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Feb 10, 2008 | 4:24 PM PST
Tags: Brandywine , Cherry Tomato , compost , butterleaf lettuce , green leaf lettuce , Walla Walla Sweet Onions , Smooth Leafed Olympic Spinach , Radishes , Garlic , Black Prince , Cold Frame
So, I talked to G today about how we really couldn't do much until we treated the dirt at the end to make it soil. He totally got it but was a bit put out as we really wanted to put the Walla Walla sweet onions in today...so, I came inside and got Carry to take me to the local Home Depot and we got some 'emergency cow poop', came home and I dumped about a bag and a half between the two spaces.
At this very moment I am reading a book called 'Cubed Foot Gardening' by Christopher O. Bird. Well, I really like what he has to say. So, we are doing an intensive seasonal rotation garden. Going through it I decided to ignore the packets suggestions (I know! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING???) Either way, I looked through our last frost, possible first frost...and found that for some reason (Ring of fire? Could it be the volcanoes? Hmmm...maybe ;) ) that our growing season is actually LONGER then where I grew up in NC! Maybe a month or so longer! Wow.
So, we planted! We planted the Walla Walla's that we were going to anyways, but they also planted the smooth leafed Olympic spinach according to the 'cubed ft design. Spinach is kinda tall so it gets the north side of the garden all over! Then we put the onions in front of the spinach to fill the area on the north side. On the south side I planted all the lettuces and some onions. I put the butterleaf and greenleaf through my newly opened area and then in his 'garlic rectangle' G put early radishes. So, assuming things work the way I have been reading, both online and in the book, and from what I saw last year....we should have solid green in about a month! wOOt!
Next week? Cold Frames based out of the containers that our greens come in.
We shall plant the tomatoes, we have Brandywine and my cross breed black prince/brandywines from last year, and some cherry sweets for G cuz that boy can GO through some maters!!! our deal, on his side he can eat all of them he wants, on ours, ASK! LOL!
Honestly....pics...
soon. I took some but the batteries need to charge up a bit, had to chare them a tad to take pics. Damn we need a new camera, haha.
Feb 2, 2008 | 3:27 PM PST
Tags: lantana , dahlia , garlic , asparagus , shallots
It turned out to be a nice day today, perfect for digging in the dirt. My 2 yr old gson spent the night with us friday night, which is becoming a wonderful habit here lately that I don't mind. Anyway we got out an planted the elephant garlics, tuberoses, Garden Wonder Dahlia an Mick's Peppermint Dahlia that I had bought from the Atlanta Show, then we had to feed the chickens before I took him home. It was a good day. Tomorrow I need to try an get the red onions, shallots an Jersey Giants planted. Can't decide where I want to put those, in the veggie garden or mix them in some flower beds. I may split them up an put some in both just to see where they do best at, now that I know more about them they may do ok straight in the ground. I'm hoping to work on getting dead out of the roses tomorrow to an cut back the last of the lantana. So much to do out there don't know where to start.
Jan 31, 2008 | 3:16 PM PST
Tags: Garden , dahlias , garlic , asparagus , vender , seeds
Well I went to the SE Garden Show in Atlanta on Wednesday an had a wonderful time. I was doing really good at not spending any money till right near the end then I spotted a vender that had Heirloom Seeds. Oh my God, my weakness I tell ya! I got 2 Dinnerplate Dahlias, Jersey Giant Asparagus, 2 bags of Elephant Garlic, an haven't counted the packs of seeds. They didn't have everything I wanted but that may have been a good thing, lol. But sure is a good start. Now for it to warm us to get everything planted.
Jan 17, 2008 | 10:56 AM PST
Tags: triple curled parsley , compost , companion planting , tomatoes , kohlrabi , Walla Walla Onions , cold frame , garlic
We are in zone 7B here. Almost time to gear up! I have a couple of the large boxes that salad comes in so am going to introduce our youngest to cold framing. He is going to grow Kohlrabi this year so it looks like, the best bet, would be to go ahead and cold frame the starts at the end of this month, beginning of next as our last frost SHOULD be about March 24th.
