Today I planted 25 freesias and 10 bluebells. The bluebells are in front of our bedroom window, a semi shaded area. The freesias are alongside the path which leads to the kitchen/back door. It's the area which I grew garlic in last season and which now has some herbs in it plus lettuces and pansies. Some lettuces have gone to seed which looks quite pretty. I may leave the freesias in the ground to see if they naturalise there. I'm moving that bed towards perennial herbs and other plants which don't need to be replanted every year or more.
The freesias and bluebells are my new bulbs for the year (though I want more). I still have various bulbs - tulips, irises, crocuses, freesias and daffodils which I lifted in Summer and which will be due for replanting soon. If I can make the time to create some new soil in front of the garage, then I will plant them out there. Should be pretty to arrive home to and not take out edible growing space from the back garden.
Today I did something I should have tried months ago. I bought some fine frost mesh from the garden nursery and laid it over my brassicas. This will prevent the white butterflies from laying their eggs on my plants, or at least that is the plan.
I'm still eating cherry tomatoes off our vines. The non-cherry ones are all caterpillar-ridden. The harvest is slowing markedly though and fruit is often split. They'll be for the compost soon I suspect. Swiss chard, leeks, celery, basil and marigolds are growing around the tomatoes at the moment. I'll leave the celery in as long as it survives or until we eat it all. The leeks are for Winter/Spring but the others will die off or get eaten as winter approaches. So all this will leave space for lots of garlic. I ordered some garlic from Koanga Seeds in the weekend to add to my own cloves from last season (which in turn originated from an organic grower in Raglan, Waikato, NZ) and also some from the 3kg of garlic I bought from an organic grower in Karamea, West Coast. I haven't forgotten about keeping some bulbs for Patrick.
Food, Home Maintenance, eCookbook and Gracie
6 hours ago
1 comment:
Thanks for remembering me!
I'm just about to start harvesting some baby garlic, and it's strange to think of you as just planting yours.
I make baby or spring garlic by planting the large cloves from the large bulbs for my main crop and all the rest of the cloves I put together in a special place. Early in the spring, and as my winter supply for dried garlic gets used up, I start digging up some of the baby garlic plants. These can be chopped up like spring onions (the taste is garlic, not onion!), and added to things like stirfrys or salads. What's still in the ground in a month or two can be dug up and used as fresh garlic bulbs.
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