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Growing Artichokes in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in the Pajaro Valley around Watsonville, you are growing on some of the richest farm soil in California, in a valley that opens to the same Monterey Bay marine air that makes this region the artichoke capital of the country. For artichokes, that is a genuinely good
Growing Artichokes in the Santa Cruz Coastal Fog Belt
If you garden in the cool coastal fog belt of Santa Cruz County, the immediate coast through Santa Cruz, Live Oak, and the foggy stretch toward Aptos, you are sitting on the single best artichoke climate in the United States. This is the page where the answer is an easy yes.
Growing Artichokes in the Santa Cruz Banana Belt
If you garden in the county's warm Banana Belt, the sunnier hill pockets above the fog around Soquel, Aptos, and the warmer side of Santa Cruz, artichokes are a solid, productive crop for you. You give up a little of the coast's perfect cool, but you gain warmth and earlier growt