The other item he is going to grow is Walla Walla sweet onions. He got the area ready and composted in Fall so they will have he perfect setting and I plan to place them randomly as they also lend to being a pest deterrant.
I need to get a new pic of my Parsley, you can't see it between the last of the tomatoes there but it has gone plumb crazy with the nice cold weather, beautiful tufts of green-ness, like giant green snowballs (the pastry...if you can call them that, haha). I had put it in for two reasons, one, I love fresh parsley, but more so for the fact that parsley and tomatoes are companion plants. I had the added benefit of having something nice and green through these winter months on my side.
Interestingly enough, the garlic (this hedges his space, sides and back, random side and back on my side) decided to come up with our warm snap. Nature came to her sense and was all over the being winter again these past few days and the garlic does not seem to care so maybe it will just keep going. G there is excited as this is the first results he is seeing for all his hard work, he went out the other day 'just to look at the garlic'. Hard to teach an 8 year old patience but he has been pretty good at it (or he just kinda forgot for a bit, hehe).
Nov 8, 2007 | 10:57 AM PST
Tags: Cuban Oregano , Walla Walla Onions , brussel sprouts , Purple Kohlrabi , Tomatoes , Garlic
It is getting cold and much cleanup must be done. Our youngest is getting his side ready, all by himself. I need to get him some mulch to help the fact that we have a neighbor cat pooping in his bed! Once we get some mulch he is going to plant Garlic and Walla Walla sweet onions. We sat and created his plan last night, of course he is *almost* 8 so he is a bit disappointed that he will not really see anything till spring but I already picked him up some Brussels Sprouts and Purple Kohlrabi seed for spring too so that will be fun! I also promised this little tomato eating machine his own tomato plants so maybe the rest of us will get some, LOL! See how much nicer his side is? I really need to get out there! I did *not* tell him I dumped half a bag of cow poop in with the soil he was working in!
So, to counteract his disappointment I showed him something last night. He had forgotten that I had taken a couple cuttings off of my *very* irritated Cuban Oregano to see how fast it would root in water. Lo and behold it is rooting rather quickly so I showed him one and he goes 'Roots!' and then I reminded him that he would get on for his room. Little guy walked around for a half hour sniffing one of those wonderful, soft leaves so I told him we would make sure he gets one for his room too. Then he goes 'Can we have ten? Twenty? a HUNDRED???'. I could only laugh, thinking I am creating a monster (and he does know where the pots are, hard to miss them!).
Oct 22, 2007 | 1:38 AM PST
Tags: foxglove , apple , nashi , cherry , almond , onions , seed tape , garlic
It's an inspiring but also frustrating time in the garden. I'm trying to wait until the last danger of frost has passed before planting out my eggplants, chillies and tomatoes. The vegetable beds are bare and the greenhouse is full. The last frost frost should be in 2 weeks.. 2 weeks is such a long time! ! After this, I will move my dwarfed trees out of the greenhouse (apple, nashi, almond and cherry!)
My foxgloves are starting to bloom as you can see..
This morning I planted out some shallots bulbs as well as some spring onion tape. It was my first time using the seed tape and it was difficult to manage in garden gloves. I couldn't decided whether it was convenient or not. My white, brown and red onions are swelling, which is exciting. I transplanted some garlic and it was also forming medium sized bulbs. It's my first time growing garlic, and my second time with onions. I've learnt so much..
Also on my to-do list this morning was to plant seed potatoes, but the site I had chosen wasn't big enough. I had to go to work so that will have to wait until another day.
