Planting the Garlic

I'm still looking for the best way to invest my time and energy in the garden. Everything we grow is yummy, but not everything gets eaten. So I'm looking to find things that are a) yummy and b)  going to get eaten and c) relatively productive without too much work.

Measured by these standards, garlic is a real winner. It's easy to grow. It's easy to harvest and store. And it's going to get eaten!

In years past, I have grown garlic just from the generic garlic that can be found in the grocery store. Growing it at home makes it quite a lot better, and larger heads, but I wanted to step it up a notch.

This year, I am not growing any grocery store garlic. I am growing three kinds of special garlic, and elephant garlic. In the first bed is Spanish Roja with Sicilian garlic. The back bed has inchilian on the South side comma and elephant garlic on the north side.

Garlic vs Pumpkins

You know it's being an interesting summer when the garlic grows as big as the pumpkins. This is the largest pumpkin (and the largest garlic).

Other interesting obstacles: 

• The cherry tomatoes (Chocolate Cherry) have done wonderfully well. The other tomatoes have not. The slicers, in particular (Brandywine), have done poorly: only a few flowers fruit, despite a bees nest and  hand pollination.
• The first lettuce bolted quickly (<2 weeks) and later plantings refused to germinate. 
• The broccoli bolted quickly as well, but the chickens enjoyed it. 
• Watermelon kept dying. It would be just growing fine, small melons growing on it, then bang, it died (both in greenhouse and in a hanging pot outdoors).

On the other hand:

• Peas and beans did wonderfully. 
• Kale grew more than I planted (some re-seeding from last year's plants)! All of it thrived. 
• Peppers grown in the greenhouse thrived (though those in the garden languished). 
• The rest of the herbs grew pretty well, particularly spearmint & lemon balm.
• Nasturtium grew wonderfully wherever they were!

The Pond, Mid July

Garden Update, Early July

This year's garden is doing pretty well. The nasturtiums are taking over both the compost pile and the beehive next door.

 

I've harvested the regular size garlic already. 80 heads or so. I'll harvest the elephant garlic in a week or two. It's not ready yet.

 

Im drying the garlic on the back porch: garlic hanging everywhere. My bride thinks I'm warding off a legion of vampires. I now have the best smelling back porch on the planet.

 

 

Beets desperately need thinning, which is fine since beet greens are wonderful.

 

I'm wondering if it's normal for a pomegranite tree to have red and yellow leaves so early in the season. It seems healthy otherwise.

I have a sunflower in the middle of each bed. A few are beginning to flower.

 

I can't get enough of sunflowers.

In the greenhouse, I have some interesting things growing. This is a watermelon the size of a golf ball.

Hand pollenated, of course.

 

 

A friend gave me pepper starts. These are called Felicity.


















These are my own bell pepper starts. I've gotta start the peppers earlier next year.

 I'm air-drying herbs now. This is pineapple sage.

And these are bay leaves.

 

 

 

 

Back outside, I'm letting the chickens help with the beans this year. I do like the look of them growing here. And they seem to grow well.

Peas are almost done. I'll pull them out shortly, and make more room for the squashes at their feet.

 

June First Update

The Garden has been thriving this year. Warm days help that process.

 

We've been eating lettuce and Kale from this year's plantings for several weeks. I've already re-planted lettuce for a second crop.

 

Looks like broccoli and other brassicas (in the foreground) are doing real well too. All of this garden was started in the greenhouse and transplanted outside.

 

Big sunflower in the middle looks like it's strong, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course, the peas. Been eating them for a week. We put them on the front of the garden this year, to make grazing easier for guests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picked the first burpless cucumber today. Seems early, but I'm ok with that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First lemon cucumber. These are the very definition of summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year, we're growing three kind of tomatoes.

• Chocolate cherry for the cherry tomatoes.
• Brandywine for slicing tomatoes.
• San Marzano for cooking.

The Chocolate cherries are the first to get ready. These will be ready to eat in a week, and I'm just now getting flowers on the others.

 

The Chocolate cherries are all in hanging pots. The others are all in the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First zucchini. It's too small to pick today, but it'll be huge in a week. Hoping to pick it before that. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And I'm growing watermelons again. They're earlier this year than the cantaloupes. We'll see how they turn out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mid May Garden Status

 

The garden seems to be doing pretty well now. We're eating the lettuce and kale, and the leeks from last fall. Peas are flowering.

 

It's pretty well "in" now. Tomatoes are looking so much better than before.

 

I've decided that even when it's a warm spring and it's possible to put in the tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers early, it's probably not a good idea to. They benefit from the additional time in the greenhouse, and prefer to go into the bed mid May.

 

Mixing things up more than usual. Planting cucumbers and tomatoes and the occasional pepper in among the garlic (and to a lesser extent, among the leeks and onions). Looking to see how that goes.

 

Planted the second crop of carrots and lettuce today. Don't want to run out.

 

Set out a watermelon this week. That ought to be fun. Have another in a hanging pot. Will be fun to compare.

 

Also put out what I believe is a cantaloupe, but may be an Armenian cucumber. Fairly optimistic on these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Flower

 

The first flower of the vegetable garden this year is on a cucumber still in the greenhouse! (The ones outside aren't doing this well!)

 

Note that the apple trees blossomed a couple of weeks ago, but they're not in the veggie garden.