These should be ready to pull around the end of June
Garlic and Onions
Good looking bed of garlic. How do you preserve them once harvested?
Mary, after I gently pull them from the ground I lay them in a single layer on an old towel on a table in my porch out of the sun and let them dry thoroughly.
Do not bang them together as this will bruise them and they will not store as well. Just let the soil stay on them until they're cured, then it will fall off.
I actually leave mine outside until the end of September because the table is just outside my kitchen door, so I can walk outside and grab what I want. My neighbor also comes in and helps herself to what she wants, and can get them even if I'm not home.
I save the largest cloves and plant them in late October each year.
In the above photo, the garlic is on the right, "Candy" onions are on the left.
Honeybee, how deep is that bed? Is it directly on soil or cardboard or ...? Would like to do something similar.
Okay, stupid question
you all know that i'm in south florida, 10b zone, and I planted everything too late (mid march).
but can I plant garlic in my garden now, or do i have to wait until fall?
oh, I wish i knew about this forum before I started anything!
thanks.
Too late to plant garlic now, it's a cool weather crop. Patience grasshopper!
Honeybee, How long ago did you plant your onions? I'm just a few miles north of you. Do you think it's too late for me? I've had my Texas Sweets for 2 weeks now and can't seem to find the time to get them in the ground. Matter of fact, I'm going to do it TODAY! enough said.
MaryMP - okay, i'll practice patience, and will even spend summer planning out the fall crop, but what do i do now?
i have a u-shaped garden, and after thinning some things out, I had to put some stuff in pots.
i have zucchini, head lettuce, onions, carrots, beans, and more lettuce on the 'left' (goes east-west, but on north end) leg, 4 buttercup squash in corner and peas on a trellis next to them in the corner, a row of cucumbers and summer squash each, three strawberry plants and a watermelon on the 'back' leg, four bell pepper plants in the corner of the "right" (east-west, but on south end), then a row each of bush beans, more onions, and four beet plants (the beets ironically are actually growing, which I didn't think they would), some romaine lettuce, and then four tomato plants (all same type) on a trellised tomato cage. I have some bush beans in a pot on the side. I also have four cantaloupe along a fence on the side as well.
about twenty feet away, i built another raised bed and put in some watermelon which i'm hoping will trellis itself along my fence for privacy. If i get any fruit off the plants, it's just a bonus.
So, what do I cover with shade cloth, and what can i expect to fruit and what will not fruit?
I wish i found this site before I started planting.....darnit!
This is a picture I took on Monday of my garden. Any advice is welcome....
TX_gardener - the bed is six inches deep set directly on undisturbed Carolina clay.
melsalz - the onions were set out on March 6th. They are an intermediate day type called "Candy". I think as long as you already have your onion sets, you might as well go ahead and plant them.
SoFlaCommercial When I lived in Zone 10b I started vegetables in September and set them out in October.
A good number of my onions survived the multi-day deep freeze we had earlier this spring. You can see a few holes in the rows in the picture below. I think they are a bit behind where they should be, but I should still get some decent onions. The onions in the front are Texas 1015 (4 rows), then I have two half rows of white garlic and elephant garlic (grocery store) and in the back, barely visible are 4 rows of Southern Belle red. The onions plants were all from Dixondale.
David
dreaves - it's amazing how hardy onions and garlic can be. My garlic survived several bouts of very cold weather this past winter. As far as I can tell, only one didn't make it. I filled that one space with a "Candy" onion!
My onion sets were from Dixondale, too. I had them delivered later this year because I lost several to the cold last year. I'd rather risk smaller onions because I planted them later than have them die of the cold.