Makin’ Baby Artichokes

Seed starting time is my absolute favorite. It marks a new beginning, a fresh start to the new year. So breathe out all those crazy 2020 vibes and get growing with me! It’ll be a blast, I promise.

I keep 2 separate boxes for my seeds: one big (somewhat) organized box for my seed archive, and a smaller box that includes all the seeds I intend to plant this year. As I plant my seeds, I transfer the used seed packets to the big archive box for future planting. The tape and sharpie are for labeling my seed-sprouting pots.

I get seeds from countless sources. In addition to collecting and saving some of my own seeds (more on that later), I get seeds from catalogs, garden stores, grocery stores, gardening friends, and even dollar stores. One of my favorite sources is Pinetree Garden Seeds. The seeds are quality + affordable. Plus, the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful. Highly, highly recommend!

Artichokes are the first seeds I am starting for my future 2021 garden. If you live in the cooler zones like we do in Iowa, they require a process call vernalization, which means they need to experience a short period (about 10 days) of temperatures below 50°F in order to initiate flowering. I will be putting them in my cold frame for this process, but a garage or other protected unheated area works well, too. In warmer zones (7 and above), they actually grow as perennials up to 5 years. Isn’t that cool?! I’m just a little jealous… But I digress.

Here’s my first batch, which I separated a week or so ago.

I am growing 2 varieties: Imperial Star and Green Globe. I’m maximizing my grow light space by starting them super early in two separate batches in January, then moving them out to the cold frame for a spell while I begin my other garden plants under the lights. Plus, like I said before, seed-starting time is awesome, so why not stretch it out even longer? Makes perfect sense to me.

These are the babes at just a couple weeks old. They are mostly done germinating, but I will wait for their first set of “true” leaves to separate.

Today, I am separating my second batch of artichoke seedlings into individual pots. When I started these artichokes, I filled 3- to 4-inch pots with good-quality seed-starting or potting soil and planted two seeds per pot, about ¼-inch deep. I put the pots in a flat and watered gently. I also poured some water into the bottom of the flat, so they can soak it up from underneath (I do this for all my seeds). To help the seeds germinate, cover the flat with a clear plastic cover and place it over a heated seed-starting pad. This isn’t essential, but it does speed up the process quite a bit. Remove the cover once the seeds start to germinate, and take away the heat mat after most of the seeds have germinated. Be sure to keep the soil moist throughout this entire process.

Once they’ve started to grow their first set of true leaves, they are ready to separate. That brings us to today. I use a fork or grapefruit spoon too gently scoop the seedling and its roots up and place it into a new pot, partially filled with soil. Gently pile the soil around the seedling and water it in.

Gently scoop that little baby up with your fork or grapefruit spoon, then carefully
cradle the little guy in your other hand while you transfer him to another
container that is partially filled with soil.

I’m beyond excited for my artichoke garden this year—it’s been ages since I’ve grown these beautiful veggies. I’ll be transferring these babies to my cold frame in a couple months to trick them into thinking they’ve been through a winter. And of course, sharing is caring, so I’m going to gift a few of these to Skyler after they’re done with their vernalization! STAY TUNED!

They're ALIVE!

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