Backyard gardening on Ann Arbor's west side: tips on growing garlic and more
Purple eggplant flower against the blue sky
Kevin Dorn | Contributor
Nelson carrot harvest
Kevin Dorn | Contributor
As the crops are harvested from the garden it is essential to replenish the nutrients. I favor strictly organic amendments. There are millions of microorganisms in small quantities of soil that are easily burned by inorganic fertilizers. My garden is full of insects, birds, chipmunks and the occasional rabbit! I do lose some produce to the co-habitant, but as long as I get some of the bounty I am happy. There is a certain beauty in the liveliness of my garden that I wouldn’t trade for more productivity.
There is a bright introduction to organic gardening called Culture and Horticulture: A Philosophy of Gardening by Wolf Storl that quotes this poem in the prologue:
The rushes daily grow taller;
Apricot blossoms daily more lush;
As an old farmer, I enjoy the view;
Everything I do according to the seasons.
I rise early and feed the cows;
Then yoke a pair to farm the eastern acres.
Earthworms crawl in and out of the ground;
Field crows follow me around,
In flocks the peck and cry,
As if to tell me of their hunger.
My heart is full of compassion
Looking at this, I pity both them and myself.
I give my food to the crows;
At dusk I return with an empty basket.
Beauregard sweet potato plants
Kevin Dorn | Contributor
But never would I have changed my mind
-Ch’u Kuang-hsi 6th century
Gardening is an act of joy for me as I hope it is for you. Now that the weather is warm the summer crops are bumping. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cukes, zukes and beans are all growing and setting flowers and fruit. There is nothing that says summer like a homegrown tomato! My Kennebec potatoes have set flowers and I look forward to digging up early potatoes.
I’d thought I’d end this entry with a how to for growing garlic. One clove grows one bulb; that’s a great return!
• Plant garlic in the fall around three weeks before the freeze - usually October or November around Ann Arbor.
• Separate cloves and leave the skin on.
Garden shot from bitter gourd
Kevin Dorn | Contributor
• Cut off the flowers as soon as they appear.
• When 2-3 leaves are yellow (July or August) loosen with a digging fork, pull up plants, bunch in 10s and hang to dry in a dry, airy shed out of the sunlight.
• After a few weeks, when thoroughly dry, cut the stem and take the garlic inside.
Fully cured garlic will last the whole year. Pick the best bulbs to use as seed for next year's crop. All the best to you. Happy planting!
This is the 4th entry of the garden blog. Thanks for reading and I appreciate your comments. Kevin Dorn.
Comments
Vivienne Armentrout
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 10:14 a.m.
If you are harvesting garlic scapes in June, you are growing a stiffneck garlic. There are a couple of garlic diseases and several are caused by soil-borne fungi that can build up in the soil if you plant in the same place year after year, so it is good to rotate spots.
Kevin Dorn
Mon, Jun 21, 2010 : 4:15 p.m.
Jean: Good point! I guess I actually plant seeds from the immediately proceeding harvest of garlic -- nice and big ones if I have my pick. The rest that doesn't get planted I save to eat for the rest of the year. Last year I harvested 85 bulbs and have plenty left. This year I planted 130 cloves and look forward to lots of garlic! I'm a big fan of trial and error with seed planting. From my experience, most garlic seems to sprout given enough time...you know, when the store-bought stuff starts growing green. I've been growing garlic for 5 years now and my original seed comes from a variety of sources: Community Farm of Ann Arbor, Garden Works, Tantre Farm and the Eastern Market. I never knew the specific variety, and I couldn't tell you which seed was saved year after year -- I always choose the biggest, firmest bulbs for seed! I'm not sure if I grow hardneck or softneck...so I would recommend trying some of each. I like to go local if I have a chance, and guess that a vendor at the A2 Farmers Market would have some nice garlic seed to sell as another option. Someone there could probably answer the hardneck vs. softneck question. I don't have any problems with diseases or pests with garlic -- one of the reasons I like it so much. As for companion plants...I'm not really sure, although I do have borage and potatoes growing in this years patch as volunteers that I decided to leave. I haven't heard of the Westside A2 Garden Club, but would like to know more about this. If I find out I'll post the information. All the best! Thanks everyone for the comments. Happy Solstice -- longest day of the year!
Jean
Mon, Jun 21, 2010 : 3:31 p.m.
Curious. If you plant the garlic cloves in the fall, when do you plant the seeds you saved? Did you buy garlic cloves from a seed catalog? Garlic cloves are expensive in the catalog to buy. Can I plant the cloves from the grocery store garlic I buy? (These usually come from Christopher Ranch California Garlic Bulbs.) Do you have favorite varieties you plant? Territorial Seed Company has both hardneck garlic and softneck garlic. (territorialseed.com) Could you recommend any varieties within each of these two subspecies that you have grown and liked? Do garlic plants get any diseases and pests that are common? Any companion plants for garlic? I have heard there is a Westside Ann Arbor Garden Club. How could I find out about them? Signed, westside garlic novitiate (who doesn't want to make the mistakes that I could learn to avoid through listening to others)
Rork Kuick
Mon, Jun 21, 2010 : 9:07 a.m.
I finally broke down last year and have tried to fence enough to keep the bleeping deer out of the vegetable garden. Getting to eat more of what I grow has been great, but it's ugly and less inviting for my family to jump in there and snack or pick. I eagerly await string bean overwhelm, which I hope will arrive on time for a change, due to a lack of "pruning". For me, solstice is also the time to get serious about archery, but the limited revenge I obtain in fall is likely futile as far as my gardens go.
Neal Elyakin
Sun, Jun 20, 2010 : 6:59 a.m.
Chinese proverb; "He (or she) who plants a garden, plants happiness"