The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Fleecewife on January 09, 2020, 04:53:04 pm
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I've decided to try aubergines again after all, and globe artichokes. I'm OK with the aubergines but I've only grown globe artichokes once before and they all got frosted :( . My (late) Dad used to grow globe artichokes in Norfolk and had beautiful bushy perennial plants with delicious flower heads, more than they could eat.
Mine will have to be inside the polytunnel up here in Scotland, but the temp inside can get down to minus 10 frequently, so any advice please for soil enrichment, cropping, cutting back for winter and protection from frost and mice. I shall aim for four plants, grown from seed.
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Growing artichokes is in the lower part of my growing list Fw, but I did research a while back.
From what I recall, they do not like deep frost or very wet cold winter soil. If soil is well drained, a good thick anti-frost cover/mulch over the crowns might be OK, but they can also be dug-up and over-wintered in a dry-ish compost medium in a protected situation.
I also seem to think there are newer varieties that are quite a bit hardier than others.
If you find the right solution, please do post again idc as I might have worked through the planting list by then and would be interested in any successes.
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Thanks arobwk. The plants will be fine in the tunnel for wet - if anything it's too dry in there in winter, but cold, that will be the problem. I've just acquired some triple layer big bubble wrap which with straw will hopefully keep the crowns warm - trouble is it will also be ideal for the mice!
I've decided to get plants rather than seeds to give them a head start.
No other advice yet so I'll start trawling the web....