Encouraging Sprouts

I lost track of remaining garlic bulbs last year. No worries - look what I found popping up through the "composting in place" layers!

I don't remember any blooms in the garden so I didn't even try to make the Bloom Day post, but it's nice to see something showing signs of spring. And are you noticing the additional daylight each day?

I thinned out the compost over the garlic and will let it grow. 'Course, that close together, I don't know if it will mature. Maybe I should try to thin each bunch?

Garlic Galore

Apparently, I missed harvesting some of the garlic bulbs last year. Now, I have several clusters like this one sprouting up. Just what I needed, too, because I didn't get any planted in the fall.

When do you plant and harvest garlic? What variety do you like to grow?

Mid-Summer Notes

Yesterday & today...
Planted seeds in pots for Brussels sprouts, lettuce and broccoli today. Started to do peas for the fall, but planting guide suggests later in August.

Harvested garlic and onions (can hardly wait to roast the elephant garlic). Harvested more beets, broccoli, peas, chard and the last of the lettuce. Also a few more sungold tomatoes, and the 3rd yellow tomato from the heirloom assortment.

Cooked (in oven) the first & largest fennel bulb, harvested a week ago. See his baby picture here. Tasty, but still need to find a recipe/method I like the best. Any ideas? Another is ready to harvest soon. The stalks also made a nice crunchy addition to salad (like celery, but better flavor).

First harvest of French filet beans should be this week (the few snacks in the garden already don't count).

Trimmed up some of the lamb's ear and catmint in the herb row. Pulled up the oldest of the broccoli to get this bed ready for other things. Don't worry, the bees have other broccoli plants to visit now. The pea plants may be removed later this week as the blooms have really slowed down.

I found a left over white & orange small pumpkin (see this post) some time ago and cut it open for the seeds. Last weekend, I planted them and they have now sprouted. Bet the harvest will be closer to Oct than Aug (like last year)!

Will post pumpkin patch photos soon. They are growing quickly now. Delicata squash is growing and the cucumbers are climbing their fence.

Job's Tears seeds from Hanna & her Illegal Garden are growing. I do hope to harvest seeds this year, at least enough for a bracelet!

March 15th Garden, Parsnips & Garlic

Doesn't look much different than February 15th (see last summer links in that post too). It does look different than January 15th! I've turned over the 2 furthest beds, but we've not yet 'tilled the new beds to be or widened the herb bed yet. The mole has done a little turning in the herb bed, I see. The perennials tucked in the vegetable rows are sprouting and will need to find new homes around the yard this year. I set the bean climber up so I could see how it creates shadows at different times. It is sitting where the 2 new beds will be and where I'll probably plant the beans too.
What hardy and pretty plants these parsnips are (above)! I need advice from the parsnip masters, however. According to your growing advice, Mr. Clodhopper (see link here), I think mine have taken on a schedule of their own.

Planted in April 2006, they were slow to sprout (as warned) and, by summer, the zucchini and bush beans took off and the parsnips were left in their shadows. Winter came and the weather wimpy zucs & beans left for a Mexican vacation. Parsnips saw their chance and they are happily growing more every day now. Don't think the roots are of any size yet, as I pulled one crowding his neighbor. From this point, when do you think they'll reach harvest size? Fall 2007 or some time this summer? And the garlic starts, planted February 10, have mostly sprouted. Finally, this weekend, I can see 2 of the 3 elephant garlic cloves sprouting in a row by the board at the top of the photo. I think I've given the garlic too much of the row space and I do have other things I want to grow. Hopefully, though, the harvest will last for a while in storage.

Last Oct., I decided to plant a few garlic and onion starts. But, then the rains and frost and snow and rains kept me out of the garden. Finally, in February, feeling sorry for the sprouting garlic in the little bag, I planted every one of them that seemed alive. The six roughed up places in the photo above? Yes, the onions are now sprouting in their little bag! So, right time or not, out they went last weekend to some wider areas among the garlic plantings.

This is not unlike how I also ended up with a number of perennials stuck in the vegetable beds: (1) Have sweet little starts from someone/somewhere desperately needing contact with soil, (2) have nicely dug up vegetable beds just waiting for their spring plantings, (3) oh, let's just let the sweet little perennials hang out in the veg. beds and we'll move them "later," (4) enjoy the flowers in with the vegetables and call it all "planning" as they bring in the good bugs and confuse the bad bugs!

Planting Garlic

Finally, the garlic is in the ground. I admit that I bought the starts (bulbs) in late October. Oh, but it has been so wet/cold since then! Surely, I was smart to wait (right?). Today the soil was very nice for digging.

In case you are wondering, the burlap green coffee bags you can see on the left side of the picture have been working hard all winter to smother/shade out the grass. This is where two new beds will go this spring. Here is the post about the new beds last year.

I also have to admit that I don't know exactly what variety of small garlic I planted. It's just called California Garlic. I know I should have researched, but it was one of those moments of weakness when I didn't want to spend more time hunting. Not that I would have known what to choose if I did have more choices. It was elephant garlic I knew I wanted and the local store did have it, so I got them both. How long until I can have roasted elephant garlic on the menu?

Please let me know your garlic tips and your favorite varieties so I can plan better next time.