Much bigger yield. They are hardier, and they give you a lot of stalks. Things you need to know

1) they prefer clay, and their quality is affected by watering. You can not let them go dry. This is why I put them in the same bed as celery. They are otherwise pest and trouble-free.

2) You must blanch them. Two ways: wrap the stalks in dark material (it is work, but they will start getting ready in November), or, my preferred method, dig up the whole plant with a one foot chunk of root and put it under leaves (if you have voles issues, inside some hardware cloth enclosure). The more you blanch them, the softer and sweeter they become. At least three weeks, and they will last through the winter.

I am talking enough leaves to prevent freezing. Two feet or more. One foot under a hoop house will be enough too. Handle carefully as stalks are brittle.

3) cleaning takes practice. Outer stalks may rot under leaves and are easily discarded. Inner stalks: cut a stalk,
start by shaving the stalk edges to remove incipient leaves.
Inner part of stalk: from top down, peel membrane of stalk.
If piece is too long, break into two and remove membrane again. Outer part of stalk: shave or pull long fibers.
Water starving makes the stalks pithy and fibrous.

Immediately after cleaning, toss into bowl filled with water and one tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice. They brown in no time. Do not forget to eat the heart, the best part of it.

We eat the lower quality stalks in cardoon soup or cardoon gratin. Most of it we eat raw with olive oil, vinegar, salt and herbs. It is the only real fresh food this time of year, as collards and kale are steamed, root vegetables were picked long ago, and my radicchio has all frozen up. Cardoon is highly recommended.

Thank you so much for the information, Glib!

Clay certainly won't be hard to find in my yard. ;) I'm thinking of placing them in a bed in the back of my yard. My yard has a very slight slope, and I know it stays moist (not swampy, but moister) back there longer than where the rest of my garden is located. The only downside is a lack of a fence there, but the herds of rabbits that frequent my yard didn't bother the artichokes back there, so the cardoons should probably be alright.

Also, thanks for the blanching advice. The idea of burying them sounds like fun to me. I don't have many trees (new development neighborhood) but I'm sure I'll be able to get some from somewhere. I will need to employ the hardware cloth suggestion, as I have plenty of voles that don't leave anything alone. I usually have to bury a little hardware cloth around the edges of my cold frame, otherwise they just burrow under the edge and eat everything inside of their personal greenhouse. :P

Thank you again! I'm very excited to try these this year!
Jill

They do reasonably well in part shade, too. It has to be good soil, but they do not need a lot of fertilizer. Signs of underwatering, besides the lower eating quality, include bumps on the inside of the stalks. High quality cardoons have no bumps. Really, the dirt must look moist at all times (mulch, mulch, mulch). The upper part of the stalks, where large, green leaves exist, should be discarded. Finally, you can consider blanching by wrapping, cutting the whole plant at soil level, then covering with leaves. The cardoon will resprout in spring, and try to flower. Cut the flowering stalk and see if you like it in the second season (I do not do this as I prefer digging the whole plant around Thanksgiving). If you have a good site in the front yard, people admire their beauty.

Glib - when do you recommend starting the blanching process as far as wrapping the plants up?

I think this year I'll try just wrapping up the plants rather than digging them up and burying them. Two reasons -- 1) I don't even know if I'll like these just yet, and 2) I'm feeling lazy. We'll see, though!

Having said that, when looking online, most recipes suggest that you blanch the stalks (cooking-wise) in lemon juice and water before using in recipes. You mention that you eat the cardoons raw. Do you blanch them first, or just peel them down?

Thank you again for your help!
Jill

Sorry, I see this only now, it must have scrolled down while I was on the road.

When you peel them down you expose the raw tissue (many pieces will curl on getting peeled), which starts turning brown right away. I toss them in a bowl with water and 1 or 2% vinegar, but then I eat them as they are, no dipping in hot water or anything.
Cooked, they are good but not easy to prepare. Finely chopped and cooked in the oven in a gratin is the best chance of success.

As far as blanching by wrapping, you should start now for eating at Thanksgiving or later (it would have been best to start Oct. 1). Try to make them really light tight. One wrapping can easily take 15 minutes, with multiple layers and lots of tape (it should be wrapped tight to prevent light coming in from the top). Bury the base so light will not get in through the bottom either. I used to use black contractor bags with an inner wrapping of news papers.
But IMHO the blanching quality of a pile of leaves, with 100% humidity, one to three months blanching, is unsurpassed, not to mention less work if you have 20 or more, and a hole available.

