I was lurking around the internet and found this site which has a 100% positive rating from Dave's. I could not resist! I have grown garlic in the past (although I did not this year) and just had to have this burgundy creole and the rare creole sampler. I use them as edging and border plants. At least they are green and growing over the winter when alot of my perennials are died back to the ground. Not to mention I just love garlic too! In the spirit of helpfullness to my fellow edible landscapers and Texas veggie growers--
Here's the link:
http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/
vegetables/edible landscaping
Thanks for the link. It contains a lot of useful information.
What varieties have you grown and recommend?
I tried growing garlic next to my roses to keep moles and things away. But I have apparently not watered them enough. They are still growing, but I thought they would be bigger than this. But then I did plant them very late. I'm wondering if I should harvest them in the fall. I planted them this past spring. If you harvest them really early and replant some of the cloves, will they grow? Or should I get some that were planted and harvested the way they are supposed to be done?
Actually Betty I tried what they had down at the privately owned garden center which weren't identified as type--they grew well and tasted OK and I've also grown elephant garlic in the past.
The main problem I had with the unknown varieties in the past is that they didn't store well from June all the way to Oct--when I plant around here. These are supposed to be better about this and taste alot better.
Sometimes I lurk around on other garden site forums to see what folks in La,Ms, Al, and northern Fla are doing because they tend to make more posts related to vegetable gardening and have similar conditions in the summer to us. I guess I'm kinda a "throw back" to the 80's craze of edible landscaping. While I mostly do perennials and annuals I also like to grow some vegetables. Always do spring and fall tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, lettuces, brocolli.....
I've never tried growing garlic in the spring; I've always planted in October. You could try digging them up in a couple of months silverflutter and breaking up the cloves and replant. How are they doing as pest repellants? That's an additional bonus for growing garlic I hadn't thought of...
This message was edited Aug 1, 2005 8:41 AM
wow, thanks for the link. There's more there than I can read right now. I have to go to work, but I'll definitely read more later.
Hi, Hazel. I haven't seen any posts from you in a awhile.
I have been known to plant okra, peppers, and watermelon in my flowerbeds. I keep a 4x24 foot raised bed inbetween everything else that grow for my tomatos, squash, beans, and such. I am going to try garlic this fall, and I have herbs going into the ground this fall to. The herbs are going into the rest of the flower beds too! I am going to plant my garlic around my fruit trees - to keep the bugs away I hope! Mitch
yes, I heard that garlic is very good for fruit trees. I would like to know if garlic is good for grapes. I'm thinking about making a bed just for irises, and then I thought what if I added garlic to discourage iris borers. Might be worth a try.
Might be - we use a lot of Garlic around here so we are just going to give up and grow it. Anyone know the best single best type to grow around here? I am going to start Elephant and thought about starting one other to go with it.
Any one else stick veggies int he flower beds?
I have in the past. French Marigolds keep carrot root fly away and lettuce look quite decrotive round a flower bed.
I love to grow marigolds in my maters - I was told it keeps the bugs away... and it looks great!
Mitch I have only grown thymes and basils in the beds, but am planning on some carrots, garlic, and onions.
Just don't plant the garlic and onions too close to any thing else, because you have to dig up to harvest it.
carrots too!
Good point. I really want them to just kind of fill in some spots, and they will be far away enough from other stuff to get good sun (not be shaded by neighboring plants.)
I learned this year dont plant watermelons in your flower beds - it takes over. But the okra does really well and looked smart if you can take the yellow flowers!
Actually I always thought melons or cantalope added some interest to beds of LA iris is or regular iris.......in the "off" season....
Hey, DH wanted to plant cantelope next year. Maybe I'll have help digging my iris bed if I tell him he can put his cantelopes in it!
That might work, this was my prenn bed and it was not the off season!
I think adding edibles to the landscape gives us the use another of our senses to help us enjoy our garden — taste.
In our last home, I had 2 magnolia trees. All the other trees were fruit or nut trees. The pecan tree was the only regular sized tree. It produced enough nuts to keep a whole colony of squirrels happy. The rest of the trees were dwarf or semi-dwarf. I found that many herbs and vegetables will grow well in part shade. I put anything that needed to be dug up to harvest in the annual beds so I wouldn't damage roots. There are short vined varieties of squash and melons that fit well here and there.
I'm trying the same thing here. Getting my trees established has been a challenge. I made every mistake in the book, the one about gardening near cows. They ate and killed 7 or 8 plum, peach and apple trees. My husband is forbidden from mowing at night because his record is: mower 3, trees 0. Two months ago, we forgot to close the electric gate and Sapphire, the calf I hand raised, got in bringing a friend. They used the 3 persimmon trees I planted this spring as scratching posts and broke them. The trees snapped down near the graft. One is sending out growth above the graft union.
I'm still fighting Bermuda grass. Has anyone tried growing garlic in pots and could the pots be left outdoors in winter?
Veronica, you never cease to amaze me! Lol, mower 3, trees 0.
That's a great idea about the annual bed and the edibles. Now I'll have to make an annual bed, lol.