When you say “Spring planted” garlic, was that this Spring (2014) or last year? I have tried garlic a few times but when I’ve planted it in the Fall, nothing happened.
Any tips on what to plant in the areas that will be open once the last of the lettuce and radishes are gone but we still have some time before frost hits?
Our tomato plants are huge and all the fruit is turning red at the same time, so much for planting 5 different kinds and thinking they’d ripen alternatively. I will try sun-drying some of the smaller plum type and might process the excess (I don’t have a pressure canner so I think I have to add sour salt if I water-bath them, I haven’t ever tried before)
I cut a HUGE zucchini that was hiding under the leaves this afternoon, it’s the size of a baseball bat!
Decided to sacrifice my parsley to the black swallowtails — there are about 10 caterpillars of different sizes munching away, but we need the pollinators here badly, so they can eat it all. Next year I’ll plant some dill for them, since we don’t like that as much and they can eat it instead.
We are also getting highs in the 80’s with 60’s overnight, and just enough rain to keep the sprinklers dormant, for the most part. It’s been a really good season for our little garden, much better than last year.
I planted an “extra hardy” of nearly $20/pound seed German harneck last Fall, as that is what’s recommended for it. Most of it had not survived, nor thrived the previous year, so I used what little I had from that harvest to replant. It did do better than the previous year, but still nothing to write home about.
I planted 2 or 3 varieties of soft neck garlics this Spring, all either bought at the store, or at the organic market. They are not hardy enough to over-winter in our Zone-4/5 climate, so get planted as early as possible in the spring.
In any case, garlic is a heavy feeder, and needs P for root development, more than it does N for tops or K for flowers—not wanted. Also, it needs to be kept fairly well watered, same as onions, to maintain growth.
As for tips, I’m too new at garlic to have any, but Tubebender is a garlic grower par excellance!
As for fall planting, we only get a single short growing season, so can’t really do succession planting; however, depending how long you have until freeze—not frost—you can try any of several quick maturing cabbage family crops, especially if you can start with transplants. Also carrots can work, and stay in until the ground freezes; nothing wrong with harvesting them before full maturity if you need to. Also short season peas, usually bush types, to ensure maturity before they’re winter killed. Depending on your climate, you might also get fall spinach. Basically anything that is low number of growing days that would be planted in cool early spring weather can be used for a fall crop, if your August isn’t a real baker.