It’s that time of the year when we garlic lovers need to be thinking about starting our next garlic crop. For those of us in the upper Southeast part of the country, the best planting time will be in November. Why November? Because for the cloves to develop nicely, they need a temperature between 32 degrees and 50 degrees fahrenheit. November tends to offer those kind of temperatures here in the southeast, but you can stretch this timing in either direction a bit. Later is better than earlier if … [Read more...] about It’s Garlic Time Again
Garlic
Garlic: Bane of Raccoons and Vamps Everywhere: Scene 2
Last week, in the first installment of all things garlic, the discussion leaned towards picking the right varieties. Now, it's time to get dirty and put some cloves in the ground. 1)Mise en Place Some of the best ingredients for a garlic garden plot is alfalfa (hay, meal or pellets), bone meal or soft rock phosphate. Bone meal and soft rock both contain a good amount of the delicious phosphorous garlic gobbles up. I prefer soft rock since beneficial microbes (like mycorrhizae ) readily … [Read more...] about Garlic: Bane of Raccoons and Vamps Everywhere: Scene 2
Garlic: Bane of Raccoons and Vamps Everywhere: Scene I.
Garlic is a gift to the world. The unwrapping of each clove endows more surprises than Christmases, birthdays, and strippers out of large cakes combined. Culinary speaking, a roasted clove endows a rich flavor to even the most paltry of dishes. Health-wise, ingesting even one raw clove a day adds powerful antioxidant weapons against the possible onslaught of cancer. In the garden, numerous bugs with greedy reputations will flee in droves at the mere mist of homemade garlic sprays. Farmers and … [Read more...] about Garlic: Bane of Raccoons and Vamps Everywhere: Scene I.
Bugging Out: Part 2
The tirade on bad bugs continues... Mites The Lowdown: Mite's microscopic size cause consternation with the naked eye. More frustrating is the fact that if mites go unchecked, they can produce 16 generations in a season! The most common interloper in indoor and outdoor gardens are spider mites. They cause damage by piercing plant cells to feed. The adults spin webs to protect from prey (thus the name). Broad mites can cause more hair pulling thanks to even being invisible with a … [Read more...] about Bugging Out: Part 2
