Grow Gourmet at Home – Plant Artichokes in Your Aussie Garden!

Delicious, striking, and surprisingly easy to grow – artichokes flourish in many Australian climates. Start planting now for bold foliage and tasty homegrown harvests!

Globe artichokes (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) are a striking and nutritious perennial vegetable prized for their edible flower buds. Native to the Mediterranean, they flourish in warm, temperate climates with well-drained soil and plenty of sunlight. These hardy plants can be grown from seeds, offsets, or divisions and require consistent watering, especially during dry spells. With their striking silvery foliage and tall, thistle-like flowers, globe artichokes not only provide a delicious harvest but also add ornamental value to gardens. Proper care ensures multiple seasons of productive growth, making them a rewarding addition to any vegetable patch.

Globe artichokes are the typical form that people imagine when artichokes are mentioned. These buds can be green, purple or a bronze colour. Globe artichokes are often planted by using the suckers of existing plants. They have what looks like fleshy scales covering the buds and when you harvest them cut a bit of stem at the time. There is a form that is an edible root, Jerusalem artichokes.

In the first fruiting season from the suckers, you can expect 4-6 heads and then in the following two years this is doubled. The four-year-old stage is typically when they are used for propagating through division of the suckers, as their quality and quantity of heads has decreased. If you start the process of globe artichoke from seed, then you will need to add two seasons before harvest time. They may shoot more heads but if left to develop they are small so the practice of de-budding is used to decrease the yield number but increase the size of the individual head. You can plant the suckers from autumn through to spring, except in the tropics where they struggle.

The trick to artichokes is to make sure you have plenty of room, a very sunny aspect and extremely good drainage. The main issue with artichoke is crown root rot caused by poor drainage. When preparing the soil dig in 5 in 1 Organic Fertiliser into the soil, following the directions on the back of the packet. Follow this up once they are settled with 5 in 1 Pellets every three months and Seamax Organic Fertiliser fortnightly.

They are considered a frost tolerant plant and when watering, try to not wet the leaves but only around the base of the plant. You only need one plant per person, but if you love them, plant two instead. Stagger the planting so you can harvest winter to summer. It only takes three months for the flower spike to shoot to the time it is ready to pick. Even if you are not a lover of the vegetable, they do make a magnificent ornamental plant.

Jerusalem artichokes are a pretty, lower growing plant with a yellow flower.  It is not the bud that is edible but the root. The top of the plant will die down and this signals it is ready for harvest, similar to turmeric or ginger.  This is not related to the globe artichoke. It is easy to become confused as they sound like they are from the same family.