I started about 4 years ago and am very glad I did. I like raising my own.
I like lots of aspects of the SFGing. My 2 beds are right outside the door and it's easy to stop a few minutes and pull a few weeds. They are raised beds planted on top of weed barrier so the weeding is pretty easy to stay on top of. I do have to water more often.
Never checked into it. Maybe I will next. Now I am strawbale gardening. Your garden is beautiful.
I did strawbales for 2 years and really enjoyed it. Had some killer tomatoes. But bales are way to expensive here so i went with the raised beds. I found a pile of nearly completely composted wood chips for free. I mixed it with the soil I brought from my garden when I moved here nearly 2 years ago. I need to get some more composted manure into it.
I have 2 3 x 5 beds and a good number of containers.
Have you seen the ebuckets the people are making in the container forum? Those are so neat and cost next to nothing. I think the biggest issue with them is the amount of soil they would take. That much for a tomato wouldn't be bad, and I suppose you could use smaller buckets. They use 5 gallon buckets.
I get 3 gallon buckets at the bakery that they get cake icing in so that would be better for plants with shallower roots. But they are self watering. Pretty cool. You might check into them.
Also, the new spray paint they have out now to paint plastic with works really good if you don't want white buckets.
Jnette......Frostweed gives the suggestion that when the garlic sends up the flower stems, (your first pic) to cut it off to develop a larger bulb. Then you don't harvest the garlic until the leaves are brown.
Here is her blog. http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/frostweed/4151/
What does "SFGing" mean?
TIA
LAS
SFGing = Square Foot Gardening
You can study this method here:
http://www.squarefootgardening.org/whatissfg#!__whatissfg
Is the Ebucket where you put a bucket inside another bucket? I saw a video on that.
No, the ebuckets are an inverted colander (to make it self watering) and then a tube in it for overflow, and a pvc pipe down in the colander for a fill tube.
Go look at it.
I have seen those. Been wanting to try one. Have you tried it?
No, Probably not until next year. Too much to do now. Our season is just too short. If it isn't planted by the end of May, you might as well forget it.
As it is, This year and last June has been so wet and cold that nothing grows. That is why my tomatoes are having such a hard time.
This is the first year I cut and used the garlic scapes and they were delicious.
I noticed them for sale at the specialty market for a few dollars a pound, not quite the $10 a lb.
that ramps were selling for but still a hefty price.
In the past I was always reluctant to cut the scapes since I found them beautiful and entertaining to watch as they curled and uncurled. I have them planted through the old herb/vegetable garden that is more of a flower garden now do to lack of time.
One of the advantages of leaving them is letting the little bubils fall to earth and seed. I didn't plant any last fall and I still have quite a bit of garlic to harvest this year.
I'm not sure how large the bulbs will be since they aren't from cloves. Anyone know?
I'm not even sure the garlic is from the seeds that fell last year or from previous years since the garlic is tucked in among perennials and they could have been there, overlooked.
There is also a bunch of self seeded kale sprinkled here and there it could easily hide under.
I did leave quite a few scapes to seed in case I missed the fall planting again this year.
Someone mentioned in this thread they used regular store bought garlic when planting cloves.
As I understand it you should only use them if they are organic otherwise the chemicals used in their production will inhibit proper growth. I only tried that once when I planted them near roses to deter insects and I didn't have good growth on the garlic.
I always buy my garlic from SAM's CLUB ...
I took a class about garlic and the lady told me her secret.
The garlic bag maybe contains 20 bulbs for less than $4
I have planted them every year and I have no problem at all.
This was one of my harvest this year.
This is my garlic harvest this year. Not much but I didn't expect it to be as it was planted in Spring rather than last fall. I will plant again this fall for next year.
I ordered late last fall from Gourmet Garlic Gardens and all I could get was a sampler pack. Here's the harvest, I'm been using some already.
drthor, what was the secret you learned in that class? Looks like you got a great harvest from the Sam's Club bargain.
This message was edited Jul 8, 2011 5:22 AM
drthor, in looking at your harvest, I see they don't have the individual cloves like the stuff you buy in the stores. How do you get those? Did you learn that in your class?
Jnette, I don't understand your question.
My garlic has the like cloves. look close at this picture.
I removed each cloves and I planted the largest ones.
I think it is a soft neck variety.
I like this variety because I can braid it.
