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.

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

       The Music and Red Russian garlic planted last November were cloves planted from single bulbs obtained from prior neighbor and gardener Jan Watson.

please see:  http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2012/11/planting-more-garlic.html

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

      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.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

      Most often our "15 Minutes of Fame" opportunities are most unexpected.  I was about to leave the park three days ago with an armload of overgrown Pak Choi that was to be lunch for the chicken flock of a new gardening friend Laura.  At that moment, a stranger pulled up alongside the gardens and asked me to hold on a moment.  The guy got out of his car, and I saw that he had both an ID and a camera hanging from around his neck.  I recognized him as Fred Comegys, the very well known and respected photographer from the Wilmington News Journal.  We had a lengthy conversation, and I learned that he was retiring from the paper in two weeks, after a very full 53 year career!  He asked me if he could take some shots, to see if something would turn out for the daily special 360 Degree shot headlining the local section.  Who was I to refuse.  So on this third morning of anxiously checking the paper, voila, there it was.  Here is the link to DelawareOnline.  You need to scroll down over half the page to find the shot labeled Bellevue 360:

http://www.delawareonline.com/

      After a very nice conversation with Fred, I took the clump of greens home to await a visit from my two youngest grand daughters.  We took the greens over to Laura's garden, and visited with her flock of thirty chickens, her huge but very friendly Great Dane, and her millions of toad tadpoles in the goldfish pond.

A treat for the chickens

      This is one of the pak choi plants that have gone to seed.  The whole thing goes into the chicken coup, where it disappears in a short time of appreciative cluck clucks by the chickens.  And yes, they love chick weed, and even have added their name to that plant.  So rather than throwing away weeds and overgrown veggies, feed them to the birds.

Laura's happy flock

Colder is Coming

      This season has spoiled gardeners in Delaware, where we are still able to harvest copious amounts of kale, collards, cabbage and even some of the less cold hardy salad greens.  But a look at the 15 day forecast by Accuweather suggests that we will have a turn to the colder weather in two weeks.  Nights as low as 20 or 23 degrees will spell doom for unprotected lettuce.  While a lot can change in a 15 day forecast, I still find it helpful to look at the overall trend.  Here is a great website, just put in your location or zip code:

http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/wilmington-de/19803/month/8100_pc?view=table

The site also keeps historical data, so you can go back and see just how miserable the summer heat was, or brag about how little rain you had in the drought in so many areas.
      So I have been duly warned by the weather gurus.  Any new cold frame activity must be done in a little over ten days.  Ditto any plants to be moved.  Winter will soon settle in.
      The next three pictures are of plants that are not protected currently, and would not like 20 degrees.  So some are looking for new homes for the winter.  And I am getting kind of tired of making cold frames, so feel free to put in a request.

Mizuna, arugula, mustard, and tatsoi - 11/28/11

Various lettuces and mustards, 11/28/11

Various lettuces and chickweed, 11/28/11

      I had not thought about using the chickweed as a living mulch in the cold frames, till now.  Hmm, might work.  The bees would love it on days the frames are open, as the chickweed is just now starting its fall bloom cycle.  This next picture is of plots maintained by Bob King.  Lots of fall veggies.

Collards, turnips, onions, mustard and lettuce

      I will be interested to see what survives in Bob's unprotected plots.  Kale and collards should, turnips maybe, lettuce will be mush.  So be prepared soon to button up your overcoat, at least if you live in this area.