Rain-soaked Garlic

As anyone who lives here is well aware, we have had a LOT of rain in 2009. Our unscientific rain count is up to almost 31 inches here at our office. We are ahead of the airport, who is officially about 7 inches above normal. WOW.

Every book/article/publication I read about garlic says 'Don't water up to 2 weeks before harvesting garlic'. Well, try doing that this year! Some of the garlic is 50-75% dead, so to me, it's harvesting time, regardless of whether or not we've had 2 weeks of dry. Here's what I pulled up today.

I took a picture of them uncleaned to show just how gobby and wet it was. This bed is still mostly clay, even though we add organic matter every year. The variety pictured is 'Belarus' I think. We had a lot of plant death due to onion maggots and bacterial soft rot which made my rows out of whack.


They've been hung up with the other 8 bulbs I harvested 3 days ago. Here's a weird thing, I planted some garlic at home about 2-3 weeks BEFORE this garlic and none of it is ready to harvest yet. Not sure what that tells me except different sites, same varieties, different harvest time -- it's all about your site, I reckon.

Carrots in Containers

Yep, I'm a weirdo. When it comes to plants, I try things that sometimes aren't normal. Most of the time I fail , but every once in a while, well, I hit the jackpot.


Look at these carrots I grew in a half-gallon milk jug. I can't remember when I sowed the seeds exactly but it was in the late winter. I thought 'What the heck', see if I can get a few fresh carrots from a windowsill. Truthfully, they've been sitting outside for about a month, but the germination and early growth was on a south-facing windowsill.

You'll notice some black holes in the container where there's still one carrot left -- that's where I pulled them from. My 2 kids were amazed, but we ate them last night along with new potatoes harvested from our compost pile! ha

Square foot gardening

I'm doing a couple of 4 x 4 foot square foot gardens at home. It's been interesting, to say the least. I've planted carrots, spinach (which has already been eaten/yanked), and fingerling potatoes.

The potatoes have been interesting to watch -- the Square Foot Gardening book (by Mel Bartholomew) says to plant 4 potatoes per square (12" x 12"). I barely covered them at first, then as they grew, I piled more and more soil mix/compost around them.There are 3 different varieties of fingerlings in this 4 x 4. It's weird how different potato plants can look.

Cover Crops -- Built-in Nitrogen

Just today, Greg B came by and helped me take down the crimson clover and the kale which had both overwintered in my small raised bed gardens by the Extension office. We took a weedeater and cut them down, then took a little tiller and whisked them into the soil.

Here are before and after photos:

First is the kale
Second is the crimson clover

Spring

Here's a few shots of the gardens at the Extension office.

Weeping redbud to the left.
Next is our less than one-year old European larch (Larix decidua 'Pendula')
Next is our Redtwig dogwood just breaking bud.
Last is our 'Carol Mackie' Daphne which is almost unpleasingly sweetly scented.

A Mushroom Foray!

After several good soaking rains and coolish (but not cold) weather, mushrooms are coming out to greet spring. As I was passing by several logs inoculated with shiitake spawn that we have here at the office, it was easy to notice the large mushrooms protruding from the logs. I was excited! You'd be too, if you found these, take a look. One of 'em is a monster!









We've already found a recipe to make with these things, it's a shiitake and wild rice pilaf. And it is gooooood.....

UK has several Extension publications on growing shiitakes. They are toward the bottom of the page. Check them out.

After Some Brutal Weather

I snapped a few pictures today of my raised beds that have some crops planted in them. The crimson clover cover crop (top picture) is about half dead, but the dead half will certainly make a nice mat of material to plant into this spring (plus provide lots of nitrogen!)

The kale (picture 2) got nipped pretty hard by the brutal cold temperatures, so it's usefulness as an edible is shot. But it will hold the soil and provide organic matter to the bed. Not is all lost.

The third picture down in just a shot of both beds. Clover on the left, kale on the right.

The last picture is of some garlic. It has toughed it out without any mulch or straw or row cover. We'll be thankful for fresh garlic in July!! I've got several varieties planted so we'll make some comparisons later.