Sweet Local Farm » garlic

Hop Shoots

Luke — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 19:58:07 +0000

The forecast over the next week shows that it will not dip below 41 degrees in Western Mass, so I decided to bring out the more vulnerable perennials that had been hibernating under our barn in pots. Among them are a few varieties of hops that we started last year from rhizomes. They are already beginning to grow shoots, which is very exciting to see.

The hops most likely could have been planted in the ground last year, but I wanted to nurture them a little extra to make sure they were strong for their second year. Soon, I will put them directly into the ground under a 16′ trellis that I have yet to build. After planting them, I will trim the shoots down to 3 so the roots can concentrate on growing each shoot to it’s full potential. Surprisingly, I read that you can cook and eat the tender hops shoots that you remove. Or better yet, try pickling hops. I look forward to trying either of these out.

And in the garden…

We call these ‘volunteers’, a whole head of garlic that we apparently missed last year. We’ll be able to dig this up and separate each growing clove into its own plant.

Be a friend...share!

Garden Update

Luke — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:10:14 +0000

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of planting out sugar snap peas.

Before the winter, I had filled the beds with mounds of compost and covered them with a thick layer of straw. This compost had already broken down significantly to make a nice layer of black gold on top of the soil. I turned the compost into the soil and planted the peas directly into the ground. We have some great garden structures that the peas love to climb. In total, I planted 104 peas!

The hard neck garlic we had planted in the fall is starting to come up through the straw.

There were many mole holes in the garden, so I’m glad they didn’t find the garlic.

Rhubarb popping it’s head through.

Strawberries are looking ready for the sun to perk them up.

Be a friend...share!

Harvesting Garlic

Karen — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:08:25 +0000

Back in September, I planted about 10 heads of garlic. They started growing a few weeks after that and were one of the first signs of green in the garden this spring. The garlic scapes arrived about a month ago and were delicious in salads and stir fries. I wasn’t quite sure when it would be time to harvest the garlic, but I read that it can be pulled when the bottom leaves have gone brown, but there are still about 5 green leaves left on each plant.

The garlic looked ready to be picked so we got to work with trowels and gently dug up each bulb.

Luke loves garlic!

Each clove of garlic planted last fall grew into a head.

We ended up pulling about a hundred heads. The best will be saved for next year’s planting.

Hardneck garlic is more cold tolerant and better suited to growing in our climate. The heads tend to be smaller than the average garlic you find in the supermarket.

We brushed off the dirt, trimmed the roots, and braided the garlic into bunches.

We laid the garlic braids on a drying rack on our covered front porch to cure and dry out.

Growing garlic ended up being very easy and low maintenance and we will surely grow it every year!

Be a friend...share!

In November’s Garden

Karen — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:41:05 +0000

It is the end of November and I am amazed at how much greenery we still have in the garden.
The swiss chard is crisp. I like to use it in soups and stir frys.

The plants are glossy and the stalks are almost like celery. This was one of my first edible plants in the spring and has proved to be one of the last. I will surely grow swiss chard every year.

The kale leaves are like green lace:

The parsley is vibrant and hardy. It is doing really well in the herb spiral I built this past spring.

The mint has exploded to the point of invasive. I’ll have to make a bunch of mojitos!

We save all of our cardboard and use it as sheet mulch in the garden:

Luke lined the paths of the mandala garden with cardboard:

And finally, the garlic we planted about 6 weeks ago has sprouted:

Does anyone know how to protect these scapes over the winter so I’ll have garlic next year?

Be a friend...share!

Fall is for planting

Karen — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:33:12 +0000

Many different kinds of crops must be planted in the fall for next years harvest. These crops tend to be grown from roots or tubers instead of from seed and also tend to be expensive. I was planning to order some hardneck garlic from Seed Savers Exchange but most of it was sold out.

I found very affordable hard neck garlic for sale at a farmers market in Allston, MA. The farmer said she grows all of her garlic from her own bulbs, so I bought as much as I could. You can read Megan’s account of us planting garlic on her blog.

I also just planted jerusalem artichokes or sunchokes. I found that these tubers were also very expensive to buy online. I found them at Russo’s in Watertown, MA.

Be a friend...share!