June 19, 2016
I cut the stalks of the artichokes down to a foot above ground today because they were finished producing. New shoots should come up now and produce a fall harvest. Around them are 4" thick flakes of moldy hay that I put down last winter under which is a teeming mass of earthworms and sow bugs..
I never realized how much fertilizer sow bugs could produce until this spring when the artichokes were twice as full and prolific as all previous years. I'll be on the lookout for more moldy hay when this is gone..