Potage Palaver (Spring Garlic - What is it? and Powdery Mildew)
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| My plum trees in spring... not yet in bloom this year. |
Happy first day of spring 2022! Things are really starting to happen out in the yard and garden! I love spring. While summer is my most favourite time of year as it gives me tomatoes and cucumbers, spring makes me so happy with all the new colour and blooms popping out. Trees are budding, tulips and daffs are are poking through the ground, little English daisies (Bellis) are popping up in the lawn. Spring is truly on the way.
My three plum trees have loads of buds on them so will soon be in full bloom like in the picture above. They bloom in early April. The scent is magnificent, sweet like cotton candy, and the trees are completely abuzz, humming with happy bees and beneficials.
The grape hyacinths, squill, and crocuses are starting to pop out in my flowering pollinator lawn. Putting in that alternative lawn is the best thing I have ever done. I absolutely love the way it looks from season to season. This is just year two for the lawn so will see how it fills out, am expecting bigger and better results than in year one, but time will tell.
While main crop garlic is planted in fall, you may be wondering why you are now starting to see bulbs available at the garden centres? It may be sold in bulk but mostly you will find it in a mesh bag, generally 3 per bag.
So, what's the scoop? Can you actually grow garlic at this time of year?
Well, the answer is both yes and no. You can definitely plant it, it will grow and give you garlic ... but not in the sense that we all are used to your garlic looking. Any garlic planted now is not going to break into cloves but will instead look like a bulb, or an onion, called garlic rounds. No cloves, just a single bulb-like looking thing. This is often called spring garlic, or green garlic, and is a total delight to your summertime cooking! You can also harvest it when it looks like fat green onions for that lovely mild garlic flavour in your cooking.
If you cannot find garlic to plant now for summer garlic, you can also harvest some of your fall sown garlic early for a really special treat, before they split into cloves. This only works if you grew extras though, we garlic growers get very possessive about every single one of our bulbs ; )
Here is an article about what happens to spring planted garlic, what it is, and how to use it. Everything You Need To Know About Green Garlic | Chatelaine
And here is an article that I wrote about it last year, when I heard about it and decided that I had to have these wonderful rounds in my life. So yummy! Spring Garlic (thenittygrittypotager.blogspot.com)
This is really good timing as we just had the tomato starting workshop this week. Here are some tips for how to start most anything from seed.
Here is a great article about powdery mildew, the bane of our squash plants in late summer. I use the milk solution, practice good garden spacing, and water at soil level to prevent or minimize powdery mildew.
This blog always has really lovely pictures and great flower growing information. 12 Spring Projects That Will Help Your Summer Garden Thrive - Shiplap and Shells
Like to read about gardening? Here is gardening website with tons and tons of information about anything and everything. What to do each month, when and how to do spring clean up, pruning, seed starting... just about everything you can think of. So much information on this website, you need to check it out.
I joined up for their 10 day grow-along seminars and have thoroughly been enjoying it. Today is the last day sadly, so I cannot send you the link to it, but if they do it again next year, you really need to check it out.
I am huge on companion planting, it is near and dear to my heart, as they say. Want to grow food without worrying about bugs? Come chat about gardening with beneficial insects? Which plants to grow and why? Join me at my workshops.
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| Nectarine in bloom : ) |
Wishing you all a really wonderful week ahead ~ Tanja
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