What did you do in the garden today?

[Birdsonghill]

Nice to see you back, and love your pictures! I am in an extreme state of envy of your loofahs! When did you plant them? And in what kind of soil? I've failed at them for the past two years, I might be planting them too early or late, in too much or too little compost, mulching too much or too little. In other words, clueless about what I'm doing wrong. They come up looking like healthy little seedlings, then either die right away or grow one or two teeny-tiny loofahs, then die.

Same here. It needs defrosting really bad, but it's crammed full of 1/2 hog, 1/2 lamb, plus other random stuff, including treasures (?? or maybe old ruined crap) hidden in the ice. We need to wait until we have a few days of freezing temps this winter, then defrost it and see what all is in there.

Oh, that's good to know, I'm not too late to plant my garlic.

Ha Ha Penny, I love your new avatar!

Timing for planting garlic varies depending on your climate, here November into December works well, with plantings made up till near Christmas producing large cloves. Earlier and they grow too much and are prone to winter damage. We seldom have any snow cover that last more than a coupe days(if that long) and I use a light straw mulch and row covers for weather/ice protection. Ice storms play havoc on row covers but the protected crops survive well. Winter weather is usually, mostly, late December through February, with 60 and 70 degree days sprinkled in with freezing weather, usually no lower than about 20 degrees, but rarely down to zero or even below 15 degrees. In the cooler areas in the Eastern hill country of my state, garlic is planted in October. Your area may be different. Hardneck Garlic does better in colder areas, I am told. I can grow softneck and hardneck but the results often favor softneck varieties here, more consistently. Planting too deep is a common mistake and I plant no more than two inches deep, as smaller cloves develop on deeper planted cloves. Strawberries respond poorly to high nitrogen fertilizer applications and need little or none, just a sprinkle of fresh compost each year.(or nothing)They can benefit from a light straw mulch here for ice protection but that can result in winter rot in our wet mild winters some years. Varieties that have a track record in your area are best to plant. remove most of the runners and blooms the first year for stronger mother plants and better yields. Best wishes for all, in regards to Strawberries and Garlic in your gardens! I suggest finding an old time market grower in your neighborhood to get local information or use the ag extension service in your county.

 

[WthrLady]

Re leaves in the garden - Even though this state is the home to Arbor Day...um ya.

 

[Sueby]

Re leaves in the garden - Even though this state is the home to Arbor Day...um ya.
View attachment 2872621

OMG, hilarious! But oh so beautiful.

 

[BReeder!]

Timing for planting garlic varies depending on your climate, here November into December works well, with plantings made up till near Christmas producing large cloves. Earlier and they grow too much and are prone to winter damage. We seldom have any snow cover that last more than a coupe days(if that long) and I use a light straw mulch and row covers for weather/ice protection. Ice storms play havoc on row covers but the protected crops survive well. Winter weather is usually, mostly, late December through February, with 60 and 70 degree days sprinkled in with freezing weather, usually no lower than about 20 degrees, but rarely down to zero or even below 15 degrees. In the cooler areas in the Eastern hill country of my state, garlic is planted in October. Your area may be different. Hardneck Garlic does better in colder areas, I am told. I can grow softneck and hardneck but the results often favor softneck varieties here, more consistently. Planting too deep is a common mistake and I plant no more than two inches deep, as smaller cloves develop on deeper planted cloves. Strawberries respond poorly to high nitrogen fertilizer applications and need little or none, just a sprinkle of fresh compost each year.(or nothing)They can benefit from a light straw mulch here for ice protection but that can result in winter rot in our wet mild winters some years. Varieties that have a track record in your area are best to plant. remove most of the runners and blooms the first year for stronger mother plants and better yields. Best wishes for all, in regards to Strawberries and Garlic in your gardens! I suggest finding an old time market grower in your neighborhood to get local information or use the ag extension service in your county.

When planting garlic "no more than 2 inches deep" is that depth of the hole that the clove sits in or depth to the top of the clove? I run into the stone question when planting onions by the way.

 

[WthrLady]

I did my holes about 2 inches into the soil and plop the bulb in. ALthough I use a marked stick to poke a hole and then drop in the bulb.

 

[Birdsonghill]

Timing for planting garlic varies depending on your climate, here November into December works well, with plantings made up till near Christmas producing large cloves. Earlier and they grow too much and are prone to winter damage. We seldom have any snow cover that last more than a coupe days(if that long) and I use a light straw mulch and row covers for weather/ice protection. Ice storms play havoc on row covers but the protected crops survive well. Winter weather is usually, mostly, late December through February, with 60 and 70 degree days sprinkled in with freezing weather, usually no lower than about 20 degrees, but rarely down to zero or even below 15 degrees. In the cooler areas in the Eastern hill country of my state, garlic is planted in October. Your area may be different. Hardneck Garlic does better in colder areas, I am told. I can grow softneck and hardneck but the results often favor softneck varieties here, more consistently. Planting too deep is a common mistake and I plant no more than two inches deep, as smaller cloves develop on deeper planted cloves. Strawberries respond poorly to high nitrogen fertilizer applications and need little or none, just a sprinkle of fresh compost each year.(or nothing)They can benefit from a light straw mulch here for ice protection but that can result in winter rot in our wet mild winters some years. Varieties that have a track record in your area are best to plant. remove most of the runners and blooms the first year for stronger mother plants and better yields. Best wishes for all, in regards to Strawberries and Garlic in your gardens! I suggest finding an old time market grower in your neighborhood to get local information or use the ag extension service in your county.

