I just planted another round of garlic cloves yesterday. 
Took up a whole raised bed with Red Chesnok, Korean Red, and a bit of Spanish Roja. The rest of the Spanish roja when in the other raised bed. This takes up about 2/3rds of my planting space, aside from pots, so this is going all in.
This coming weekend will be tackling flowering bulbs.
Not for me, in my cllimate.
All that everything sounds like too much work. Never mind it looks like there are zero nutrients in that mix. Maybe if I was growing rare hybrid adeniums, but the whole process to me seems like something that takes up too much time, driving around, mixing, rinsing, and eventual watering and fertilizing to be worth it. There are easier, more rewarding ways.
I don’t disagree!
Forgive me if you have already shared, but can you share any easier, more rewarding ways to grow hardneck garlic in containers with mild winters and hot springs?
Last season I decided the easier, more rewarding way was to just say no.
I am looking at about 15 sub-irrigation planters I want to manage over the next one or two seasons, and have shallots, garlic, collards, parsley, sugar snaps and sweet peas. I’ve done most of these for many years, but get frustrated when deciding when to discard or ammend my container mix.
One year for Mothers’ Day I asked for and received a cement mixer. I use it to throw old potting mixtures into and add deodorized manure and other various amendments from Texas greensand to mycorrhizae.
But to be honest I haven’t done that in a few years, and I’m overdue for a large reconditioning.
About garlic I have no idea. I keep thinking I should plant some but all the stores have it and it’s cheap and usually very good. The folks I know that plant garlic here plant in September, no idea if it’s hardneck they’re planting or not.
I have a double compost tumbler that works like that but presumably much smaller.
I don’t know, this one’s not that huge. I think it’s from Harbor Freight, but the composters I’ve seen are usually bigger than this one. Definitely not a great big commercial model
Shrinkrap, I probably suggested using topsoil, amended with compost, composted manure and a pH between 6-7. Garlic demands good drainage and does not like being soaked all the time. During bulb formation, I water it when it’s approaching dry and when the tops start to die, watering is halted. Planting mixes which are very high in peat or other water-holding components may stay too wet. Loam soils, sometimes sold as topsoil, usually work well. These contain a mix of clay, sand and humus, in tiny particles.
If you, or others here would like me to do pH tests on soils, you can mail me a sample(s), about one cup each. I’ve got a lab-quality pH meter. The same meter can do a quick conductivity test, which gives an idea as to how “salty” the soil is. Here, salt refers to any molecules that form ions in water. Very low values, expressed in microsiemens/cm (µS/cm), indicate poor nutrient content. Very high values indicate potentially harmful levels of minerals and the soil needs leaching to rinse these out.
As usual, I can be contacted through the gmail account rob.botanique@ etc. etc.
The average frost date here is Oct. 10. It’s the 23rd of Oct., and there’s no frost in the forecast yet. Still, it’s time to get the gingers inside for dormancy, dig tubers and hack the Lemongrass into smaller sections for planting and harvest stalks for cooking. To avoid stressing the plant with sun, this activity is best done in early morning.
Any roots on the stalks are left until processing, since some may get given to friends. A single Lemongrass stalk, with roots, can make a new plant. All of the above came from a single, in-ground plant, which was planted as a one gallon pot in late May! A bunch of the stalks will get cleaned, trimmed, split and freeze dried with oxygen absorbers. Some will get vacuum-sealed and frozen.
If time permits, some stalks will get used to make Thai “Gai Ping”, where spiced, ground chicken gets formed around the lemongrass stalks before grilling; the stalks forming a sort of skewer which flavors the meat.
Wow, that’s a haul! It’s technically not frosty here yet either, but we finally have night time temperatures dropping below 50. My lemon grass was harvested 2 weeks ago, as they were already starting to look sad. I think part of that is because they were outgrowing their pots; they really multiply and sprout much faster than I expected!
My small citrus plants were already objecting to temps in the 50s, and I saw a few leaves getting some yellow so had to get those little babies indoor quick.
More fall gardening.
My fingernails are so dirty. How is that not better than nail polish?
Thank you @bogman ! Thank you all!
The last gasp of the garden provided an ample amount of green beans for dinner, a zucchini (yet unused) a cup of raspberries or so, and a couple dozen tomatoes in various states of ripeness, mostly greenish. Not enough to can, but adequate for use here and there or in a small to medium sized batch of sauce for pasta or pizza. Will post a pic of the spent garden soon, find it a little sad this time of year…
It’s my favorite…“wait until next year!”
My balcony plants are currently being battered to death by 40 MPH winds. I know they’ll tough it out and maybe produce a little bit more (the sungold needs to get to 100 fruit and it’s almost there!), but the season’s mostly over here. In a few months, I get to plant again - looking forward to that!
The Magroot lime leaves here were doing the same yellowing, so it was hauled inside.
Lemon Grass needs a lot of soil space to do well. I try to incorporate some slow-release organics into the soil, before planting. One thing to be careful with: handling Lemon Grass. I’ve had more than one “paper cut” from the leaves.
Wow! So green still! Everything here is turning brown or dead. Your place looks like spring!
No fall crops this year and the summer crops are gone, save one tomato vine (out of 30), native passionfruit and the Apios. Leeks and Chinese scallions look good. The former went into a leek and potato soup yesterday…yum!
Dirty fingernails are honest fingernails! And, it can be scrubbed off after working the soil. Nail polish can encourage nail fungus by providing a very humid, dark environment over the nail bed.
Very nice poblanos! How will you use them?
My so-called cut back tomatoes look WAY better than they did in August. I’m thinking this might be like a Texas or Florida, and maybe Arizona thing. Is that right? Are you guys starting tomatoes now?
Rebuilding perrrenial bed from last year’s fire.
I’ve seen a bald eagle doing the breast stroke in a pond, so I’ll believe anything.
That baby barn owl looks like it was caught in another baby barn owls nest with another barn owls woman!
