The central stalk will go to seed and basically die off after it blooms. Personally, I'd love to see one bloom, I've only seen photos, they look incredible.

The pups could potentially make good cardoon this fall, but I think you might have to either thin to just one or two or if possible separate them. I don't know if you could do that now, they may be too big and the heat of summer is here.

I vote for killing it. It is a very showy, albeit rough, flower, but in the end this is just a domesticated thistle. The central plant is what you will eat and you do not want to lose any mass to flower production. You throw out a lot of the plant, because you peel it.

peeling is not quite accurate. The stalks are best cut into 6-8 inches chunks first. Trim leaves as needed for top of the stalk chunks. Using your thumb and the edge of a knife, pull back the fibers on the outside of the stalk, and the thin whitish skin on the inside. Promptly drop in water with some lemon or vinegar to avoid discoloration, until ready to use. A plant below 1.5 ft is not worthy. 2.5 ft and above is what you want. The heart at the base is the best part, being edible well into the root zone. Water it well or it becomes pithy.

Oh, now it is a dilemna! I also want to see one flower, but I want to eat it too... can't have both it seems! At least not on one plant. If I do decide to cut the flower stalk, how far down into the plant should I go to cut it? It is very thick and heading to be tall, so I can see how it is a drain on the plant to make it.

Cheers!

It's a magnificent plant. I would let it grow just to see it bloom.

I grew cardoons last year and they got large but didn't bloom. Wrapping them to induce blanching turned out to be impractical due to the size and form of the plants, so I used them green. They tasted fine when par boiled well as a first step to cooking. Any advice on blanching?

Jim

Blanching with black plastic wrapping is quite a nuisance, I agree. The shape is difficult, and the stalks are quite brittle. I no longer do it. Rather, I dig up the whole plant and bury it under leaves. The blanching, one month after, is perfect, they are almost sweet raw. Enough leaves so they don't freeze, which here is about 20 inches. Digging all those leaves is also a bit of a nuisance, but it is one of the rare instance when one can do winter gardening work.

They are biennial, so I replant them every year. They grow as tall in sun or shade. This year I have 40, all in semi-shade.