October 20 :: All About Garlic

Hello again!

It's nearly time to plant the amazing crop we affectionately call 'garlic'. So much more than just a culinary addition, garlic acts as a slug and deer repellent and is therefore many an organic farmer's best friend. It's also something that can be planted in the autumn, just as the rest of the crops are coming out of the ground. It'll stay in the ground until almost July, though, so make sure you put it in a place where you won't want to plant something else come spring.

In September I went to the Common Ground fair in search of seed garlic. Seed garlic is technically the same thing as the garlic you eat, but garlic growers reserve the biggest, strongest, and best heads of garlic to replant the next year, and they'll sell all the rest for table garlic. Buying garlic to use as seed, therefore, is a little more expensive and it is even more important that it be top quality.

I bought garlic from two different farms. From the first i purchased Broadlead Czech, a hard neck variety good for cold climates. It is a large head of garlic with large cloves in a single, circular row.



From the second farm i purchased another hard neck variety, German Extra Hardy, which is supposed to be their most rugged and (according to the name) hardy garlic variety. This one also has large cloves, like the Broadleaf Czech.


Also from the second farm i purchased Susanville Softneck. Soft necked garlic is generally more common - it's probably the kind you usually buy in the store - and it has a soft, papery stem that is flexible and can be braided. We thought we'd try it out and see if we could braid some of our heads when they are ready next summer. Soft necked varieties often have multiple layers of cloves where there are cloves in the center of the head and others around the perimeter.


All three varieties are ready to go into the ground next week, after we have a few more hard freezes and no more warm spells. To plant, i'll break all of the cloves apart from the head and plant them pointy side up. Each clove will grow into another head. If we have success, we, like the farmers from which i bought the garlic, will save our biggest and best heads to grow again next season.

Since i haven't yet had a chance to taste these different types of garlic, you'll have to check back in this summer to see which ones were the favorites.

Until then,
Your Garlic Grower

October 15 :: New Season

Welcome back!

Think the growing season is coming to a close? Think again! Maine is the best place to cultivate cold weather crops and we are trying out a few of our own here in the raised beds near the greenhouse.

Two months ago I started carrot seeds in the greenhouse. When the seedlings had their first set of leaves, I carefully transplanted them out into the raised beds where they are thriving. They are currently sharing the bed with impatiens but due to the frost last night, the imapiens are about ready to come out and the carrots can suck up all the sun and nutrients they need.

Happy baby carrot!

Carrots need plenty of depth and nice, soft soil so their roots (the part we eat) can grow straight and strong. Usually people don't transplant carrots but I decided to take my chances.

This morning when i poked my head out into the frosty air to check on the carrots (and to see the damage from the frost) this is what I saw:
As you may be able to see from the above photo, I found the soil all dug up and lumpy, like someone had been trying to eat my little carrots! I glared around for the culprit, finding no one nearby. Opting for the detective approach, i tried to identify the footprints of the irritating fellow. My first thought was human but when i looked again none of the carrots were actually disturbed, just the soil around them. My over-active imagination then leaped to blame deer (where, luckily, it didn't linger long since it would be nearly impossible for a deer to make it up the long, narrow metal staircase onto the patio and even less likely that Kathy at the front desk would have admitted a deer to the dining center).

Upon closer inspection i found a clue that lead me to the answer:
Acorn tops among the carrots! There aren't any trees in the vicinity that could drop their acorns on the patio so some little creature must have brought them. I had noticed a wily squirrel out on the patio a few times, running along the railing. I hadn't paid her much mind at the time but had i known she'd been digging in my gardens i would have done my territorial duty to dissuade her from returning. I'll be more aware next year.

For now i suppose she won't bother my gardens any more since she's planted probably 20 to 40 nuts in them already. For the next month or so we'll see how the carrots grow around them. Unfortunately for Ms. Squirrel, the other bed which is currently empty (and where she also did some visible digging), will not be empty for long as I will be planting garlic in it in the next week or so. I will leave her nuts in the carrot bed, but those in the garlic bed will have to go!

Next week: Garlic!

Grow On,
Your Squirrel Scout