I forgot to mention Gourds. Loofahs and other gourds thrive here if in full sun or nearly full sun and planted as early as possible, no later than the first week of May. Even with our long growing season in zone 7b they require a good early start and plenty of sunshine. Make sure they have a fence or trellis to climb on and they may run twenty five feet in both directions from the planting site. Loofahs with their bright yellow blooms and long dark green fruits are quite ornamental and I have trellised them on my chicken coops, back porch and as well on my garden fences. If you start too late they often burn out in the first heat wave or do not ripen fully before frost. Most gourds are similar in these respects, from my experiences here. Abundant, mature gourds need that, too happen! I usually put a bit of compost in the planting mound(starting with seeds) but never fertilize again or use any commercial fertilizer. Gourds grown in partial shade may have fewer fruits and be lighter green in color and not run near as far. Gourds and hop vines have been part of my shade strategy for the new chicken run and are nice to sit under on an arbor or over the chicken run or back porch! I have pictures on my old camera but need my grandson to download them to my computer for me. I am a Gardener, not a computer techy type. Sorry about that! Maybe, I can post some gourd, and hops vine photos later.

 

[Sueby]

I did my holes about 2 inches into the soil and plop the bulb in. ALthough I use a marked stick to poke a hole and then drop in the bulb.

I do the same. They do better if not planted too deep, as @Birdsonghill said. I prefer the softneck personally & they seem to do pretty well here in CT despite everyone saying hardneck is the way to go.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I did my holes about 2 inches into the soil and plop the bulb in. ALthough I use a marked stick to poke a hole and then drop in the bulb.

I use the second knuckle of my index finger to gauge the holes, Probably less than two inches cover the cloves top. That may or may not be right somewhere else! or if your fingers are shorter or longer than mine! Onions are similar done by me from transplants for scallions, or about one inch shallower for my main crop onion bulbs, also from transplants. For direct from seeds I shallow plant them about 1/4 inch deep at most and let them rip and thin /transplant the thinnings! If they are to be scallions from direct planted seeds , I may hill them up an inch or two, to encourage a longer white shank after they get going. I plant my main crop onions in late September or early October here. That is sooner than I do garlic. Learned that by experience at this location and from advice from others.

 

[Sally PB]

Oh, that's good to know, I'm not too late to plant my garlic.

I'm in Zone 5B. The first time I planted garlic, I planted November 1st. That was the day after I bought the cloves, so that was what it was. They did VERY well.

Now I plant mid-end of October. Like, today. It's warm and sunny, and supposed to cool right down and rain. I figure it's perfect timing.

planting too deep is a common mistake and I plant no more than two inches deep, as smaller cloves develop on deeper planted cloves.

I did not know that! I have always planted with the growing tip 2" below the surface, or tried to do that.

I also planted my multiplier, aka potato, onions. They make oniony shaped onions, though on the small side, line 1/2" to 1 1/2" diameter.

I did an experiment (and wrote it down, so I'd know next year! ) on both the garlic and onions: I planted the biggest onions on the west end of the bed, and the smallest on the east end. We'll see if that makes any difference in the size they grow.

For the garlic, I grow the variety "Music," a hardneck, and get GIANT cloves, but only 4 per bulb. I got about 4 bulbs that were 5 cloves, so I saved all of those, and planted them on the west end of the garlic bed. The rest was the 4 cloves/bulb. We'll see if I get more fivers.

I'll post the results next August.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I know it's redic, but I just don't have enough leaves to use them in the garden! And we have GIANT old oak trees all over. I save them to add layers of brown in the compost throughout the winter & then I use them to spread on the snow for the chickens. I thought about asking my neighbor if I could have hers, lol. So I get straw for the garden, it seems to last thru the next summer as a weed barrier so I'm ok paying the $7 a bale or whatever it is. Gosh, it's probably doubled because of COVID this year.

Straw is $5 a bale here and I consider that very high indeed! I bought quality Bermuda horse hay for $3 a bale up till 4 years ago and straw for $1 to $2, when I stopped keeping a horse and a pony then. My sheep did fine on lesser quality mixed hay cut from my back pasture. I would not hesitate to ask the neighbors about collecting their leaves, they probably will thank you (even if they think you are nuts!). I have collected bags of leaves from peoples curbsides in past decades, before I had so much. Just never collect bagged lawn trimmings, due to the likely hood of chemical contamination with herbicides, insecticides and fungicides commonly used . In fact, I never collected bagged leaves from lawns that were pretty and mostly just grass species, due to the likelihood of chemical use under them. Straw was considered a residue to burn or a value added by product that was sold for the cost of the labor to make a few more bucks. I was astonished and dismayed to learn it is selling for $5 a bale here this fall and reluctantly paid the price! If I bought a full truckload I can get it for $3 a bale this year!

Holy moly! I just paid $3 a bale (but my guy knows I'm ag and I'm an old customer.)