Last week I was on a forum where they were talking about artichokes. I tried growing them from seed several years ago, I did get 2 or 3 tiny artichokes in October just before the frost hit. With the grow lights we have now, I might be able to get them a bit further along before transplanting them outdoors.
They're kind of an interesting looking plant, though I wouldn't call them pretty, they are thistles, after all. (But the other site, a photography forum, had some nice pictures of artichokes in full bloom, BIG purple flowers.)
There was a vendor at the Sunday farmer's market a couple of years ago that was trying to grow enough artichokes to sell them. They had a small basket of them toward the end of market season. They were hoping to mulch them to keep them from dying off when it froze, but they didn't have any artichokes the next year so I'm guessing that didn't work, and that they weren't productive enough to be profitable.
Some people grow them in a large planter, which could be brought in when cold weather arrives, but the plant gets pretty big and I'm not sure where I'd keep them over the winter.
I looked at the possibility of growing them hydroponically, but they need 2-3 weeks of sub-50 but not freezing temperatures to vernalize or they won't produce fruit the next season, and a plant is only good for 5-6 seasons. (And they're so big they'd be a challenge to grow hydroponically at home.)
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