Frugal Living and an Attempt to Grow Artichokes

11th February 2009 - A few artichoke seeds have been sown straight out into a makeshift cold frame and a few sown into a tray on the kitchen window sill. This will be a longterm project, as it can take a couple of years for these plants to establish & grow enough to harvest. They also take up quite a bit of space. I'm planning on eventually having them beside the garage in an otherwise useless space.

This is how they should look when grown. These are some we spotted growing wild at the side of a nearby road!	11/02/09 - Homemade coldframes: Artichokes planted in right alongside cabbage seeds and spring onion seeds.
09/03/09 - The seedlings have germinated and are just beginning to break through the surface of the soil/compost mix in the coldframe. The ones on left of them are spring onions.	15/03/09 - Beautiful day so I lifted the lid on the makeshift coldframe. Top seedlings are artichokes, bottom are spring onions. These will be needing thinned soon.
19/03/09 - All change! This is where the cold frames were. I have had to lift all the seedlings and move them to alternative areas.	21/03/09 - The little artichoke seedlngs have been split into various pots and planters until they are large enough to be planted into the ground.
12/04/09 - The artichoke seedlings are coming along well, with about 30+ of them surviving the move from the cold frame..	24/04/09 - Artichokes in the greenhouse. Alongside you can just see the recently sown nasturtium seedlings
14/05/09 - I've grown far too many artichokes, so the surplus are being sold at £1 or 1 Cree each. I'll plant out about 6 for growing on next year, as that's all I have the space for here. Hoping new frugal neighbour will have a couple, too.	November 2008 - when we first moved in, after the grass had all been cut back. The pampas grass in top left hand corner became bird corner, once the shed was built. June 2009 and the pampas grass has been removed tomake artichoke corner.
13/06/09 - Pampas grass almost gone to make space for half a dozen of the Globe Artichokes and there are another 5 planted alongside the raspberry canes in the duck enclosure. All are fenced off from the marauding ducks.	14/06/09 - Artichoke corner is starting to look 'real'. There's actually enough space to build a small greenhouse in thre but we can't shift that boulder! I've moved 4 barrels of potatoes along the back of the shed, frame at back is mesh for peas.
15/06/09 - Artichoke corner is now cleared, sugarsnap peas along the wall and the artichokes are ready to be planted then the corner fenced.	16/06/09 - Artichoke corner has now replaced bird corner. We've used old double glazing panels and wire mesh to protect it from hens & ducks.
16/06/09 I have squeezed the remaining 11 plants into this space in the hope that half of them survive. I've given it a rockery look.	28/06/09 The artichokes in the raised bed are growing the fastest of them all. This one seems to be amidst some sort of growth spurt.