The Many Uses of Garlic

From the earliest times garlic has been used as a food. Garlic has been used as both food and medicine in many cultures for thousands of years, dating as far back as the time that the Egyptian pyramids were built. Here you can see that garlic can be used ornamentally as well







The leaves, stems(scape) and flowers(bulbils) on the head(spathe) are also edible and most often consumed while immature and still tender.

You can grow your own garlic and now is the time to get started. Garlic can be grown in spring as well, but to get the biggest and best bulbs the plant needs the winter time to set its' root system and begin to set its' bulb as well.

1. Plant from October 1st through November 1st or anytime right after the first killing frost.
   
2. Leave the outer skin on the bulbs and do not separate cloves from the bulbs until you are ready to plant.
   
3. Plant cloves root end down, 4 to 6 inches apart in rows.
   
4. Cover with 2 to 4 inches of soil. The best soil offers good drainage and ample organic matter. Be sure to prepare the area by working the soil with a garden fork and add some quality compost. Consider adding worm castings and some organic fertilizer that will supply balanced nutrients (e.g. 10-10-10). By applying the organic fertilizer in the fall the nutrients will be available in the spring when the garlic begins actively growing.
   
5. Keep weeds under control. You can facilitate this by mulching with a quality mulching material. Garlic does not do well in competition with weeds.
   
6. Once the growing season begins in the spring make sure the developing garlic has ample water while growing, but let the ground dry out a few weeks before harvest.
   
7. Harvest when the tops start to die and fall over (usually in midsummer).
   
8. When harvesting, shake the dirt off. Clip the roots and tops, leaving an inch of stem above the bulb, then place on screens to dry for four to six weeks. Obviously, if you want to do garlic braids such as those in the picture above, then you would want to leave the tops intact. If you can, find a screen to lay the garlic on which would allow the leaves to hang down straight.

Garlic is easy to grow and doesn't have a lot of problematic diseases or pests. As a matter of fact it is a great companion to grow to help protect the plants around it.

Organic gardeners know that diversity in the garden creates a healthy and beautiful environment. It's also believed that certain plants help enhance the growing environment for other plants. Garlic is one of these plants and is often paired up with roses, as garlic is said to ward off pests that attack roses.

Garlic is a great choice for fall planting.

Happy gardening, organically...

Christy
Mother Earth's Farm

Fall Is Perfect Time For Planting and Building Your Soil

Now that the gardening season has run its course, most gardeners are kicking back and thinking the end of summer means the end of the garden. But, if you have decided that you want to make a go of gardening organically you must know that fall is not the time to get lazy.

Fall is the best time for planting your trees, shrubs and perennials with the long winter months providing the down time needed for building a healthy root system. Plus, fall is the most important time to be working on improving your soil.

If you are serious about going organic then you have to get the nutrients into the soil that the chemicals would normally provide and add the organic matter that sets the stage for healthy root growth.

Fall's chore list can be long, but the benefits go way beyond much of what you do during the hot summer months or the cold wet days of spring. If you do your work in fall you have winter to do much of your work for you.

There are three things you should concentrate on adding to you soil this time of year:

1. raw organic matter



2. organic nutrients



3. finished compost

RAW ORGANIC MATTER

Unless you live where your weather allows you to garden year around your garden will lay fallow through the winter months. If you do garden year around then you should be allowing a portion of your garden to lay fallow in order to build up the soil between plantings.

By adding raw organic matter to your soil you feed all the beneficial bacteria and fungi that live in your healthy soil. These beneficials are a big part of your success in your organic garden. These beneficial organisms will need nitrogen to do their work and would benefit from an addition of a nitrogen source to help them function properly. A good source of natural nitrogen comes from animal manure. Fall is a great time to add manure to your soil. You don't have to worry about the manure burning anything as "O'man Winter" takes care of everything. See my post on animal manures titled "The Scoop on Poop" posted on 5/15/07 for valuable information on manures. If you don't have a ready supply of any type of manure available you can use granular organic fertilizer. This is a good one to choose:

All-Purpose Fertilizer, 25 Lbs.

Shredded leaves are at the top of the list for good additions to the soil in fall. It's the time of year when leaves are readily available and they break down to provide valuable humus. Use a shredder if you have one or mow over them with your lawnmower to break them up.

ORGANIC NUTRIENTS

Nutrients from an organic source are not immediately available as with chemicals. This is why you need to add them to your soil in the fall, so the nutrients will be available next spring. Again, you are feeding the beneficial organisms with each addition to your soil. Kelp meal, greensand, soft rock phosphate, alfalfa meal, feather meal or bone meal are all good sources of organic nutrients. Many of these are also an excellent nitrogen source. Follow the instructions on the package for application rates. Sometimes a little will go a long way and more is not always better. It's all about balance of nutrients.

It's a good idea to do a soil test to determine the pH of your soil. Fall is a good time to adjust the pH so it happens slowly over time. If your pH is not in optimum levels for the plants you want to grow then it won't matter that the nutrients are there, the plant cannot utilize them.

FINISHED COMPOST

If your compost bin, be it conventional or a worm bin, is not producing a large amount of quality, finished compost it is worth purchasing what you need to supplement it. Also, understand that your worm compost is different from conventional compost. A quality worm compost has a wide variety of beneficial organisms that will compliment the soil food web you support with your soil ammendments.

Purchasing a truckload of quality compost might seem like over-kill. But do it once and you'll never go through another fall without it. Store it on a large tarp to keep the area neat and keep it covered to keep it from getting soggy in the fall rains. The tubtrug is a great garden helper when it comes to getting compost where you need it. With it's bright colors it's easy to spot no matter where you leave it.

Colorful Tubtrug

As you remove the garden debris from your beds use a garden fork to work up the top soil down about 6" and work in a 3"-4" layer of compost.

Flower beds also need compost. As you cut back your perennials in preparation for winter work compost into the soil around the root zone. As you remove your annuals and plant new bulbs add compost as you work.

And as you plant your trees and shrubs, a few shovels full of compost added to the soil that goes back into the hole is a good idea.

BETTER SOIL = BETTER GARDEN

By building your soil you are arming it with what it needs to help retain water, support healthy root systems, and help your plants fend off disease and pests. Building better soil is the single most important thing you can do to help guarantee success in your garden.

So get out of that hammock and off the patio and get to work on next years garden.

Success,

Christy
Mother Earth's Farm / VermiCulture Northwest

Worm Factory

The cleanest, most efficient way to compost with worms.
www.vermiculturenorthwest.com