{"id":7998,"date":"2011-12-10T19:31:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-11T00:31:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-13T18:23:58","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T22:23:58","slug":"cardoons-so-yummy-its-cardunculous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardern.co.za\/2011\/12\/cardoons-so-yummy-its-cardunculous\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardoons – So Yummy, It’s Cardunculous."},"content":{"rendered":"
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CYNARA CARDUNCULUS, or the COMMON CARDOON – IT LOOKS LIKE FUZZY CELERY WITH THORNS, OR AN ARTICHOKE PLANT ( WHICH IT BOTANICALLY IS), HAS RECENTLY BECOME A STYLISH ORNAMENTAL FOR THE SUMMER GARDEN, WITH ITS LARGE, THISTLE-LIKE FOLIAGE, AND GREYISH COLOR.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n Worth growing for many reasons, the Cardoon is gaining in popularity as an ornamental, often seen in trendy perennial borders, where young plants set out in spring, grow into massive, grey-foliaged urn-shaped forms which compliment many planting schemes. What many new gardeners do know, is that history of this plant, a popular medievil and ancient European vegetable, even grown in colonial America as a late autumn and early winter vegetable. Today, the crop is still cultivated in France, particularly the Savoie and Provence, where the trimmed thick, white stems are braised, and slow-cooked with various alpine cheeses, cream and Parmesian – how could anything combined with that, be bad? I think it’s time that we re-discover the other benefits of this ancient vegetable, consumed since the 4th Century, that makes even the oldest heirloom tomato, seem infantile.<\/p>\n
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CARDOONS, ARE KNOWN IN ITALY AS CARDONE, CARDUNI, OR CARDI, THIS THISTLE-LIKE RELATIVE OF THE ARTICHOKE IS A POPULAR VEGETABLE IN MANY MEDITERRANEAN HOLIDAY RECIPIES, ESPECIALLY IN GREECE, PORTUGAL, MOROCCO, LYBIA CROATIA, FRANCE AND ITALY, WHERE IT IS FOUND IN MANY CHRISTMAS EVE DISHES.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nOne can’t write about cardoons, without mentioning artichokes, for the two share a small genus ( Cynara) and they are so close, in fact, that only the species name changes, and many selections are difficult to define when seen growing side-by-side in the garden. Some selections of wild cardoons in Sicily even have edible buds, like artichokes.<\/div>\n
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\nCardoons are easy to grow in many temperate gardens ( Zones 3-6 as annuals, and they may winter over in warmer zones), the plant is best cultivated as an annual. Seeds must be started indoors, early in the year, for they require a long growing season. I order my seed in January, and start them along with artichokes, in early February in the greenhouse. Young plants grow best with bright light, so keep seedlings under lights if you do not have a greenhouse, with the lights set at 16 hours of day-length. <\/div>\n