What did you do in the garden today?

[Birdinhand]

For you garlic growers I have a question. I planted garlic cloves last October or November (don't remember exactly) and after a few weeks they were all sprouting.

They continued growing slowly, and even survived all the snow and temperatures in the teens. The plants are still upright and green after all the snow melted away.

I thought garlic started growing in the fall, then kind of died off in the winter, and then came back to finish growing in the spring. Guess I was wrong.

So is this normal behavior for all types of garlic varieties? Do they all stay green all winter long?

Oh yeah. I thought I had all the seeds I needed but just realized that I forgot to get pepper seeds. Guess I'll order from Baker Seeds again. I suppose you get a free package of seeds when buying just one packet, and I like the free shipping.

Garlic grows throughout the winter as temps allow and the. Fully kicks in in the spring, with scapes to be harvested late spring before they flower, then sometime in July or August they die back and dry out, that’s when I harvest them, I sit them out for a short bit in the sun to get some moisture to dry but not so much as to split the “paper” that surrounds each clove, the. I bring them inside and let them dry some more, cut the roots off with wire snips and trim off the dead leaves and store in a cool dry place, having separated the best bulbs for replanting next fall.

 

[Smokerbill]

Garlic grows throughout the winter as temps allow and the. Fully kicks in in the spring, with scapes to be harvested late spring before they flower, then sometime in July or August they die back and dry out, that’s when I harvest them, I sit them out for a short bit in the sun to get some moisture to dry but not so much as to split the “paper” that surrounds each clove, the. I bring them inside and let them dry some more, cut the roots off with wire snips and trim off the dead leaves and store in a cool dry place, having separated the best bulbs for replanting next fall.

Wow, Thanks! I bought the garlic originally at HomeDepot, spring of 2022. It didn't do well and died off, I guess since it was planted wrong time of year. Then it came back last spring and grew. I used cloves from the largest heads to plant my current crop of 16 plants.

Don't they like a lot of compost fertilizer?

 

[Jenbirdee]

I threw a big bag of used duck house straw over the fence into it, thats all...

 

[WthrLady]

It started raining today so everything has finally melted. Now we get 2 - 3 days of steady rain but at least the temperature will be climbing UP. It will be near 60 degrees on Thursday! Hallelujah!

I've been putting off going to the feed store because I don't want to go out in the cold. I really need to go tomorrow though... One of our barn cats has a nickel-sized gaping hole in the side of his face where an abscess blew out last weekend. He's half feral so there's no way he will allow me to pick him up. I can pet him though so if I can get some kind of cream antibiotic at the feed store, I should be able to covertly rub some on his face without him noticing... I just can't hold him to do it.

Vetcyerin gel spray

 

[Birdinhand]

Wow, Thanks! I bought the garlic originally at HomeDepot, spring of 2022. It didn't do well and died off, I guess since it was planted wrong time of year. Then it came back last spring and grew. I used cloves from the largest heads to plant my current crop of 16 plants.

Don't they like a lot of compost fertilizer?

They respond well to a well nourished soil. They are fairly heavy feeders. I use compost made from my coop, turn it in, then make a trench about 6” deep, add dr earth organic fertilizer pretty liberally, fill in the trench a little then press the bulbs in and cover with about 3” of soil. I’ve grown as many as 300 bulbs, LOL, they make great stocking stuffers for my relatives across the country

 

[TJAnonymous]

Vetcyerin gel spray

I don't think that would work. He'd be spooked by the spray sound and liquid squirting. It took me 2 years of patience and daily feeding to get him to trust me enough to even touch him briefly. In the past 2 weeks, he has begun to let me pet him for the first time ever... I can now give him scratches around his ears and chin. If I had a cream on my fingertips, I think I could get it around the wound in the process of petting him but he'd be freaked out by a bottle in my hands, even if it didn't spray out scary stuff...

 

[WthrLady]

Put a blob of the spray on your finger. It's thick when it hits the air, like the old dippity-do hair gel.
@TJAnonymous

 

[CNJ]

Thanks. I will watch that video tonight. I have heard of the Dutch Bucket System, but don't yet know how it works. Thanks for the link.

Part 2

 

[gtaus]

Part 2

Thanks for the links. I have watched both of them.

I don't think the Dutch Bucket system is what I am looking for. I am thinking more in terms of using sub-irrigated totes with a water reservoir in each tote maybe 3 inches deep. I have a standalone elevated sub-irrigated planter that works great, but I would like to use that system with totes that are daisy chained together. My idea is to have a large 55-gallon rain barrel fill a water level control box that feeds a water supply line to the totes.

It would be easy to make that type of system if you had all the totes on the same level. But I was thinking of making a 3-tier shelf to stack the totes and save room out in the garden area.

I know the easiest solution is just to make each tote into a DIY EarthBox and fill up each box separately. But it would be nice if I could figure out a way to tie them all together and automate the process. Filling up one large reservoir would be much more efficient that filling up multiple individual totes.

Well, I have not figured it out, but I'm still working on the concept.

Again, I do appreciate the links you provided. Thank you.

 

[Sammster]

Question: I moved one of my greenstalks (vertical garden) into the greenhouse in the fall. It has developed an algae on top of some of the growing "pockets". Is this soil now contaminated? Can I scoop off the algae and ammend the soil for re-use when it's time to plant, in the spring? And if I scoop the algae, can I add it to my compost, or should I discard it?