Oct 6, 2007 | 8:46 PM PST
Tags: garlic , herbs , southern california , anaheim
I took a store bought Garlic broke off a clove and planted it. The questions I have are what's next ? How long does it take? And I did this a couple months ago in August, I am in Anaheim California where it doesn't really get cold in the winter. Help and sugestions please... Thank you
Oct 3, 2007 | 11:11 AM PST
Tags: Tomato , Brussels Sprouts , Radish , schefflera , spinach , lettuce , Purple Kolhrabi , Walla Walla , garlic , Sugar Snap Peas , Jade , Black Prince Tomato , Brandywine tomatoes , jalapeño , Cold Stratify , Rain
So, we have a new cam, so pics will be forthcoming. We have been getting rather a bit of rain (about time) but it is finally the end of the 'real' gardening season. If I can figure out a way to do it with minimal dirt (I know I should use at least a 5 gallon container but am willing to take a risk) I may cold stratify some of the tomato seeds I saved and start them up here in the office. That would be kind of cool, having some fresh tomatoes here. I kept some Black Prince and Brandywine seeds, although who knows what they will end up being as there were a few different varieties of tomatoes out there and I did not bag them so they are no doubt cross pollinated. I really don't mind, as long as they are fresh! I am planning on starting up some of the Jalapeno seeds I saved, I know it will do fine in a relatively smaller pot. I have all this sunshine here at my desk so I might as well take advantage of it, right?
On another note, my wife just started her new job (she actually is going to get paid to learn, and sign language at that, I am stoked as I have always wanted to learn to sign so she is going to have to teach me...and several other people in my office LOL) and she does have her own office so I have another project. Nice pots and some plants for it. She wants to take the Jade and I am all for it, but we will have to get a full spectrum bulb and lamp as she doesn't have any windows and that bugger needs some light! I have some cuttings I have taken from my office building and her old one of this corn looking plant that I still don't know what it is, but do know that bugger will grow in the dark, haha and some Schefflera cuttings I took from her old building that have all rooted up nicely.
My favorite story about Schefflera's...A pal of mine owned a hotel on the NC coast and the hurricane wall they had put in was coming down after a particularly nasty storm so the hotel had to come down. The people who were hired to take all the furniture and whatnot out and put it in storage really were not all that smart as they put all the plants in the storage unit as well. Three months later we opened up the unit, having already assumed the plants were living in the movers homes (nothing to quibble about, this all had to be done fast so the owner just figured a home is a home) and there they were. No water, no sun, three months...they were fine. They were Schefflera.
Time to get going on some winter gardening. I got seed for Walla Walla sweet onins, Garlic cloves, Purple Kohlrabi, Brussels Sprouts and Spinach so far. I have cleared the sugar snap pea bed so now all I need to do is take down the trellis (I used screws so it is basically collapsible) and recondition the little plot o'dirt and wait for the maters to finish up, collect the radish seeds from the early radish's that I let bolt and do that soil as well and I figure that I will let our youngest help (he will love to) since I already told him the one side is all his! He gets to plant the garlic, onions, (he wants them now but I had to explain that they will be in spring!) Brussels Sprouts and Kohlrabi. I thought that he would get a kick out of being able to not only garden while it is cold, but they are very neat looking plants. He and I are the only ones in the house who will eat Brussels Sprouts so we will be having plenty of them, haha.
I will plant the spinach and plan on several lettuce varieties for this fall and come early spring in my tomato and radish bed, yum!
Pictures will be soon, I promise!
ps~ this blog post has been Cut and Pasted!
Sep 27, 2007 | 10:22 AM PST
Tags: brussel sprout , spinach , red russian kale , onion , garlic , parsley , trumpet , fall , veggie , fence , beet , carrot
Today I was able to put in the first planting of my fall veggies seeds. Temps here finally seem to be staying under 90! I put in 3 rows in my 8'x8' raised bed. In the first row went kale, mesculin mix, salad onions, garlic and spinach. In the middle row I put in brussel sprouts and parsley, and in the last row went beets, carrots, and salad onions.
It doesn't look like much now...but it will soon!
I used some companion planting techniques that I learned about from a book I recently purchased, so I do hope it proves to be effective. If nothing else, I do think all the different varieties of things will look very nice together :)
As you can see, my husband finished the new chicken wire frame fence. This is very effective in keeping out the 3 dogs, the toddler and the various other wildlife in my neck of the woods. Once he gets the others made for the 2nd bed, I can get that all planted too!
