 |
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
HOW TO
GROW ARTICHOKES IN NORTH FLORIDA There are numerous fruits and vegetables that typically do not perform well in north Florida. But when they are among your favorites, and you have extra garden space, it can be fun – and in some instances fruitful – to give them a try. Some favorites that I have attempted to grow in my northwest Florida garden include apricots, asparagus and artichokes. And that’s just the A’s. I had no success with the apricots and little success with asparagus. However, after a couple of failed attempts, I had more artichokes than a fat dog has fleas. Artichokes are perennials that prefer very cool weather. They grow best at 60 to 70 degrees. Some cultivars, such as Imperial Star Hybrid, will produce flower buds in just five months. So the trick here in north Florida is to start the seeds as soon as the weather is cool enough to allow it. Usually that’s about mid October. Then the plants can grow and mature during our cooler weather. Artichoke plants grow three to four feet tall and produce up to about a dozen artichokes, or flower buds, each season. Our cold winter nights and cool winter days are not the best conditions for growing artichokes, so the first year the plants and buds may not reach full size. My first year plants produced one small- to medium-sized flower bud each, which I harvested in April and early May. By mid May the weather is too hot and the plants begin to decline. I have tried to nurse artichoke plants through our hot summer with no success. Instead, I found success by digging up the plants, storing the roots in the refrigerator over the summer, and then planting the roots out in the garden again in mid October. Using this method, come mid spring I harvested one very large central bud and many more medium to small buds from each plant. We harvested more than 40 artichokes from eight plants. And they were so very good. I have never eaten tastier artichokes. It’s been a few years since I last grew artichokes, so I’m starting the process over once again this year. If you would like to give it a try, follow these steps: 1. Order your seeds right away. I purchased Imperial Star Hybrid seeds at Burpee Seeds. 2. Soak the seeds for 24 hours. 3. Put the pre-soaked seeds in slightly moist sand and place in the refrigerator for two weeks (this aids in earlier bud production). 4. Sow the seeds either directly in the garden or starter pots. If started in pots, get the plants in the garden (or large containers) after they develop a couple of sets of true leaves. Allow about three feet or more between plants the first year. 5. Cover the plants during a hard freeze. 6. Cultivate like tomatoes and peppers, watching for many of the same pests. 7. Shortly after the harvest is over, pull up the plants and refrigerate the roots. I had good success just wrapping them in newspaper. If you are wondering about the apricots, the tree was lovely but our frosty early spring mornings and hot temperatures in late spring prevented fruit production. I removed it after six years and put an apple tree in its place. As for the asparagus, it needs long cold winters in order to remain dormant and produce tender spears in the spring. Our winters are typically not cold enough for the plants to maintain complete dormancy, so they start growing during warm spells and go back into a semi-dormant state when it gets cold. Because of this, within a year or two the asparagus spears growing in my garden became woody, and were soon as tough as a landlord’s heart. - - - -
-- A reader from
Tallahassee writes: With the cool weather on the way for the weekend, it would be a great time to plant some fall veggies with your children. It’s a great tradition to start and one that can reap a lifetime of gardening pleasure and goodness for generations to come.
If your children have a
favorite veggie that grows in the fall, by all means start with
that. Carrots are always a great choice for children but they take
about 90 days to mature in cool weather in north Florida, so you may
want to plant some mild radishes, too, which will mature in a matter
of weeks. Broccoli is easy to grow and may be of interest for the
children to watch mature. Don’t forget lettuce. It grows quickly and
needs little attention.
--
Jenny writes:
Hi Jenny,
-- Jerry from Gulf Breeze
writes: Thanks for your email and the photos -- and congratulations on the pumpkins! They look great! Probably turning orange by now. You did plant them at the right time for Halloween pumpkins but getting the plants to set fruit in the heat is really a hit or miss sort of thing. I don't have children in the house these days so I no longer attempt to grow pumpkins for Halloween. But I do grow the small pie pumpkins for eating which I plant around the first of August so they mature the first part of November. I have 5 pumpkins growing on a total of 9 pumpkin vines. About par for growing pumpkins in north Florida! |
|||||||||||||
