Gardening

Well, except probably about 60% of it is now garden. Never enough room, really, but it works.

I grew about 30 artichokes/cardoons (about half and half) last year. Because it was so wet AND they really liked where I put them, rich sandy loam with a lot of organic matter and a deep woodchip mulch, they were enormous, and a lot of them bloomed because they were overwintered from the prior season (deep pit packed in leaves well under the frost line).

Some of them must have been 4 feet tall x 4 feet across. They made a very ornamental backdrop for my dahlias.

Oh, FWIW, I don't eat them -- they're too pretty and a lot of work. One of my vices -- I just buy the frozen artichoke hearts.