Bumper artichoke crop just an excuse to party

By Cullen Bennett

The accompanying photo shows a single artichoke plant grown in our backyard garden in the Duskfire neighborhood of Tempe. Last year, my wife Bobbie and I decided to make a garden in the backyard. It was a small plot—8 by 16 feet.

To fill the garden, we sponsored a garden-party barbeque for our friends and co-workers. The admission “gift” was a garden plant of some sort. One of the plants we received was a 6-inch-tall artichoke plant. It grew for the season (October through April), producing about 20 artichokes. We were excited at the production that was harvested because this was our first crop.

Then came the time to clear the garden after all the plants had either died back or gone to seed. The artichoke stems broke off at ground level instead of allowing the plant to be pulled up by the roots. I should have recognized this as some sort of foreboding omen associated with the plant.

This past October, the little green leaves of the resurrected artichoke popped out of the ground right on cue for this growing season. It had come back from the dormant roots of the previous year’s plant.

The big difference was that it grew at a much faster rate than previously experienced. The culmination is a crop of 42 artichokes on a single plant. We have since harvested about 20 artichokes and invited friends to a "stuffed artichoke" party in the backyard. (Just about any excuse is adequate to have a backyard get together.)

Since there is no way of getting the plant pulled out after this season, we’re wondering: : What will it do next year?

Stay tuned for the answer.

(back)