Ok, now I see them. How long did you have them in the ground? Mine were in 9 months and I just have bulbs. Now, that is the hardneck. I have not tried to dig my softneck ones yet. I sure can see why you can't braid the hardneck.
I have only dug one of them tho. Should I fertilize, cut the scapes and leave them until say October? And then plant some new ones?
You should ALWAYS replant garlic from your previous years crop!
The longer garlic grows in a particular soil the stronger and fuller the flavor gets! (Who knew garlic had terroir?)
This is according to "Garlic Mary" in Wallkill, NY who has been growing a strain that her uncle brought back from Italy after WW2. She took some to the Garlic Festival in Saugherties one year and The experts there cried when they tasted hers!
Choose your biggest and best heads / cloves and use them for the next year's crop.
Last year I took my left-over and sprouting garlic from the cellar and planted it in July. I also planted some of the smaller cloves from that years harvest and planted them right away instead of waiting for fall.
You can read about my experiment so far here:
http://davesgarden.com/tools/blog/
So far I'm liking my results but I'll have to harvest and do some taste testing before I come to any conclusions.
This message was edited Jul 8, 2011 10:15 AM
I normally plant my garlic at the beginning of October and they are ready in mid May.
Since I buy them so cheap (20 for $4 at Sam's Club), I stick a glove of garlic any where I can.
I don't use any fertilize ...I cut the scapes when I see them (and use them in my cooking) ... I don't leave any in the ground ... I don't even look at them untill is May !!
I just cure them in the shades for a few days ... and after I let them cure in a dark bathroom in my house.
That bathroom is one that only the guests will use ... so it works like a "cellar" for me ... yeahhh
... but I am not an expert .. this is what is working for me.
Don't have many guests do you?
...actually ... I have lots of bathrooms .... I guess I was destinate to grow garlic ... giggles ...
I am also harvesting. Last year I had two garlics, this year maybe 50. How long should I cure them? Right now the first batch is hanging around in my kitchen! I understand one can use them right away but is it better to wait? and for how long? How does one know they are properly "cured"?
Bighat, Why should you ALWAYS use previous years crop to plant for the next year? Is this a method of keeping the same plants going from year to year? Don't know why else you would say always.
LOL, That's a lot of garlic. I guess I'm not a serious garlic eater. I like it but don't know what I would do with that much. Actually, I think it would be fun to perfect your growing techniques like Drthor has. Those are beautiful.
Also, I suppose I know enough people I could give some to that would really appreciate it.
Garlic does not have to be "cured"- I love them roasted right after harvest- a drizzle of olive oil-yummm!
I saw yesterday o n the food channel that the 'experts' say you can't put raw garlic in tartar sauce- I guess I have been breaking the rules all my life! When I cook, if it tastes good to me then it's right!
Did they say why you couldn't Jo? Tartar sauce wasn't right with garlic in it?
I put garlic in everything.
I don't know- you know how it goes- when an important person says something is so, we are s'posed to abide! Sort of the rule that you can't combine seafood and cheese! I do it all the time-
Well obviously others disagree with the garlic and tartar sauce ban since I found a couple of recipes that included it when I googled for info. It could be that the fresh garlic reacts in some way with one of the ingredients if kept too long. But it seems to me it would be fine if used immediately when made. Here are two recipes using minced fresh garlic plus a site listing several recipes with fresh and garlic powder. Note the one recipe is from the Food Network!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/grilled-fish-sammies-with-garlic-tartar-sauce-baked-waffle-fries-spicy-bloody-ketchup-and-a-slaw-salad-recipe/index.html
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/hearty-tartar-sauce/detail.aspx
http://www.yummly.com/recipes/garlic-tartar-sauce
Thanks. I'll check those out. I think that no mixing cheese and seafood is stupid. Whover made that rule never had my friend Barbara's crawfish fetuchini!!!
Well I must say that whatever people want to do to their own food is their business. I for one want to taste the fish. Not garlic or something that will kill that taste. Fish has a very mild flavor so it doesn't take much to override it.
edited to add: Fish, by the way, is very expensive and garlic is cheap. Give me garlic on a loaf of French bread.
This message was edited Jul 10, 2011 9:59 AM
Bighat, when I clicked on your link to read about your experiment it took me to a page to create my own new diary. I didn't see a place to go to yours. Could you explain or post a new link?
TIA
LAS
Same here but I forgot to tell you.