Hi Jill,
I don't grow cardoon thought I do buy them at Wegmans (and I go burdock picking in the spring.) I love to eat cardoons. On the link, the third recipe down is how I make them, and there is a picture of them.
Remy

Here is a link that might be useful: Remy's recipes page

Thank you both for your responses! Glib, I don't know why this doesn't get bumped up either... Strange.

I did end up wrapping up my plants right at the end of September, but I don't think I did very well, and the wind storm we're having today is making quick work of my burlap wrapping. I'll have to tighten it up tomorrow, if it calms down a little. :P Another reason besides my laziness that I didn't go w/ the covering w/ leaves method is that I have only one tiny tree - - I live in a newer development area. That tree wouldn't be able to cover much of anything. :)

Remy, that frittata recipe sounds outstanding! I'm looking forward to trying it!

Thank you both again!
Jill

You're welcome : )
Remy

It is also my first time growing cardoons and I am finding my precious time spent wrapping may not be much good after all.

We are expecting a frost any day now. Do you think they would they blanch if I dig up the whole plant like you said but put it in my basement in the canning storage room which is dark? Or do they still need to be watered and need the outdoor moisture?

I have 5 good sized plants and would hate to see them all go to waste now. I don't really have the back strength/health to be digging big holes for them either.
Any other suggestions at this point?

Thanks!

Hi SandraMay,

We're expected to have a frost on Thursday night (the first real frost that we've gotten... we had a really light one that didn't seem to affect much a few weeks back). My plants are wrapped up, but I'm thinking of just throwing a fleece or sheet over them to get past this upcoming frost so that they survive til the weekend for me to come up with something to do.

I was actually thinking of digging up the plant and just throwing it into a pot of dirt and leaving it in my garage. It usually doesn't freeze in there until late December or January.

I don't know if either of those help you out, but they're some ideas at least for the short term.

Jill

bump

A note about blanching methods. Under straw it is the best, but I have no straw, so on to the other methods.

Wrapping is still the most labor intensive one, and I don't like labor anymore.

Under leaves is OK, but they keep the humidity too high, and the cardoon will rot from the outside. The damage is minimal if caught in time, because the outer stalks are often discarded anyway, but last year the mild, rainy winter rotted to the core a number of my plants. Note that straw (and, I assume, hay), allows enough respiration that this does not happen.

This year I am doing it different. I dug up whole plants, put them in trash cans, closed the lid, and put them in my unheated garage. The blanching is perfect, and there was some outer rot but less than under leaves. It then occurred to me that I did not have to keep the lid on (the garage is dark), so now the lid is off, and I think those left will not rot anymore.

If I find some straw bales I will resume the straw method, but can blanching is significantly better than the other methods. I have also left some plants in the garden to perennialize, and sure enough they are still there doing reasonably well, though the temps will go down to 7F next week, so who knows.

I ate a smallish plant two nights ago, it is still work to clean, it gave me about 20 6 inches pieces after cleaning. There is nothing quite like it, a super-fresh vegetable in midwinter. It is addictive, and you start thinking that 20 is too much, but then you can not stop. In November I also cut the leaf tops, which I dried and use for a very bitter herbal tea, which has a unique deep emerald color, and which I drink most of the nights when I do not eat cardoon. It is a plant that is very sympathetic to my body, as it protects the liver (mine gets lazy in winter). Others may get less benefit.

I still can't figure out how to get my cardoons quite right. My stems seem to be mostly strings and air pockets except the very inner leaves, but that is a very small portion of the plant. I'm thinking water is the issue, but I just can't seem to get my fast draining soil to make them happy. I mostly work on the one plant that has perennialized in my garden, I eat the pups it throws off each year plus the flower stalk (not the flower buds, they are too prickly). Maybe a permanently installed moisture meter would help me know when to water them? If I ever get it right, I will certainly plant more. They are handsome and tasty!

In sandy soil they don't work. The stems become hollow, as you suggest, which is a sign of underwatering, even if you water the hell out of them. I had a sandy garden in the 1990s, and it was one failure after another.

The outer stalks always find a way to rot. They are brittle, to start with, and they will rot starting from any crack. I will occasionally save an outer stalk, and use it for soup (saute' with garlic and broken up sausage, and spices to taste, then add stock and then croutons), but most of the time they are unedible.

In Michigan, a plant grown in heavy soil and full sun, with plenty of water, will get to 3 feet. The stalks are edible about 2/3 of the way up, and all layers of stalks except the outermost one can be eaten. A single large plant should be enough for a dinner with friends.

Very good and interesting reading. Thanks guys.