Artichokes, four for $1.00

When I was little, (okay, we were living in Hyrum, so I must have been at least 9) I remember Uncle Lorin coming to our house and telling a joke about a headline that read 'Arti Chokes 4 for $1.00'. He found it so humorous that it left an impression on me.

To this day, I cannot see artichokes on sale without wondering when they were ever that cheap, and thinking about Uncle Lorin and his joke! I found some last week that were $.79 each and thought I'd found a deal!

Being the ever-experimenter that I am, a couple of years ago, I thought I'd try to grow my own artichokes! I planted a few plants and watched them die through the summer. As I was planting last Spring, I found one lone plant and transplanted it to an out-of-the-way bed. I watched it through the year as the lower leaves turned yellow and died, then new leaves would sprout and the whole process would start all over again.

Instead of pulling the whole plant out (as was my inclination) I cut off the old stuff and kept watering it. This Spring, it looked really good! I glanced at it last week on my way to the chicken coop and to my surprise, I found a very small artichoke growing at the top of the plant!

So, today I am documenting the event. Not only one, but three artichokes are growing! That's just one fruit for each year I've been trying...not good odds, and I wish I knew what the difference was this year. Maybe it was all the chicken sh... I've been spreading around the garden this winter? Who knows? I'll keep it up this next year and see what happens!