You could probably fit three artichoke plants in a 4' x 8' bed, but you should stagger the plants to allow for sufficient air movement. Artichokes reach a height of 3 or 4 feet and have a spread of up to 6 feet (ours were about 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide) so they need a fair amount of space. Artichokes prefer full sun and well-drained soil, lots of organic matter, and a ph of 6.5-8.0. The seeds were sown in 3" cell packs on March 4, were transplanted on May 1 under double row cover at night (our last official frost date is May 31st), and the first bud would have been harvestable on July 19 had we not let the plants go to flower. If you're having trouble getting artichokes to grow well, maybe try putting them in the refrigerator at night for 10 days prior to planting. The artichokes will still grow if they're not vernalized, but the mature artichoke buds probably won't be as tight. That's easy enough for those of us here in Zone 5 provided the seeds were started early enough, but it might be tougher for growers in warmer areas. That means the seedlings need to be set in a coldframe or cool area where nighttime temperatures go down to 50° or below for a 10 day period. When artichokes are grown as an annual, the plants need to be vernalized in order to initiate bud development. It's a small extra step that might sometimes get overlooked. One of the reasons artichokes have a reputation for being difficult might be due to the need for vernalization. The foliage isn't the most attractive, but the flower is very pretty, and bees and other insects loved the flower. We only planted two artichoke plants this season ("Tavor" organic artichokes from High Mowing Seeds) and just out of curiosity decided not to harvest the buds but let them go to flower instead. They do take up quite a bit of space, and their growing season is about three or four months from seed to harvest. Turns out they weren't any trouble at all. Artichokes were very high on our list of crops to grow but we had heard they were a bit difficult to grow.
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