Today is all about garlic! I’ll be finishing the garlic beds with some llama doo, planting, mulching and hoping for the best. It’s one of those things you plant where immediate gratification is not a driving force behind the intention. I won’t get to harvest the bulbs until mid June of 2010. I’m planting this garlic for next year’s farm table dinner “garlic lover’s dream” and our farmer’s market booth. Kasey and I will be planting about 12 different varieties of heirloom garlic.
The great thing about growing garlic is it over winters, so it’s not really affected by those snow storms and freezing cold wind we get, it just keeps in truckin’ till spring. So in February when everything else is dead, the garlic shines bright with its green leaves spiking up tall out of the ground. It’s really beautiful!
The great thing about growing garlic is it over winters, so it’s not really affected by those snow storms and freezing cold wind we get, it just keeps in truckin’ till spring. So in February when everything else is dead, the garlic shines bright with its green leaves spiking up tall out of the ground. It’s really beautiful!
Garlic is planted in the fall. Each bulb’s cloves are separated, and these are the “seeds”. Each one of these cloves will produce an entire clove of garlic! How cool is that. There are hundreds of different varieties. We’re usually offered only one variety in the grocery store called California early or late, surprisingly much of the garlic we see in the grocery store comes all the way from China. You can order garlic on line and get a choice of all the different offerings which each has its own unique character and flavor. You can only plant grocery store garlic if it is organic. Any garlic that is not organic is treated with a chemical to stop the plant from ever sprouting. Yup, and we’re eating that!
Garlic loves rich soil, they call it a heavy feeder so it really benefits from composted manure or if you are lucky like I am to have a barnyard worth of fertilizer, sheep, goat and llama works great. Anyway if you ever want to plant go to www.Ronnegers.com or www.sse.com (seed savers exchange) to learn more.
Racey report: She seems to be slightly and I mean slightly better. She gets her last round of antibiotic this morning and we’ll just have to cross our fingers. I spent a lot of time with her yesterday telling her how much we love her and what a wonderful goat companion she is. It’s really sad to think I might lose her. So were all just hoping for the best giving her whatever we can. She’s pretty used to being spoiled rotten.
2 comments:
Ok where can I get some garlic to plant? I have looked in all my seed catalogs and of course they are all sold out. Really didn't think about planting garlic until I read you post. I want some green to look at next spring too. Although we did plant winter wheat and rye for the cows and it is very green now. I do hope that Racey pulls through. I lost Mary last spring during kid birth. Had one but just could not have the other two. Vet couldn't save her either. Oh life on the farm. Always something.
Judy
www.oklahomarawmilk.com
Judy, if you just want cooking garlic not the fancy heirloom type go to whole foods in Tulsa. It's organic so it will grow just fine and be great. The price is right too and no shipping.you'll get about 8-10 cloves per head. You can also use your ag tax exemption card just go to the customer service desk first and have them give you a card. Happy planting:)
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