Cardoon

Cardoon is a succulent old garden vegetable, just like chard. The two are often confused. Cardoon belongs to the Asteraceae family, like artichokes, which also come from this family of vegetables. Cardoon is delicious and is often used to prepare creamy dishes or sauces such as cardoon gratin in béchamel sauce. Along with carrots, chard and leeks, it is also a vegetable that is used to enhance oriental dishes such as couscous or tagine. The most famous varieties of this vegetable are the "green cardoon Vaulx Velin", "improved white cardoon", "red cardoon of Algiers", "spiny cardoon of Geneva" and the "silver cardoon of Plainpalais". If you want to grow cardoon in your garden, it is important to refer to the calendar indicating the planting periods. Cardoon is sown in April or May. Cardoon was already cultivated in ancient times because it is a vegetable that can easily acclimatize to many soils. However, for optimal planting, we recommend a rich, cool and deep soil for your seedlings with moderate sunlight.

If you wish to have a good harvest of cardoons, do not hesitate to add compost to the soil of your garden, then mulch and water regularly according to the climate. This vegetable likes slightly humid humus soils. To maintain your cardoon plants, it is necessary to thin them out while protecting them from certain pests such as slugs or aphids found in your vegetable garden. Cardoon matures quite quickly. Within a few months, you will have wonderful cardoons that can grow up to 1.5 meters high. It is both an ornamental and tasty vegetable that has as much place in your garden as in your kitchen!