become discoloured.
I have to learn to plant by using off shoots !
BTW , does Tomatoe feed work for Atichokes too ?
Thanks
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I've been growing them for about 4 years. Ever so easy to propagate from the plantlets that grow from the side by slipping a shovel down between them and getting a bit of root as well then planting up. I always take off the king bud (the central flower) as soon as I see it as this encourages side growths.
My main issue and it's not too much of a problem really is the snails. They seem to like to climb all over the plants and accumulate in the joins with the leaves and the stems. Just picking them off is quite easy but they can be difficult to get to and there are lots of them.
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Thanks MomOfStig
Next to my old Artichoke plants , new plant, leaves have come up ! What should I do with the old plants,leaves pls ?
Can I propagate new plants from the old ones ?
Thanks
kumar