Category Archives: Garden Advice

Garden Advice, Garlic

8 Tips to Help Your Garlic Thrive

Leave a comment

Garlic is one of my favorite crops. First there are few dishes cooked in this house that don’t include at least one clove. Second it’s super easy to grow. It generally has very few pest and disease issues. It also does well in storage. Absolutely perfect for backyard gardeners and farmers alike.

However just because garlic is an easy keeper doesn’t mean you can just throw it in the ground and ignore it. Read on for tips to help you get the best harvest.

Prepare the bed before planting.

Garlic can actually handle a range of soil conditions but does best in well-drained, loose soil. If you can, work in some organic matter like compost, aged manure, or well rotted sawdust and your garlic will do better. You may also want to consider using a garden fork or broad fork to lift the soil adding more air space.

Plant at the proper depth and spacing.

A proper depth and spacing will allow the bulbs to form well so you get nice size cloves and more uniform bulbs.

Keep it weeded.

Unless you live in a place with a lot of winter snowfall and consistent freezing temperatures you’ll probably need to do a bit of weeding throughout the fall, winter, and spring. It won’t be as bad as your regular season crops but it’s still important. Weeds compete for water, nutrients and if they get ahead of your garlic, light and space.

Keep it watered.

Especially if you live in a dry area it’s important to remember to water garlic while it’s actively growing. Garlic has shallow roots so for good bulb development it needs moist soils.

Use mulch.

Keeping you garlic properly mulched is essential for a healthy harvest. Mulch is important to keeping your garlic protected from frosts before it gets established. It also holds moisture, blocks weeds, and decomposes to add nutrients. It may be necessary to add more mulch in the spring depending on how much your mulch decomposes. You can also add a little compost mixed in with the mulch to give the garlic a little nutrient boost.

If you’re growing hardneck garlic, harvest the scapes.

Scapes are the flowering part of the garlic. If you clip them off while they’re still fairly small the plant will put more energy into the bulb instead of flowering. Garlic scapes have the added bonus of being delicious!

Let your garlic dry out before harvest.

About two weeks before you harvest you’re garlic you should remove the mulch and stop watering. This allows the garlic to begin drying for curing and storage.

Lastly read the Southern Exposure Garlic and Perennial Onion Growing Guide.

It has tons of good information for planting, growing, harvesting, curing, and storing garlic.

Garden Advice

DIY Autumn Wellness Tea

Leave a comment

In my mind fall is this perfect time of year when we welcome the cool crisp air, autumn festivities, and the break from a busy summer season. It’s a time for crafts and reading and enjoying and celebrating the harvest with family and friends.

Unfortunately the reality is that autumn is usually just as busy as summer. There’s always more gardening projects whether it’s repairing tools for next year or putting up the last of this year’s peppers. Throw that in with visits from relatives, less sun exposure and vitamin D, tons of stress, and unhealthy food and you get the start of flu season!

One of my favorite ways to try and combat this problem, besides learning when to take a break, is to drink herbal tea. I’m not willing to give up my Halloween goodies or Thanksgiving feast but I can still make sure my body is getting some of the good stuff.

My favorite autumn tea blend includes the following herbs.

Echinacea any variety

Echinacea is an excellent herb for this time of year because studies have shown that it make act as an immuno-stimulant and even increase the production of white blood cells. All parts of the plant can be dried and used for tea. If you haven’t grown it yet it’s fairly easy to cultivate and is perennial in zones 3-9.

Ginger

While ginger certainly adds nice flavor to this blend it too has medicinal properties that are great for fall. Ginger is high in vitamin C, magnesium, and other important minerals. It also helps with nausea, heartburn, inflammation, and respiratory ailments.Plus it adds a nice warmth to this fall beverage.

Catnip

Not just for cats, catnip is actually very beneficial for humans. It has a calming effect and contains high levels of vitamins C and E to help keep your immune system strong. Catnip is another easy herb to grow and is perennial in zones 4-10.

Licorice Root *optional*

If you’d like your tea a bit sweet without the added sugar consider adding some licorice root. Beyond its flavor licorice root also has the added benefit of soothing upset stomachs and easing coughs. I put it as optional as its flavor is not everyone’s favorite.

