Topic: Moving globe artichokes

[asbean]

I bought some GAs from T&M which arrived at the beginning of June, and have grown into huge plants.  The bed they're in is quite crowded, and it's hard to get past the plants on the outside and I'd like to move them, as we now have space on the new plot.

Question is: When is the best time to do the move?  I believe they go dormant during the winter, would then be best, autumn, i.e. now, or in the spring?

Ta for any helpful hints  :-* :-*

[twinkletoes]

Hi ya Asbean.  I split and moved mine about February this year. They have taken just fine.
Twinkletoes

[asbean]

Thanks Twink, I'll give it a go then. The bed should be ready by then  :D :D :D :D

[Old bird]

Hi Asbean

Aren't you forgetting that you should be eating these things?!  I generally dig up as and when I need them and put the spare bits back when I don't need anymore or they go over a bit in February/March time.

They are just brilliant shoved into a roasting pan with a small amount of olive oil and other roasted veggies - really nutty and tasty.

 ;D

[antipodes]

err I think Old Bird is confusing them with jerusalem artichokes!!  :o
Globes produce those big spiky flowers that you eat !
Indeed they get very big, a friend gave me 2 and we planted them at the end of winter, and he is quite a hgardener so I guess that is the time to plant them out. I would leave a square metre by plant if possible! I just sow a few flower seeds near mine, I haven't planted them near the rows of veg as I am sure they will double in size next year.
here, in this pic you can see one of mine, the greyish green thing near the front. It was just two stalks in February!! so it does keep growing!!

[asbean]

Mine are ten times the size of that Anti!  They're worse than triffids.  We were naughty, as we found a couple of buds and picked them - wow!!  I've got a bed 5ft x 14ft earmarked for eight plants.

Old Bird - you are talking about those disgusting things my parents used to grow and shoved down my throat when I was a kid.  Yuck!  When I got a garden of my own they even tried to persuade me to grow them myself!  No chance.

You can't beat the globes, though.  Like asparagus, we can't get enough of them.

[antipodes]

ha ha OK, for comparison here is the one on my neighbour's lot - this was during the summer

hers is a couple of years old, she had about 6 artichokes out of it.
But just to comment on the jerusalem artichokes, they are nice or nasty depending on how prepared! boiled with skins on, then peeled then mashed with cream and nutmeg, they are delightful, a very fine nutty flavour. maybe you should buy some and try to get reacquainted with them??? Here in France they have come back in fashion, they are called a topinambour but used to be an old granny's veg until some chefs started cooking them again ;)

[asbean]

Anti - I did buy some from the farmers' market to try the restof the family on them, and they all said it was horrible.

I like your neighbour's plants - I hope mine will be like that, think six times eight plants = 48 between three of us.  Mmmmmm.  Mine are as big, but a lot bushier, without the fruit at the top.

Thanks for the pic. I can't take any as I broke my bluetooth dongle and haven't ordered a replacement so have a backlog of pics on my phone to download.  This thread will be history by then.

[antipodes]

ha ha ok i won't try and convert you to the Jer. Artis then  ;D
I find my neighbour's plant pretty impressive too, (that was in July, now the stems are down and the plant has died back a bit) and it is a bit scary, since mine were just scraps when I put them in and now they are a foot high, how big might they get in a year or two?? That's why I put them in the flower bed, the flowers will just move out around them.

[artichoke]

Every time I have moved globe artichokes in autumn, most of them have died over a cool soggy winter. My successes have been splitting and replanting them in spring. I am confronting the same problem at the moment as I want to move the whole lot to a different allotment. I think I will probably wait until spring again, as it is so discouraging watching young ones and slips fading away and dying. The monsters have no trouble surviving the winter, but they are about 7 years old and really need renewing.

I also have about 14 seven month old strong seedlings from supposedly red artichoke seeds, but surprisingly none has thrown up a bud so far, so I won't know until next season if they have come true, which seeds often don't. So I am going to concentrate on preparing a new bed for moving them in April.

Ground/jerusalem artichokes: I don't much like these whole (a bit odd and slimy), but I value them for whizzing into winter soups, or mashed with other things, plus bring so easy to grow. Have the artichoke haters tried soups?