Back on Dec 13th I planting my garlic, a bit late but the winter has been very mild. This year I am going for a less fussy garden so I just planted out a whole bed of the stuff. The bed is mainly planted with a large cloved hard neck variety, the farmer it came from calls it Elephant garlic. I also put in a few soft neck cloves that have a purple skin.
The garlic is now just starting to pop up. A good sign spring is coming!
The last couple days have been so nice which has got me in the mood to plant. Today I started a few cells of hardy greens including mixed lettuce, kale, winter density lettuce, red pac choi, tatsoi and bright lights chard. They are now on a heat mat and at the first signs of life they will go out in the coldframe.
Soon things will start ramping up in the garden so I will actually have something to post about. First things on the to-do list is getting my grow light set up and completing a garden plan. Once mid March rolls around I will be starting all the tomatoes, peppers, brassica's and peas. Here's hoping this season is better then last!
To wrap this up, the snowdrops made an appearance a couple weeks ago. It sure will be nice when it is green outside again!
I figured you had been hibernating! Isn't it great to see the first signs of Spring? I've found that the bright lights Swiss chard does better for me if I overwinter plants sown in late Summer, then in March because they have a good root system in place they really take off! Welcome back! PS. I planted some of your Cherokee Purple tomatoes this week.
ReplyDeleteYes, Spring is definitely in the air! Nice to see you come out of hibernation!
ReplyDeleteDan, you're back! I've missed you :-)
ReplyDeleteSpring has arrived.
ReplyDeleteOr should I say Winter has just left the building.
ReplyDeleteThe garlic needs a period of cold to get the cloves to form so you should manage that.
ReplyDeleteWE have elephant garlic too - apparently it isn't a true garlic but is more closely related to leeks and has a mild flavour so can be eaten raw in a salad! We will see how true that is.
The garlic I planted isn't the huge elephant garlic, I should have mentioned that. It has the same sized head as a normal hard neck. The only difference is instead of 7-8 cloves per head it has 4-5 large cloves. It is nice stuff, much less peeling.
DeleteDAN! lol it's been a while. I love your snowdrops.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I love your blog so much is because of the great photos. Thanks for sharing. Your soil looks amazing. We've got snow, not snow drops here. I think I might have to plant some for next year.
ReplyDeleteI agree! great photos. You know the most amazing part when you do gardening is when you see them growing beautifully.
ReplyDeleteI planted my garlic in Aug last year. We will see. It is the first time I have tried garlic. Yours looks great.
ReplyDeleteSpring is just around the corner and I am starting seeds inside.
Dan is back in the garden! Hurrah! Missed your garden blogs my friend.
ReplyDeleteThe garlic is definitely off and running. I know a lot of folks do an early spring planting with excellent results. Have fun planting!
I haven't tried true garlic. I winter sowed some garlic chives. I have a very small space and went over the top winter sowing. I have listed most of what I am trying. I also have quite a few things popping up due to a few straight daysvof above average warmth. I hope a cold snap does not come and kill them all.
ReplyDeleteLissatink.blogspot.com
I live in Moncton, New Brunswick were we had a couple of days in early March that were above 20C. Sure felt like spring to me but we didn't plant anything. I did get some yard work done which is unusual as our yard is usually under water when spring arrives.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I hibernated for most of the winter and now I'm itching to get in my vegetable garden again.
feels great to start truly gardening for my first time ever and it seems im a natural, growing moonflowers, as well as sage, basil, tomatoes, lettuce, chives. I still make rookie mistakes all the time. hoping that with my newly created blog i could recieve advice as well as maybe offer some experiences of my own. have a look at my blog : http://grow4show.blogspot.ca/
ReplyDeleteTHANKS FOR INFORMATIONS
ReplyDeleteHi, I just stumbled on your blog and would like to say how much I enjoy your posts. I just breezed through a whole lot of them and it makes me feel like I’m walking right through your plot. Also, excellent photos! The plants just pop out at me.
ReplyDeleteWow! Excellent
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