Cultivation of artichoke from seeds: useful advice and recommendations

In the vegetable garden are a variety of plants. But it's quite rare to find among the vegetable variety an amazing artichoke. It is not popular, despite its dietary and medicinal properties.

"Edible thorn" - this is the nickname of the plant, whose native land is North America, is appropriated to vegetable culture because of its appearance. But, despite such exotic characteristics, this is a pretty useful fruit.

Description

Before growing an artichoke in your garden, we will get acquainted with its basic characteristics.

Perennial has a well developed root system. A powerful plant has large dissected leaves covered with spines. A tall, slightly branching stem can reach 2 meters. Externally, the plant looks like a silvery-green fountain, strewn with globular inflorescences of blue.

Many do not realize that this precious vegetable is not so difficult to grow as it might seem. And you can do it in different climatic zones. Having fine decorative data, can be a decoration of any garden vegetable called artichoke.

Cultivation and care

Any vegetable culture has certain features of agricultural technology. Artichoke (Cynara scolymus) can grow in virtually any territory, except for those on which in the summer is too hot. Ideal conditions for growth are cool and humid summers and mild winters. Artichoke belongs to heat-loving plants.

Cultivation and care are due to this property of the plant. It does not tolerate low temperatures. Therefore, many years of growing artichoke is possible only in the southern regions. In this winter, a shelter is required for the root system. The covering material can be a two-centimeter layer of peat. In the autumn period, before the shelter, the shoots of the plant are cut .

In areas with a cold winter period, it is preferable to grow artichoke from seeds as an annual crop.

Basic agrotechnical requirements

The artichoke is quite demanding for soil fertility. Planting, cultivation and care are associated with certain growth conditions. Fertile soils are suitable for outlandish thorns. The plant is hygrophilous. However, it does not tolerate waterlogging. The site on which plants are grown should be light and well warmed, protected from drafts.

Methods of growing artichokes

There are three ways that you can use to obtain an amazing and unique garden bed sprouts: growing artichokes from seeds, seedling and vegetative methods. Each of them will require compliance with certain rules. In the southern regions, you can grow an artichoke from seeds. Seed dilution of heat-loving culture is used only in areas where early spring sowing is possible. The artichoke is grown as an annual plant in the cold climatic conditions with 90-100 days of warm period. For such climatic zones, a vegetative mode of propagation of vegetable culture is also available.

Peculiarities of growing

Under the plants should make a good fertilizing. Before sowing seeds, one cup of full organic fertilizer, or a compost shovel, or mature chicken droppings should be placed in the ground . You can also use the calculation of half a cup of blood meal and bone meal per plant. Also positive dynamics of growth can be stimulated with a 2-3 cm layer of manure of rabbits.

In case the soil under the planting is poor, it is recommended to carry out additional fertilizing in the middle of the season.

Cultivation of artichokes from seeds is due to the fact that, like in some other plants, for example in rhubarb, some of the plants will not correspond to the type depicted on the label. This occurs in about 30% of cases. To replace unwanted plants and maintain the planned number of them should be planted more seeds.

It is also necessary to selectively select for the production of high-quality seed. Weeding out weak plants at the beginning of the season. At the end of the season, it is necessary to select specimens with first-class signs.

Seedbed method

"Edible thorn" - a pretty capricious and demanding plant. Cultivation of artichokes from seeds that are sown directly into the soil is not popular. More reliable is the seedling method.

Plants, the process of growing which was started indoors in the winter or early spring, will yield by the end of summer or early autumn. Achieved the necessary time reserve, while eliminating the risk of damage from low temperatures.

Terms of sowing

To receive the harvest, they plant an artichoke in advance. Growing from seeds in a closed ground to obtain seedlings is caused by certain time frames. By the time of planting, the plants must be 8-10 weeks old. Proceeding from this, it is easy to calculate the timing of seed sowing. They come at the end of February or early March.

Seed pre-sowing preparation

Seed is packed in gauze pouches or envelopes. They are moistened and placed in a glass or plastic dish. Cover with a film and germinate at a temperature of 20-25 degrees. In a week's time the seeds will come through. The seedlings are quenched.

Envelopes with seeds are placed in a refrigerator and kept at a temperature of 0- + 2 degrees for a month. Cultivation of artichoke from seeds that have undergone pre-sowing treatment, will improve the quality of the plants obtained.

