cardoon

[obsessed]

How do these plants do with water? Or bad drainage. Most of my lot has some bad drainage problems so I was going to build a raised bed. Thanks

 

[HiDelight]

I can't wait for mine to sprout!
I just saw this post and thought I would go and sow some of the seed you sent me. I will save most of it for spring though.

Are these fast growers? I am reading there are spineless types, I hope this one is not! The more spines I have the better!

I also read that for eating they are grown as Annuals. I guess being so tropical here I can grow this year round.

Joe

I posted pictures I think earlier in this thread they make a nice fence!!! and grow into monsters beautiful blue giant thistles I have not eaten them yet I started with them because they looked like dinosaur plants I thought you would love these in your yard you can start them anytime there I imagine I was curious if they could grow in the south so we will see

Obsessed I have them everywhere literally ..in some areas there is great drainage others not so great they seem to be really easy to grow in my Zone 7 ..literally drop a seed and jump back
although I have noticed the babies start to get really big the second year they make a cool plant the first

start them in a pot when they are about 4 inches put them in the ground and step back

I can not wait to taste them after blanching Hattie says they do taste like artichokes (I am going to put some of those in next year there is no reason I can think of that I have not put them in previously and they grow fairly well here I have heard)

I adore artichokes so much that when I was a teen my step mom bought me a plant shaped like one ..I used to eat them everyday (still do as often as possible ) in season...and I wish I still had it

 

[injunjoe]

Speaking of eating things like cardoons, don't you wonder every once in awhile who the first person was that thought of eating cardoon, or artichokes, or a mushroom, or whatever? Things that make ya go hmmmmm

I wonder this very thought all the time!
best I can come up with, not pretty but I say it would be prisoners and slaves that got to try all these wonderful things!

Hi I found your pictures, they are in post numbers 12, flower and 31 plant. Thanks that tells me these babies are a fence!

And I may just have a veg that the bugs don't get before I do! I don't spray! Not even natural product unless I absolutely have to.

Thank you Hi these will fit the bill for sure.

Joe

 

[HiDelight]

I honestly think this is one of the most fun plants I have ever grown and have been growing them for five years now ..every year I am so amazed by the SIZE and the flowers dry beautifully if you want to do that and have a huge dried flower assortment

I can not wait to hear how they do in the South!

I love to use the leaves and mulch because nothing grows under them

and the butterflies and bees ADORE THEM!!! :bee

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi there

My cardoon is recovering well from it's damage of a few months ago -- about 60% of the stems crashed to the ground in a gale this summer. We had a very wet period followed by the gale. I really thought I might loose the whole thing but the recent dry weather & warmth this fall has encouraged a lot of new growth from the base. So I think it is safe to try blanching one or two sprouts.


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[HiDelight]

Hey sister in cardoon

ok I have a three foot cardoon is that too big to blanch?

I have burlap ..I have string I am ready to really wrap! the last ones I wrapped to test crawled out of the wrapping and ate it I think because I can not find it!
I am not sure I have a celery sized one but will search they are tucked all over in various stages of growth..meaning I never know how my garden will look from year to year and I like that actually!

they say they can be invasive but I think they are easy to get up and the seeds are heavy and stay in the head for a long time so you can gather them up from places you do not wan them to grow..

it would take tornado to blow off a seed head of a full grown cardoon!

they are like baseballs sometimes!

can you eat the seeds as sprouts I wonder? they look good actually but I did not bite one yet and if you can there are LOTS!

 

[Reinbeau]

An update - my cardoon is still growing out there, the hard freezes we've had haven't even dented it. I'm afraid that is a sign that it won't make it this winter - it should be dormant now. We'll see. It's in the same bed as the beets and carrots I'm going to cover with salt marsh hay, so maybe that protection will help keep it through.

People are amazed at the plant and everyone wonders what it is - it is still quite tropical looking, so out of place in December in New England!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi Reinbeau,
Last year, when the UK was having their worst winter in 19 years, we had a couple of months of weather that remained way below freezing & I was very surprised to find my cardoon lived happily through all of it. In fact some of my chickens were eating the younger leaves that had been shoots in the fall.

I think the fact of my soil being very well drained (there is a wide streak of sand across this area) makes a huge difference in very cold weather. I don't think in heavy, claggy clay soil they would be nearly as happy.

Winter was followed very fast by the only period of hot summer weather we had & the plants grew so fast & produced their chokes very early. I lost a lot of stems in a bad gale but now have a lot of new shoots growing up to replace them. Some of these I will blanch.

Yes, the plants are a great talking point; they seem to fascinate people.

By the way a form of vegetarian rennet is made from cardoons?

I'm glad yours has flourished ! I think if you mulch it will be fine but I would pile up leaves in a chicken wire pen round it's green top. I Know your winters can be very cold & long.

Good Luck with it.

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[HiDelight]

ok ..I never tried it and it has completely melted into the ground ..we had a couple of days of hard frost back a month or so ago then ...2ft of rain since October ...so it is nothing but a green puddle

ok really guys hold me to it this year ...I have to figure out how to eat this most beautiful of plants!!!!

I forgot to save some seeds for myself but there are seedheads all over the yard so I am sure I will have a bunch more plants this year..also the babies from last year did fine in the frost ...it is just the mature plants I was planning on actually tasting that have melted

oh well even though I did not meet my goal of eating the plant I did learn tons from this thread about it!!! ..I also realized just how FEW folks grow cardoon!!!! ....

it is the dead of winter ...I still have lots of fresh greens and ....spring will come I just know it
row

 

[Reinbeau]

I never got around to eating it, either, but it was luxurious looking in the garden, and I packed salt marsh hay all around it before the snow happened - my fingers are crossed that it makes it through the winter!