I almost choked
February 27, 2013
I ran home at lunch because I had forgotten to vent the hoophouse this morning and it had become a warm sunny February day.
My sunglasses eventually de-fogged after I managed to open up and vent the hoophouse a little so while still inside I removed the poly row cover from the rapidly growing artichoke plant.
I knew it was doing well and believe I’ve posted evidence in recent weeks.
Still, this was a nice late winter surprise, or really perhaps a better classification would be “shock”:
The picture also tells me I need to investigate and find the frass source but that can wait a day or two.
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Behind cohutt's fence 
Are you sure it can wait? I don’t want anything eating my artichokes.
I shall dispense with the guilty parties
Pretty please post one of those artichokes to me in Australia. Your garden is so productive (in WINTER) that I’m getting depressed. That hoop house rocks!
I think that technology has been available since the mid 1960s. On Star Trek anyway….
Luckily mild winter here again. 🙂
I’m in the transporter room standing by.
BTW, I had to google frass myself. Thanks for broadening my vocab (I love watching hubby’s face as he tries to decide whether or not to challenge me when I use a clearly made-up word). And, yes, I did go to your link about frass and no, I’m not eating grits today – or maybe ever now. eeeewwwww.
Must be nice to have a sunny february day…haven’t seen one of those in a long while here in NY. I don’t make a habit of telling dudes they have a nice choke…but nice choke!
Ha .
yes the day took me by surprise, hence the awol lunch mission
Frass, a nice new word to add to my scatology reference manual. Thanks! 😉
Ha. I have advanced degrees in frassology and the philosophy of frass:
https://cohutt.com/2010/06/20/squash-vine-borers/
SO cool! Frass!! A new one for me as well & I’ve been gardening for 39 or so years! Love it!!
WOW! Beautiful artichokes! You’re the only person I know who is successfully growing vegetable like these in February. Congratulations on your success.
Ha I was originally thinking it would be a success if I could just get it to survive winter. But these can tolerate some frost and actually prefer cooler climates, so shazzam! …….
I have to admit, I’ve read your entire archive over the past few weeks. I’m a year into my garden down in Atlanta, and it’s really cool to read about your experiments and what you’ve learned, since we’re in a similar climate. My big experiment for this year is quinoa – super excited to see how it turns out. 🙂
Thanks for digging back- good to that my odd garden inspires and idea or two.
My daughter is vegetarian and asked about growing quinoa; I was unaware of it until then.
I decided that the relatively low altitude and hot summers here made it an ambitious choice and didn’t look much more into it (or got distracted by something else who knows lol).
Good luck with it; I’d sure be interested to know if you are successful.
I’ll definitely let you know how it goes! I’m tentatively thinking to plant them in a few 10 gallon containers and move them indoors when it gets hot. I’ve got a couple of windows that get good light, and the avocado and citrus trees that are currently camping in them will be heading outdoors for the summer so the space will be open.