trying to fool Mother Nature
I know! I know! I know! Garlic is SUPPOSED to be planted in the fall. By November in fact, only last November it just didn't happen. I can't really think of why not.
The thing is, the one item I absolutely loved, and didn't get enough of, in our CSA box last year, was garlic scapes -- the curly flower stocks produced by hard-neck variety garlic plants in early summer. They are amazing! They can be eaten raw or lightly sautéed; they are even pretty enough for flower arrangements, albeit smelly ones.
I thought I'd missed the proverbial boat, till I saw this planting guide from Westcoast Seeds (click here). And it tells me I have a very small window of opportunity at the beginning of March, which is NOW (sort of)!
So after a lot of searching for planting garlic (Westcoast Seeds does not provide them in the spring), and getting nursery employees to phone into distributors to determine which of the garlic varieties available were "hard-neck", not "soft-neck", I have planted my garlic! Just in time!
I'm making them do triple duty in fact : One, provide scapes. Two, make garlic bulbs for eating and replanting next fall, and Three, as a living (smelly) fence around the edge of the garden in the hopes of discouraging the dog who likes to walk through fresh soil...
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| source: Wikipedia.com |
The thing is, the one item I absolutely loved, and didn't get enough of, in our CSA box last year, was garlic scapes -- the curly flower stocks produced by hard-neck variety garlic plants in early summer. They are amazing! They can be eaten raw or lightly sautéed; they are even pretty enough for flower arrangements, albeit smelly ones.
I thought I'd missed the proverbial boat, till I saw this planting guide from Westcoast Seeds (click here). And it tells me I have a very small window of opportunity at the beginning of March, which is NOW (sort of)!
So after a lot of searching for planting garlic (Westcoast Seeds does not provide them in the spring), and getting nursery employees to phone into distributors to determine which of the garlic varieties available were "hard-neck", not "soft-neck", I have planted my garlic! Just in time!
I'm making them do triple duty in fact : One, provide scapes. Two, make garlic bulbs for eating and replanting next fall, and Three, as a living (smelly) fence around the edge of the garden in the hopes of discouraging the dog who likes to walk through fresh soil...
Imagine me with my whiney voice on: "I wanna do that tooooo".
ReplyDeleteI can just about hear it... :)
Delete...and can you hear mine too with the North wind howling in the background and the freezing rain rattling the window panes? Out here in the East, Mother Nature must have forgotten to set her alarm...
ReplyDeleteoh, yes. I hear you. My condolences.
Delete