I've never seen one of these in "the wild."

[Atman]

Now I'm growing them! This is our first artichoke (organic)! We didn't start the plant early enough (you're supposed to trick them into sprouting in January in order for them to grow more 'chokes), but we'll get at least one. Hopefully a couple more will sprout before the season ends.

[MineralMan]

1. I grew artichokes a couple of times in California.

Aphids love them. So much so that I never actually got to eat any of mine. You'd pull away bracts from the edible flower bud after cooking it and it there would be hundreds of cooked aphids. Very disappointing. So, I never planted them again.

[leftieNanner]

6. Aphids love them?

So do earwigs

My husband would harvest ours, dump them in the kitchen sink and go back out into the yard. A few minutes later - counter tops covered in nasty crawlers.

Hate earwigs.

[MineralMan]

7. Earwigs. Yuck!

But, yes, aphids are a serious pest for artichokes, and the ants that help carry the aphids to the plants, so they can harvest the by-products from the aphids.

[Chellee]

8. Ewww...

Did you tell him he needs to wash them in a bucket outside before bringing them in the house? Because....ewww!!

Hate earwigs.

[nolabear]

9. Ladybugs. They're little aphid eating machines!

Might be late to get them this year but good gardening stores carry them.

[Sedona]

2. give them plenty of room

they multiply. I got a new plant every year.

[mopinko]

3. broke my heart when i became allergic

loves me some chokes. damn.
now you made my mouth water, and i have no where to go with it.
think i'll go pick some raspberries.
it wont be the same.

[JayhawkSD]

4. My father had a couple in his yard

after he retired in Arizona. He'd cut a couple and steam them for us right after they'd been cut. Omigod. They were so much tastier than what one could get at the store. The difference was astonishing.

[DesertDiamond]

5. We used to have a huge artichoke plant in our yard when I was growing up. Love them!

[Stryst]

10. Take the harvested veggies, and dump them in

some ice water with a bit of salt. Let them sit for just a minute, and the creepy crawlies should all be out of your produce. My parents used this trick a lot, since we always grew big gardens when I was a kid (three brothers and three cousins all living in the same house, so yeah, we gardened).