I also had help from Liliana and Dora the Explorer :)
Once the little one goes down for her nap, I will do some various clean up tasks. My city issued a compete outdoor water ban (except for edibles) so, this is going to put a major cramp in my fall gardening style...but I will try my best to manage and not to cheat too much!
Here are a couple of shots of my backyard in the early fall (taken today)
I am getting a second flush of blooms on my trumpet vine...
Aug 30, 2007 | 6:44 PM PST
Tags: Onion , Garlic , Romain Lettuce , Fall Crop , Lily bulblets , Weeding , Raised Bed , Successive Planting , Flat Leaf Parsley , Fish Fertilizer
We had a nice cloud cover this morning, so I thought I would jump at the opportunity. Not literally jump, of course. I cleaned out one bed of weeds and debris. Used the pitch fork to loosen the soil, then the flat shovel to bring up the edges of the bed slightly. A slightly raised bed with a shallow 'ditch' around the edge makes for great drainage and also great water catching capabilities. I smoothed the top of the bed and broke up any large lumps. We sprinkled out some granular, fish based fertilizer and mixed that in. We then planted Onion sets, Garlic and Romain Lettuce. I didn't plant the entire bed, I left parts unplanted so I can make successive plantings in a couple of weeks. We gave the bed a decent watering and called it good.
We also did just a wee bit of weeding in another part of the garden and planted some Flat Leaf Parsley that my husband picked up. I know its late in the season for that but I think we will get enough from it to make it worth our while. As soon as the sun came out I had to come in though. It was just too hot with the sun out.
This evening I planted up the lily bulblets that had roots on them. I put them in a pot so they can be in a shadier spot until later in the fall. I will plant them in the bed with the larger bulbs when it isn't so hot out. It doesn't seem like these delicate looking bulblets need to be babied at all when it comes to getting started though. I guess looks can be deceiving.
Well, good progress for the day. I hope to pick up some starts of some of the fall crops that I should have started seeds of. I didn't get that done because at the time I wasn't feeling well. Oh well, at least I know I can get them here before too long.
Here is a shot of the bulblets that shows there roots.
Here they are in their new, temp. home, I covered them all with about 1 inch of soil after I nestled them in here.
Jul 26, 2007 | 3:37 PM PST
Tags: seeds , peas , garlic , compost
Soooooo many Peeeeeeeeeaas!
And some garlic. Yum!
Clearly the bed that has lots of compost in it grows everything and anything 10 times better than the bed with no compost. Except beans. My beans are sad all around this year.
anybody have any good ideas about how to dry/save seeds over winter for next year?
Jul 6, 2007 | 11:34 AM PST
Tags: compost , beans , tomatoes , garlic , peas
It's been a while, and everything's growing so well. I should have given the peas something higher to climb up because now they are climbing out. But they are delicious, and they seem happy enough.
The raspberries are getting close to their end, but they have been so delicious. Kudos to the previous tennents who planted them.
The parsley is looking happy inbetween the tomatoes, though I'm not sure the tomatoes in the terrace are going to bear fruit. I think the soil could use some compost in a bad way, but it's probably going to have to wait till fall. The beans are struggling on too, and so far one of them is trying for a bean. I must have kept them inside too long, because once I planted them outside, they all got eaten and sunburned (despite my shade cloth and soapy water spray), only to recover slowly with new, darker leaves that can handle the outside clime. Not sure if they'll get around to many beans, but I'm glad they struggled though.
And lastly, I pulled a garlic up yesterday. Not sure if it's too early, but next time I cook, we'll find out!
Jun 18, 2007 | 6:01 AM PST
Tags: garlic , pecans , farmer , creamed corn , watering
Over the week end even though I can't do much DH & DD has been great about keeping my plants an veggies watered. I did get all the garlic cleaned up that had been dug b4 Thursday, gottem separated into the drawers as to what needs to be used first an what will be used for seed come Oct/Nov. To my surprise they did very well this season an some fairly decent sizes grew. Most are hardnecks which isn't suppose to grow here this far south. So I'm very pleased.
