Plump, Round, Ripe Artichokes

There are always artichokes growing in the garden. These are growing in the Flying Rabbit Island bed and they are at least 8 inches in diameter and ready to pick. They were planted last fall from a one gallon pot, are globe artichokes and they are almost as big as the 24" box pepper trees they are next to in the garden.

We include artichokes in the elementary school garden for a number of reasons:

• They are way easy to grow
• They provide five or six vegetables per plant
• They are fun to eat and talk about
• They harvest before school is out
  
• Even though a hungry rabbit (our biggest problem in the kids' garden) will still eat the course, prickly leaves, they grow faster than the bunnies can eat them, therefor they survive!
  

I also have one growing in the front yard that was planted last spring, but it hasn't grown one iota since it was planted - go figure.

If I am guilty of anything when it comes to these guys, it is leaving them on the plant way too long. I enjoy seeing them in the garden and I miss them when they have been harvested. They will send up a second harvest in the summer, but the chokes are much smaller.

If you look closely in my "Mauvelous" posting, you can see the greenish-purple of the chokes growing in the Laguna garden.