All garden stuff now, you understand...
My gardening thoughts have turned to preparing for Winter, which is when the benefits of having our own produce will really kick in - dark green leafy veg to eat very fresh while the supermarkets are hocking a very limited range of produce for a substantial amount of money. Kale, arugula, winter lettuce, leeks, beetroot and various other possibilities are on my list. I'm wondering about Florence Fennel but might be too late to plant it. Too late for celeriac also, but I'll do that next Spring. The raised bed of potatoes has yielded beautiful soil, just exactly like the books said it would. Found a flatworm (i.e. a nematode I think) in there - anyone know what bad things these actually do?
So the winter brassicas will go in the raised bed, following the potatoes according to some optimal plan I read in Spring and remembered. I'm still considering what else will go where in relation to my other garden beds. Patrick has definitely convinced me to take care not to replant garlic in the same bed year on year, but I haven't encountered any suggestions for the best crop(s) to go in after garlic. Hoping Patrick is reading and has some ideas tbh.
I've also been upping my focus on soil enrichment/replenishing. I haven't put as much effort into this as I think I ought to, based on my reading of Linda Woodrow's Permaculture Home Garden book. I really ought to be using my Bokashi liquid more effectively for a start. But I have remembered about the bin full of horse manure tea at the far side of the garage and started to use that in the watering can again. Menstrual blood is a good resource (I never ever said this blog would be for those of a delicate disposition) which until now had been going on the garlic. It is now going on the tomatoes. I do need to go seaweed gathering but as we've been social butterflying around of late to the point of fed upness, I'm focusing for the meantime on activities which are entirely and utterly home based. My other soil enrichment experiment has been to remove the large leaves of the docks in my invasive patch (garden is a little too grand a term for it atm) and place them as mulch around the garlic. Docks have long taproots which bring up good things from deep in the soil and so putting the leaves around the garlic and letting the rain and sun do it's stuff should gift some of those minerals to my family's tummies eventually.
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1 week ago
5 comments:
I don't think nematodes and flatworms are the same thing. Nematodes are usually microscopic. I just read in Wikipedia that NZ flatworms are invasive outside of their native environment, and have displaced most native species in Scotland and Ireland after accidentally being introduced there in the 1960s. I don't think they'll cause any harm in your garden.
Since garlic is a heavy feeder, it might be a good idea to plant something like a bean or pea in order to fix nitrogen and replenish the soil.
Overwintering fava (broad) beans are a great way to do this, but you should probably wait a few months before planting these. Fava beans are also only good to about -10C, so if your winter is colder than this you should plant them in the spring instead.
Planting peas now might be a good way to get a fall crop of these, and these also fix nitrogen into the soil and are a little frost tolerant.
If you still have 90 days until first frost, you could plant bush beans (dwarf french beans), also nitrogen fixers.
Instead of nitrogen fixing, you could also try light feeding crops like lettuce or greens. Maybe carrots, beets or chard.
While brassicas (cole plants) are heavy feeders like the garlic, if you think the soil is fertile enough to support it, you could winter plant cabbage or kale.
As long as you don't plant a member of the allium family (onions or garlic) for a few years in the same spot, you should be okay.
I just sent Koanga Gardens an email and asked if they would send me some of their garlic planting stock in April. They said they had too many NZ customers, and not enough stock, to consider send it overseas too. According to their website they also only sell it in cloves, and I would need whole bulbs in order to store it for the extra six months before planting it here. Is there any chance you could send me a few bulbs from your garden in 2009, after you grow it yourself?
Do you know how to cure garlic for long term storage? It's very easy, just hang it up to dry in an airy place for about a month. Also keep it as dry as possible after harvest, and don't use water to rinse it off. It's also very easy to clean after it's been cured, just rub a layer or two of skin off with your fingers and use an old toothbrush to remove the rest of the dirt.
Also, I usually harvest my garlic between about 25 July and 10 August, so I guess for you that would be 25 Jan/10 Feb. I do it when the leaves are about 1/3 brown, and for most garlics this happens almost exactly at the end of July for me. The trick is to leave it in the ground while it is still growing, but harvest it before the bulb starts opening up and falling apart.
The timing is more predictable than critical, and a week or two one way or another is not usually very important.
An interesting read Sandra (and Patrick!). I will be back to reread this post, I too need to be looking ahead now and thinking about the next rotation (I planted bassicas into my potato patch once they'd been dug).
No problem Patrick - I'll be happy to send you some garlic - you'll need to remind me though!
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