Being how I am having to sit more than anything I decided to work on my cracked pecans that I couldn't seem to ever get around to. They are still good btw, just need picked out of the shells. I know if I could get out an do stuff this job wouldn't get done. I thought I'd be getting some sweet corn from my farmer BIL yesterday but he didn't have time to pull any, so he said I can get some next week end, he'd have them ready for me. Which will be better cuz I'll have DH here to help me. I'm wanting to put some creamed up this year, an seeing how I can't seem to grow corn to well in my little garden its good to have family thats farmers.
Previously someone wanted to see pics of my veggies, I just uploaded them so to view you'll need to go to my photos, Vegetable Album.
Jun 15, 2007 | 8:42 AM PST
Tags: tomatoes , garlic , Black Krim , cure , peppers
I'm a couple days late on this entry, had the surgery on Thursday, but on Wed. I bought 2/6pks of bell peppers to help fill in where the garlic was dug up an let the store owner talk me into Galieth (sp) tomatoe saying any plants I bought I'd get a 10% discount. I think he said that cause I was telling him he needed to start having some sales on the plants cuz its getting to hot to be trying to plant things here.
I had only planned on getting my chicks some more feed an the peppers, ok ok I'm easily persuaded when it comes to plants of any kind. His employee tried to get me to get the larger peppers that had blooms on them already, but I stood my ground on that one. I told him NO, that I already had plenty in the ground an by getting the ones smaller I wouldn't be overwhelmed all at once with peppers. Besides the bigger the plant in the pot may make it more difficult for them to get established. An knowing I wouldn't be able to be out there to tend to them I think I made the right choice. Dug a few more garlics an put them in the greenhouse shade area to cure. While there the ones I dug the other day were doing nicely, so I trimmed off some the roots on some of them an let them be a little longer.
Seeing how nothing got watered yesterday cuz we got home late from the hospital I turned on the sprinkler this morning an got DH to change out the stations after an hour per station. I knew not to try an pull on the hoses to change them out. But I did pick one of the Black Krim mators while out there. It was just calling my name, what can I say. Ok I can't sit here long so till next time. trudy
Jun 11, 2007 | 4:03 PM PST
Tags: feed , hogs , chickens , garlic , strawberries , weeding , trellis , butterbeans
It was 103 today, no idea of the heat index. Way to hot to be outside, but gotta do whatcha gotta do. Stopped by the feed store on the way home to get some corn for the hogs an scatch for the chickens an wound up buying a 6 pack of Jubilee Watermelon seedlings an 2 tomatoes, but 1 of them had 2 in the pot so I got 3 total. Like I need more, after 111 tomatoe plants you'd think it'd be enough. But I had some empty spots to fill in one of the mator beds so there ya go. Got them planted an repotted a Rabbiteye Blueberry bush I had bought back in the spring that I just can't seem to get in the ground, but this one was still in the plastic tubing thing, It really needs to develop a better root system b4 going in the ground in this heat. So its in the garden area right next to the faucet so I'll have to trip over it to water. That way I don't overlook it. I also potted up a lemon tree that I had rooted a piece of off a friends lemon tree, so I named it Howells Lemon. It to went into a garden path so it gets watered when I water the garden.
While weeding I noticed the garlic bed had bout finished up an needed dug up, so I took the time to get them dug an in the shade so they can dry. A few are left that aren't quiet ready yet. But most of them were. Now to figure out what to put in that kinda large area. I thought about putting up a cattle panel an arch it for a walk thru trellis, then plant some more pole butterbeans. Even then I'll still have some room left over. Decisions!
After reading the blog about the strawberries, can't remeber the username I got to noticing how the strawberry patch that I just this spring put some runners in now has runners everywhere. So I may need this fall to plant them somewhere or give them away. I may put at least some in with some of the flower beds. But I don't want no 300 of them, lol. Thats way to many for me. I'm trying to get things done/somewhat caught up b4 Wednesday, cause Thursday I'll be out of commission for awhile due to surgery an recovery. But the plus is I'll be home an in the cool a/c.