Growing and care of seedlings

Seedlings are easy to grow in a greenhouse or under fluorescent lamps at home. Seeds are planted in 15-centimeter containers filled with fertile soil with the addition of peat and humus. Cultivation of artichokes from seeds in conditions of closed ground requires compliance with the temperature and light conditions. The first two weeks it is maintained at 20 degrees. Further reduce to 12-14 degrees. It will also be necessary to increase the light period with the help of lamps.

Care of plants is pretty simple. In addition to meeting the light and temperature conditions, regular watering is required.

Vegetative mode of reproduction

Also, for rooting artichokes, you can apply the method of dividing the roots. But for this it is necessary to be able to obtain planting material from adult plants.

In the early spring, it is necessary to remove the branches from the main plant. This can be done with a serrated knife, separating them from the central stems.

Further, the artichoke must be digged with a shovel in such a way that it does not damage the root system. This procedure should be carried out when the plant is not yet very large, about 30 cm in height.

Each root branch can be planted at a distance of 1-1.5 m from each other.

Share and share artichokes

The division procedure takes place in several stages. The first thing to do is to clean the root shoot carefully with a knife. Further, dig the plant deep enough to separate the part of the root system together with the ground. The separated part can be transplanted in any part of the garden or given to a friend.

Also you can buy sleeping artichoke roots in specialized nurseries. The landing time is determined based on the climatic zone of residence. In a warm climate, planting can be done in autumn or winter. In other climatic conditions, the plant should be planted in early spring. Planting is carried out like rooted shoots. Root cuttings should be located vertically, with a growth point located just above the soil surface.

Although a capricious artichoke is considered, planting, growing and caring for this amazing plant are not distinguished by special techniques.

Seedlings should reach a height of 8-10 cm, have stocky stems and two sets of permanent leaves. Due to the fact that the plant grows sufficiently large, the planting material should be planted at a distance of 1 m from each other. Agrotechnics are generally accepted - the same as for any vegetable culture. On the vegetable garden we plant an artichoke.

The value of water for the artichoke core and the strength of plants

Regardless of the variety that is planted, as a rule, the goal is to assemble a culture with a delicate texture. Many factors influence the palatability of the edible part of the plant, the most important of which is the presence of water.

Artichokes require a large number of them - for the production of large juicy buds. Perhaps in hot and dry periods of the year the plant will have to be watered three times a week, especially if buds are being formed at this time. Along with a lack of water, budding buds can destroy a strong frost.

Water also benefits the deep roots of artichoke, which become fleshy and fairly thick. They must remain moist, especially during droughty months. Also, you can mulch the ground to preserve moisture. It should be ensured that all water supplied to the base of the plant is well absorbed.

Poor drainage can lead to stagnation of water at the base of the stem, followed by decay of the latter. If the winter is not very cold, the moist soil can kill the plant.

Growth Tips and Artichoke Benefits

At the end of the summer, an unusual vegetable blooms. The cut is produced in a few weeks. The kidneys develop on the tips of one centimeter stems.

The apical bud, as a rule, is the largest and ripens very first. It must be collected with a part of the stem directly under the kidney. It should be large, dense and completely closed. Those buds that will not be cut open with delightful, purple-blue, 6-centimeter inflorescences, like thistle flowers. But the transformation of the kidneys into flowers, by the way, can reduce the yield of the plant for the next year in the case of many years of growing the plant. To prevent this, all the kidneys need to be cut off. Gardeners, whose plots are in the best climatic conditions for the growth of plants, can harvest in the first year. The crop per plant can be up to 30 artichokes.

Cultivation and use of artichokes are worth it, so that an unusual plant appears on the vegetable patch. An amazing vegetable is not only decorative. Many do not realize that an unusual plant is a wonderful dietary and quite useful vegetable. With a rich content of vitamins and minerals, vegetable dishes from it are low-calorie. This is an excellent part of the diet for weight loss. But the content of inulin translates it into the category of medicinal plants. Artichoke is widely used in medicine.

Varieties of an amazing vegetable

Part of the artichoke, which people enjoy, is an immature flower bud of a plant that belongs to the family of thistles. Different procedures should be carried out if you are going to get yourself an artichoke - planting, growing and grooming. Varieties of different require similar actions. In this case, each of them has its own distinctive features. There are varieties of this vegetable culture, which are applicable for cultivation in almost any climatic conditions.

For reliable growth in a cold climate, you can use the Green Globe variety. The plant begins to bear fruit and ripen early enough, suitable for a one-year crop.

Violetto, an Italian variety, differs with beautiful purple buds slightly elongated. It ripens a little later and is suitable for growing in warmer weather conditions.

The star of the empire was bred as an annual plant. Its delicious buds have a rounded shape and begin to mature about a week earlier than the Green Globe.