 

To make the tea blend 4 TBS of dried echinacea, with 2 tsp of dried ginger, 2 TBS of dried catnip, and 1 TBS of dried licorice root (or more to your taste) in a small jar. Then steep 1 TBS of tea mix per 8oz of boiling water for 5 minutes. You may find you like it stronger and can use more than 1 TBS.

If you wish you can use a tea ball or strain the herbs out before drinking your tea.

 

Enjoy your tea, your harvest, and all the important people and events in your life this autumn. Stay healthy and happy!

Garden Advice

Rainy Day Garden Projects

Leave a comment

While rain is great for growing plants it’s not necessarily ideal for that weeding, planting, harvesting or other major garden work you were planning. Not only will you end up soaking wet, walking on wet soil can be detrimental. Wet soil is more easily compacted which will make it harder for beneficial insects, fungi, microbes, and your plants to thrive. That doesn’t mean you need to take they day off though. There’s plenty of important and fun gardening tasks that can be accomplished on wettest days without setting foot in the garden. Many of these are also great for the dead of winter when you can’t stop thinking about gardening.

Read.

Continue your gardening education. Reading gardening or farming books can be a great way to expand your knowledge, get more project ideas, and stay inspired. Check out Southern Exposure’s book and DVD section here.

Organize your seeds.

No one likes chaos and wasted seeds. Go through all your old, new, and saved seeds. It’s best to find some way to organize your seeds whether it’s a binder with baseball card sleeves, files, or even just a shoebox with cardboard dividers for your different types i.e. greens, tomatoes, flowers, etc. When order time rolls around you’ll know what you need and what you already have.

For old seeds or those you’ve saved you may want to do a simple germination test. Place 10 or 20 seeds in a moist but not soaking wet paper towel, roll or fold it up, and place it in a clear plastic bag or container to prevent it from drying out. Check occasionally to ensure your paper towel stays moist, larger seeds will use more water. After your seeds germination period (or a couple of days) you can count how many seeds have sprouted. For more on germination visit this article, How to Test Germination.

Use a garden planner.

Garden Planner Example 2017

Garden planners like the one offered by Southern Exposure can help you to make the most of your garden space and ensure you’re garden stays healthy. You can keep track of things like crop rotations, soil amendments, and where you’ve used cover crops. Check it out here.

Get your orders in.

If it’s an appropriate time of year rainy days can be a good time to the office work side of gardening. You may want to get an early start ordering next years seeds, perennials, even compost or a soil test. Don’t wait till it’s a perfect day to actually be working in the garden to think of these things.

Make plant markers.

Especially if you have kids making your own plant or variety markers can be a fun project. There’s so many options and you can find some great ideas online. A few ideas include popsicle sticks, painted rocks or bricks, painted wooden spoons, or even beaded wires.

Preserve or use your harvest.

For many, one of the most important parts of having a garden is enjoying the harvest. Rainy days are the perfect time to do kitchen activities like canning and cooking. Try pickling some peppers or making some delicious squash souffle.

If you have goods already in storage it’s also a good day to do a quick check on them. Make sure all your cans still look good, that none of your green beans are getting freezer burned, and that none of your potatoes have started to turn.

Start a garden journal.

Remembering all the events in your garden from year to year can be a struggle but sometimes the little details are great to have on hand to look back on. While a garden planner may help you organize the bigger picture a garden journal can help you remember all the little things like your last frost date, when the robins came back, and specific notes on new varieties you may be trying out. Garden journals can be as simple as a handwritten notebook or a highly organized binder or even word document of information.

If you’re at a loss for where to start, begin with the basics. Keep track of the weather, planting dates, frost dates, fruiting dates, and the natural world. This can also be an excellent projects to get the kids involved with.

If you were planning a super productive day in the garden, rain can be a let down but it doesn’t have to be. Get ahead on important projects like ordering soil amendments. Make good use of your harvest with a delicious homemade meal. Start getting organized with a garden plant, journal, and/or seed organizer. Just like the plants in your garden you can do your best with what nature throws your way.