I can't seem to figure out how to post pics to a blog yet, wish there was a simple "attach photo" button to click on in here to simplify things. I'm not that computer smart to start with, lol. trudy
Jun 10, 2007 | 5:31 PM PST
Tags: watered , weeded , rain , Thai Green Eggplant , Pole Butterbeans , scallions , squash , EVOO , garlic , rosemary , venison , bell peppers , mystery , vine
Its been awhile since my last post according to my last log entry. Other than keeping things watered an weeded its been the same ole same ole. We've gotten 2 evenings of good rain, that has really done a lot of good. I have finally gotten around to planting the last 2 Thai Green Eggplant plants into their container. I almost let my comfrey die of drought, although its not a pretty green I think it will come back. I still have a couple blueberry bushes to plant but really don't know where to put them. So I'm keeping them in the water path of the garden so they get a good drink daily. I've had to replant my Sieva (sp) Pole Butterbeans 3 times, but they have finally broke ground. My last years Everbunching Onions gave up and after clearing that spot I put up my bambo pole I had dried out early an put up a trellis then planted the Willowleaf Pole Butterbeans to climb on, some have already broke ground.
Tonight for supper I was finally able to use up 3 of the patty pan squash I had picked an added them to the yellow crookneck squash added some scallions an the 1 brocolli head I had picked a couple days ago with some olive oil, salt an pepper, sauted just enough to leave a little crunch along with some of the multi colored potatoes (that didn't get big at all) with some fresh from the garden diced garlic with diced rosemary sprinkled with some EVOO, fried green tomatoes, an cucumber with vinegar, salt & pepper. All this with some venison cube steak. Man ole man was it good. Nothing like picking your supper fresh from the garden.
I have already put up 2 trays of bell peppers in the freezer. Hopefully by the end of the season I'll have plenty of that to do awhile. I've got a mystery vine that I trellis up on an old baby bed spring that I have no idea what its gonna be, but it came up in the strawberry patch. I'm thinking it may be lemon cukes, thats the same spot they were last year an with adding compost to the strawberries its very possible thats what it is. I have ID'd on the the volunteer squash an I am pretty possitive its the banana squash. Undecided whether to leave it or rip it out. My strawberry plants all have runners on them now, just need to find the time to get some small pots done up and place the babies in them so they can take root in them instead of where ever they choose.
I've only picked a couple of those black with yellow striped worms off the tomatoes so far, but yet to find any of the horned worms yet. It may still be a little early not sure, but am curious to see if my experiment is working. More later on that! I have added a scoop or two around all the veggie plants of the wonderful manure an could see a difference within a few days.
Jun 7, 2007 | 2:31 PM PST
Tags: Sugar Snap Peas , Radish , Garlic , Sweet Onion , trellis , Epsom Salts
My baby Radishes...they are an early variety, harvest in 22 DAYS! So I will plant a second round when it is time for these...my Honey and I both love snacking radishes :D
Then there is the garlic, I went to get some free pots (I love free pots, I use SO many) and she gave me some garlic...and some of what she thought might be volunteer garlic but when I dumped them out of the pot I very carefully separated them and planted them...sweet white onions :D
So there were a few days here that SERIOUSLY baked and I got worried about the sugar snap peas I had sowed so I few them epsom salts and watered it in really good and KABAM! Let there be sugar snap peas! I have the material I need and a helping hand (my Honey) so I will be building a nice platform/Japanese style trellis for them this weekend. I was working on the fishtank cover but HAVE to get the trellis done...will try to get them both done as I really want to get that tank going, it is 55 gallon.
May 22, 2007 | 9:19 AM PST
Tags: succession planting , garlic , edamame , beans , soil fertility , intensive gardening
I’ve read books and information on intensive gardening techniques. Many talk about succession planting, in which you grow one thing after another as a way to increase the productivity of your garden through utilizing that space more efficiently over a season by not letting the space stand idle.
Succession planting is a great idea and something I sometimes do, though personally I try to follow something a little more intensive, which I believe further increases my yield. I try to overlap my plantings. So, while some of my garden finishes their season I have other garden plants sprouting and getting ready to fill in to take their place.
