I've never grown these before...too cold a climate for the artichokes, and never liked asparagus till I finally had it prepared properly. So, now I have seeds. I have the artichokes planted in seed starting mix with bottom heat right now...but what do they like when they have sprouted? Lots of heat, apparantly, but otherwise, I'm clueless.

And asparagus. I've got seed, not roots. Are they heavy feeders? What do they like?

Perhaps these will help:

http://www.farm-garden.com/growing-vegetables/1/growing-artichokes.htm
http://www.farm-garden.com/growing-vegetables/3/growing-asparagus.htm
http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/NWREC/artichgl.html
http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/NWREC/asparagu.html

Thank you! Very informative.

Hi,
I am zone 6 in New England and we have great success with artichokes.... Last year we received 2 to 3 chokes of each plant. One large and two small side shoots.... The plants do not mind the cool spring and fall weather. A friend of mine from California came from Artichoke country( I call it!) David says that they use to flood the fields. He says the chokes love water. The other thing I learned from trial and error, is they love to be fooled by the cool spring weather... I have been growing chokes for about 6 years and it took me about 3 years of failures to finally know what I am doing...
So don't give up the first year.... keep trying and keep records on them...

Can't say for chokes. Grass is easy to start, but slow to bulk up. Lay out a seedling bed that is grass and weed free. Grass looks about like lawn the first year.

Starts easily, matures slowly, lives if over-fed, given full sun, and preserved from competiton, will live and produce for many years. Figure almost 4 square feet per plant of bedding space.

IMO starting from seed permits the home gardener the time and space to make beds at their lesure, rather than in haste because crowns have arrived.

> He says the chokes love water.

Boy, do they. I didn't water mine nearly enough the first year and they were so 'meatless' I was the only one dedicated (or crazy) enough to eat any. But I chose to look at the bright side: since we didn't eat most of them, we instead enjoyed the gorgeous purple flowers they produced as the chokes had passed their prime.

The biggest thing with asparagus is not to let it get too big. The ones in the store-TOO BIG. Like okra you want them small and tender. Then steam them, pour a little hollandaise over the top and enjoy.

Here artichokes grow year round. They are delicious but yes you have to have patience and lots of it. The web sites above are a good source of information. The biggies are heat and water although they seem to do better if they get a chill before the heat.