 | |
| Wood Hyacinth, March 30th, 2013 |
 |
| Mixed Spring Bulbs, March 30th, 2013 |
 |
| Dwarf Daffodils, March 30th, 2013 |
 |
| Crocus, March 30th, 2013 |
 |
| Crocus in anticipation, March 30th, 2013 |
 |
| Snowdrops on their way out, March 30th, 2013 |
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Sneaking into Spring
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Kale Recycle
Not one to leave something go to waste, I rescued some kale plants at the park that had been put aside for a trip to the compost pile. Having survived the winter cold, it would be a shame to discard adult plants that should have some life left in them.
It would have been better had I replanted these rescues a week ago when I picked them up and threw them into the bed of the pick up. At least we have had some rains and flurries in the mean time. I trimmed off dead leaves and long roots.
Here are the plants newly tucked into a bed in the back garden. I hope and expect that they will be recovered and putting out new leaves within two weeks time. Yes, they will shortly want to bolt and go to seed. In the meantime, I hope to get two to three pickings basically for just the time of the transplant. I will still start new kale from seed, but why waste perfectly great early greens?
 |
| Bucket of Kale Plants, March 27th, 2013 |
 |
| Ready for transplanting |
Here are the plants newly tucked into a bed in the back garden. I hope and expect that they will be recovered and putting out new leaves within two weeks time. Yes, they will shortly want to bolt and go to seed. In the meantime, I hope to get two to three pickings basically for just the time of the transplant. I will still start new kale from seed, but why waste perfectly great early greens?
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Garlic, March Update
It has been a disappointing winter. Generally cold, damp and gray. And
hardly a single snow flake. But very few days when it is enjoyable to
be outside puttering in the garden. So it is a welcome sight that the
garlic seems not to care about the gloomy weather, and is making nice
progress for a harvest in three to four months time.
The Music and Red Russian garlic planted last November were cloves planted from single bulbs obtained from prior neighbor and gardener Jan Watson.
Each of the plants coming up now should make bulbs of six or more cloves, which will be separated and replanted in the fall of this year, 2013. So by harvest time of early summer 2014, I should have good crops of both strains.
The garlic shown above was from small heads of garlic found in the spring of 2012, and planted in this little area to see what would happen. The plants look good, but small. They will need to be dug soon, teased apart to separate to individual plants, then replanted on four inch centers. These may serve as part of my green garlic supply, where you eat the whole young plant instead of waiting for bulb production.
Two years ago, my garlic supply stored very well for months and months. I was still eating nice full garlic cloves into May. The crop for 2012 has been very tasty, but the storage quality has been iffy. At this point, many of the cloves in bulbs are dry and shriveled. The rocambole variety however stored very well, but alas, it has been eaten as they were the best bulbs. The papers of the garlic bulbs of this past harvest were very thin and fragile even when the bulbs were fresh. I have read that that is an indication that the bulbs will not store well. And they didn't.
So luckily, I have tons and tons of young garlic shoots coming up that were started from bulbils. Some will be used for green garlic, and some will be used for cloves to start next year's crop.
please see: http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2012/12/umbils-of-garlic.html
The low growing plant in this picture is chickweed, a wild plant that is quite welcome in a spring salad. So it won't bee in this garlic bed for very much longer.
 | |
| Garlic on 3/18/2013, planted 12/14/2012 |
 | ||
| Music Garlic 3/19/2013, cloves planted 11/16/2012 |
 |
| Red Russian Garlic 3/19/2013, cloves planted 11/16/2012 |
Each of the plants coming up now should make bulbs of six or more cloves, which will be separated and replanted in the fall of this year, 2013. So by harvest time of early summer 2014, I should have good crops of both strains.
The garlic shown above was from small heads of garlic found in the spring of 2012, and planted in this little area to see what would happen. The plants look good, but small. They will need to be dug soon, teased apart to separate to individual plants, then replanted on four inch centers. These may serve as part of my green garlic supply, where you eat the whole young plant instead of waiting for bulb production.
Two years ago, my garlic supply stored very well for months and months. I was still eating nice full garlic cloves into May. The crop for 2012 has been very tasty, but the storage quality has been iffy. At this point, many of the cloves in bulbs are dry and shriveled. The rocambole variety however stored very well, but alas, it has been eaten as they were the best bulbs. The papers of the garlic bulbs of this past harvest were very thin and fragile even when the bulbs were fresh. I have read that that is an indication that the bulbs will not store well. And they didn't.
So luckily, I have tons and tons of young garlic shoots coming up that were started from bulbils. Some will be used for green garlic, and some will be used for cloves to start next year's crop.
please see: http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2012/12/umbils-of-garlic.html
 |
| Started from garlic umbils 12/14/2012 |
 |
| Closer shot as of March 18th, 2013 |
Sunday, March 10, 2013
First Crocus
It may still feel cold and windy to us, but luckily the bulbs still push up. Here are the first of the crocus to bloom.
 |
| Yellow Crocus, March 9th, 2013 |
Monday, March 4, 2013
Snow Drops now, Snow Flakes soon
The weathermen are hyping the possibility of snow on Wednesday, so for now, I will just enjoy the Snow Drops. Hope the the Snow Drops win.
 |
| Snow Drops, March 4th, 2013 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)