You can see an example of this in this picture I took this weekend.
In the picture you can see garlic plants that I overwintered, which will be ready to harvest near the start of June. A couple of weeks ago I planted edamame beans interlaced in-between the garlic. The edamame beans are still small sprouts. By the time I harvest the garlic, the beans will be medium sized plants.
By overlapping my plantings I don’t feel like I impair my plants growth since the initial stages of growth of the new plants have very little impact on the previous plants.
The challenge with using overlapping succession planting as part of intensive gardening is the strain it puts on the garden fertility and difficulty in amending the soil. In true sequential succession planting it is easy to amend the soil in-between plantings with compost or some sort of fertilizer, however if there are always plants present in that location, you don’t want to be dumping compost on top of them. I assure you that lettuce and compost don’t make for good salads.
I’ve come up with a couple of solutions to the challenge of maintaining or restoring soil fertility. The first one being that I tend to use some sort of beans as one of my overlapping plantings, since they are nitrogen fixing and increase the fertility of the garden soil for the next plants. In the picture and example above, the edamame beans are a kind of sweet soybean, which have the nitrogen fixing quality to them. I also tend to stop overlapping my plantings for at least one harvest of the year, so I can top dress with compost before continuing. Due to plants being harvested at different times, I have to do this in a patchwork way in my garden. Winter tends to be the best time for me to do this.
From an aesthetics perspective, I think something growing in my garden is a much more pleasing sight than empty areas of dirt, so if I can keep things visibly present in my garden I feel my garden is more beautiful and more of a personal delight.
I have probably more than 1000 square feet of vegetable and herb garden space, so it is a real challenge for me to maintain truly intensive and overlapping planting regimes throughout my garden, but it is something I continue to work on and keep in mind.
May 21, 2007 | 9:01 AM PST
Tags: Elephant Garlic , Allium Ampeloprasum , garlic , winter garden
As part of my attempts of doing year round gardening, I over-winter garlic and elephant garlic. Personally, I prefer elephant garlic (Allium Ampeloprasum) more than normal garlic. My reasons being that I find the elephant garlic’s milder and slightly sweeter taste and larger size of cloves to be better for roasting. Don’t get me wrong, I like garlic and use it all the time in my cooking, but when it comes to roasting garlic with some pot roast or a tinfoil dinner, a clove of elephant garlic is best. One of my single cloves of elephant garlic is often as big as or even bigger than a complete bulb of normal garlic.
Here is a picture from a couple of weeks ago of some I have growing in my garden.
This picture is a southern facing hill that I terraced into rows of garden beds. I use boards as movable walkways that I can change to different levels from year to year as part of my plant rotation.
Elephant garlic is actually not real garlic, but more closely related to leaks. I believe it gets its name from the size of the bulbs, which I would say are between a baseball and a softball in size in my garden, which look a lot like giant garlic bulbs and have a somewhat similar taste.
Three years ago I purchased elephant garlic from a seed catalog and for the first time planted it in my garden in the fall. Since then I have saved the best cloves and replanted in the fall from that summer’s cloves. Each year I have planted a little more. This year I think I might have more than I can use in a year.
I’ve read that some people use the young unopened flowering heads as a vegetable. I am considering trying this in a stir-fry and seeing how my kids react.
The plant, if left alone, will spread into a clump with many flowering heads. These can be left in flower gardens to discourage pests, though the plants have always looked kind of like corn stalks to me, which I’ve never thought very ornamental.
In this picture you can get a sense of the difference of size of normal garlic plants to elephant garlic plants.
The sad looking plants in the foreground are an early variant of garlic called Chinese pink garlic, which are full size and will be ready to harvest soon. My dog has been laying among them, which resulted in the sad condition you see them in.
The next row up is my elephant garlic. They are starting to form flower heads and put on the last of their height. I’ve seen these plants get as much as 4 feet in height.
Behind my elephant garlic is asparagus, which is beginning to show its natural fern form.
