Gorgeous Garlic

Having an abundant supply of homegrown garlic is one of my many gardening aims. Last years crop was a bit meagre due to lack of water and this year for some reason i forgot to order any new cloves to plant. Luckily the garden has a mind of its own and lots of self sown garlic emerged in the back garden. Three varieties, Russian garlic which is really a garlicky sort of leek i think, it has  one or two large cloves and is quite sweet, a white garlic and a pink garlic. not very scientific in the names, in any case the only problem with the self seeded garlic has been that the plants were too close together and a bit stifled. I have been using the thinnings for months now in lieu of buying garlic. I did plant two rows of garlic properly from cloves i had bought at the fruit shop that looked OK. It had all been growing along nicely when, all of a sudden, the leaves yellowed and started to fall over. Time to harvest. I am really quite pleased with the result, especially as I was a bit lackadaisical in my planting methods. I have put aside some of    the little cloves and a few good ones for planting next year. I hope to harvest lots more like this next time. My goal is to have enough to sell in two years time.
                                        
                                      The best of the harvest


                                         
                                                   The Russian Garlic

Comments

Chris said…
Ooh, you are right, the pink variety is very pretty! Enjoy all of your beautiful homegrown garlic - so much nicer having grown it yourself!! :)
November 22, 2010 at 10:43 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An abundance of eggs

Image
Silkie eggs Duck eggs Turkey eggs Hen eggs With five silkie hens, seven regular hens of mixed breed, four ducks of indeterminate sex and ten turkey hens we generally have an abundance of eggs. Despite the fact that several of the turkeys and hens are not laying, as they are broody the, there seem to be more than ever. Certainly more than two people can eat. Peter generally takes them to work and either sells them or gives them away. The turkey ones have not been that popular though. Today he said someone asked him for more turkey eggs as they had made an omelet with them and it was the best they have ever made. I find they rise up really well in omelets and Frittatas. I plan a big cooking evening sometime this week to turn the eggs into little herb quiches to put in the freezer for over the holidays when we will have a house full.
Read more

On my mind

Image
Puppy proofing my garden so the adorable Elle does not do too much damage! This is the result of my leaving a pot plant at ground level on the back porch. She is having a rest after her gardening!
Read more

A Bumper Citrus Harvest

Image
We have six old citrus trees here, two mandarins, two oranges, two lemons. They have fruited quite well most years since we have been here but this year they have the most extraordinary crop. They are loaded. We probably should have thinned them out but left it a bit too late. We have been eating the mandarins for a few weeks now, they are a bit tart but nice nevertheless. they are getting sweeter every day. We will have to give lots away and find some good mandarin recipes. I might have a go at preserving some segments as well. The oranges are not quite as prolific but will still keep us going for many months. The great thing about the winter fruit is that you can leave it on the tree and just pick it as you need it. We have planted some new citrus trees as well. they are very slow to grow but the ruby grapefruit tree has a decent crop this year. I really like grapefruit for breakfast. I will have to look after the other small citrus a bit more this winter and hopefully th...
Read more