Anyone rolling along Riverside Drive into Watsonville from Highway 1 lately must have noticed the new, healthy welcome mat—20 acres of organic artichokes popping their thistle heads up at the Sadie Ranch. The organic crop is a first for the Pajaro Valley.
The crop, known as globe artichokes, is the work of the crew at Lakeside Organic Gardens who have been harvesting the prickly vegetables that are being distributed around the nation.
“We’re using an excellent new hybrid seed that comes from Europe,” said Lakeside Organic Gardens owner Dick Peixoto. “They’re very expensive—each seed costs 60 cents—but it’s worth it because right now we’re harvesting between 800 and 1,000 cartons per acre; traditional artichokes commonly yield 200-300 cartons per acre.”
Production, from the time of planting to harvest, takes about 90 days.
“We can grow them year-round, easily,” Peixoto said. “Right now we are the largest organic artichoke grower in the country. While Castroville claims to be the artichoke capital of the world, Watsonville is the organic artichoke capital of the world.”
Around eight years ago Lakeside teamed up with Ocean Mist, a major artichoke grower in Monterey County and beyond, to produce artichokes.
“They didn’t want to go the organic route so, after a while, we launched our project and expanded our own way into organic production. This is our fifth year of doing artichokes. I have friends that have sent me photos of our artichokes in the grocery store in New York City and another grocery store in Maui.”
Peixoto says his company grows artichokes between Watsonville and Moss Landing and in Ventura Valley, south of the Salton Sea near El Centro.
“We’re doing around 1,000 acres in Holtville,” he said. “And all the crops we do here in the summer we do there in the winter.”
He added that people can purchase their artichokes in Watsonville at Staff of Life Natural Foods in the East Lake Village Shopping Center.
“And, of course, we prepare them for the dinner table at our California Grill restaurant on Green Valley Road,” he said. “These are the right variety and we have the right weather; they taste as good as any artichoke you’ll find.”
