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Do artichokes from seed give good results. I sowed them for the first time this year and had really good germination. They take up a lot of space so I was wondering how many to plant. Most people seem to prefer growing from suckers. I dont want to devote too much area to plants that wont do well from seed. Anybody had good results from seed? The variety is green globe.

I've done it before - and you need to really cosset them through the first year and really make sure they're protected from frost over their first winter.

But once in their second year they'll be really strong.  You might want to consider keeping them in a largish pot for the first year so it's easy to bring it inside in the coldest weather and then planting out in the second year.

If you can get a slip from the edge of a proven good established plant then it will probably establish quicker.

Another fella from a nearby allotment told me to be wary about overwintering. What I would normally do with tender plants is put a really thick layer of manure over winter and hope they grow through it come spring. I kind of have a rule against bringing under cover which is why I dont grow dahlias. I reckon I might hedge my bets and keep a couple in pots and bring them undercover.

I've tried several things with overwintering and I reckon that the biggest threat is from water logging which globe artichokes seem to absolutely hate.  If you plant them high then you're likely to get more success.

I'm also worried that some of the few losses I've suffered are actually due to my frost-busting mulching attempts - so make sure that plants, especially less established ones, are able to push their leaves out in the spring without too much of a barrier.

I had quite a few,  some really nice ones with red tinge to the leaves and around flowers, but they did not survive the really cold conditions about three years ago.  I was left with just the one out of about 12 which was all green.  It is now huge.  And when I say huge I think I mean enormous.  It is already 8 feet tall and has yet to flower.   It has now survived two very harsh winters.

I though it has had it chips the winter before last but it came back and is now huge.   I do now mulch round it with a huge pile of weeds before the winter.   They seem to be able to push through quite easily when they want too.

I enjoy the flowers, the colour is stunning, the bees just love them.  Watching them swimming in the flowers is fantastic.   Not yet eaten one.

Now Digeroo - that is a complete success story - that plant sounds like it is perfectly acclimatised to your conditions ... and that's a plant you really should propagate by taking slips from it!

Of course - I think that the bigger the plant, the better it can withstand what the weather throws at it too.

Artichokes thrive in the Breton climate - which is a reasonably moderate climate, neither very hot nor very cold, quite rainy but with a lot of wind and well drained soil.
Mulch in winter but uncover as soon as the leaves grow again.
They grow very well from seed but will probably not give flowers (the buds are the edible part) the first full year. Feed them copiously over end winter and spring, they love manure.
I have 3 and yes they can get very big. Help them by regularly trimming off the bottom leaves that tend to die away. Each plant can give you between 3 and 8 chokes a year depending on its size.

My first ones from seed were a decent plant and a bit of a runt... the decent plant sown last year has been putting out flowers orn a regular basis since March, though of course last winter was very mild, the other plant is now growing to a decent size.... I've started some more off cos I quite enjoy it and if it's going to carry on turning up that early it's always nice to have something from the plot at a time when there might not be much else... Mines the Franch purple one...