I always enjoy growing my own plants, but there’s something even more exciting and gratifying about propagating them - producing plants by dividing, grafting, or rooting cuttings from existent stems.
Recently, I asked my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, to divide one large walking iris into four smaller ones. Walking iris, or fan iris, Neomarica caerulea, is a beautiful and sturdy plant known for its fans of pale green foliage and fragrant flowers that bloom in spring, summer, and fall.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
It is definitely rewarding when one plant can be easily divided to make multiple new ones. That’s what happened to one of my walking iris plants – it is now four.
I provided pots and instructed Ryan to use them for transplanting. The best pot for a walking iris is at least eight inches in diameter and about 10-inches deep. It should also be porous. I selected terra cotta, which will provide good water and air exchange.
After pulling the walking iris from its original pot and before dividing, Ryan removes any dead or unsightly foliage from the base of the plant.
Walking iris plants grow from rhizomes, or thickened stems that grow underground and serve as storage for water and other nutrients. Here is Ryan as he starts to divide the plant in two.
Next, Ryan assesses where he can cut each section again. Here he cuts one of the halves in two using a very sharp knife.
Here is a healthy section of the plant. Section dividing iris plants promotes good health and prevents overcrowding and competition for water and nutrients.
After cutting the plant into four, Ryan cleans up each one removing unnecessary foliage.
I save all the shards from broken pots for repotting. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, these shards come in very handy.
Ryan places a shard on top of the pot’s hole to maintain good drainage and to prevent soil from escaping.
Ryan adds a couple scoops of fertilizer and mixes it thoroughly with the Miracle-Gro potting soil.
I use Osmocote Plus with added nutrients – it will last for up to six months.
Ryan starts filling the pots with a few inches of soil.
And then gets the divided walking iris sections to plant.
He decides which section will go into each container. When transplanting, the plant should also be inspected for any signs of disease, rot, or pest infestation. These sections are in excellent condition.
Ryan makes adjustments and cuts the bottom of this section to better fit the pot.
Then Ryan places the plant in the pot at the same height it was in its previous container. If needed, he adds a bit more soil at the bottom.
Then Ryan backfills, keeping the plant straight as he adds soil.
Once the container is filled, Ryan tamps down on the soil gently to ensure good contact with the plant.
And here is one all potted up. Do you know how the walking iris got its name? After flowering in the garden, the plant’s stalk bends down and forms new plantlets or babies that root in the soil and give the appearance of moving through the earth.
And then there were four… I am excited to watch these potted walking irises flourish and multiply.
Here at my farm, it's been hot and humid with temperatures in the high 80s and 90s. Earlier this week, we got a brief respite with slightly cooler weather but unfortunately, no significant rain and the next couple of days are expected to be uncomfortably warm once again.
Supporting a working farm is a huge job. In order for it to thrive, the animals and gardens need constant tender loving care. I keep a running list of all the chores that need to be done at any given time, so it always looks and functions at its best.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
It’s important to check the orchard and garden every day to make sure fruits and vegetables are picked as soon as they’re ready. Here is my first big bounty of fresh, organic peaches – so sweet and delicious!
Enma picks the ripest peaches she can find. Peaches are ready when they are orange-red in color, when the flesh gives slightly to gentle pressure, and when they smell sweet.
This is my outdoor grounds crew resident mower, Adan, on our Kubota SZ22 Stand On Mower. He mows every day during the summer. He is excellent at keeping up with the growth and knows exactly when to mow what area next. Here he is in the orchard, carefully mowing in between the trees…
… from one end to the other. This stand on mower can do open areas as well as narrower spaces.
We’ve been using STIHL’s backpack blowers for years here at my farm. These blowers are powerful and fuel-efficient. The gasoline-powered engines provide enough rugged power to tackle heavy debris while delivering low emissions. Fernando blows the debris along the garden bed under my allée of lindens.
When living with horses, regular grooming is essential to their care and wellness. Grooming not only keeps horses clean, but also stimulates good circulation, encourages healthy bonding with handlers, and allows them to be checked closely for any signs of illness or injury. My stable manager, Helen, grooms the horses every day. Bond doesn’t seem to mind.
Another regular stable chore involves keeping the building’s interior clean. Here, Juan wipes down the stable bars and doors.
Up in the compost yard, my outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring, continues the tedious job of mulching all the beds around the farm. Thankfully, I am able to make good, nutrient-rich mulch right here. Chhiring is moving a load into the dump truck, so it can be transported to the next area on the list for top dressing – the pinetum.
Chhiring is using my Kubota M62 Tractor Loader Backhoe. It has a 63 horsepower engine, a front loader with a lift capacity of 3,960 pounds, and a powerful Kubota backhoe with 169.8 inch digging depth. Chhiring controls everything from the safety of the tractor’s cab. He can turn and sit facing either direction to maneuver the backhoe or the loader.
With no rain at all this week, the crew is also busy watering. I use Gilmour garden hoses and sprinklers and I personally show every member how to use them, so they can water properly and efficiently. Fernando positions this sprinkler to water the plantings outside my stable.
Ryan takes all the newly picked garlic to one area of my carport where it can cure for several weeks in a cool, shady, and dry location. Curing is a process of letting the garlic dry in preparation for long-term storage.
Soon, the garlic will also be cleaned and trimmed. Once the garlic is cured, the most beautiful heads with the biggest cloves will be set aside to use as garlic seeds next season. The rest will be enjoyed by me and my family.
Weeds in the garden are inevitable – left alone, so many of them quickly overtake healthy flowers, plants, and vegetables, stealing their sunlight, water, and soil nutrients. Every summer, my gardeners and crew try try hard to keep up with their rapid growth. Here’s Matthew weeding my long pergola before all the bright, beautiful tiger lilies bloom.
And, right by his side is my Multi-Purpose Reusable Heavy Duty Tote Bag – it’s so useful for carrying weeds, but also for organizing, and storing so many things indoors and out.
In the long Boxwood Allée, Phurba works on pruning and grooming the shrubs. Phurba is my resident boxwood pruning expert and has been with me for many years.
I prefer all the boxwood be trimmed by hand. Phurba uses Japanese Okatsune shears. These shears allow him to sculpt and groom as well as prune the foliage. Phurba also uses an orchard ladder that is light enough to carry as he moves from one shrub to the next.
For very narrow spaces such as in between the rows of my dwarf apple espalier, Adan uses a STIHL RM 655 VS gas push mower. While I have replaced many grassy areas with mulch to reduce the amount of mowing around my farm, there is still a lot of mowing to do.
Later in the day, Helen, power washes the stable floor in preparation for a photo shoot. It’s also important to keep various areas clean and tidy for production use.
This week, my outdoor grounds crew is also giving the four miles of carriage road around my farm some attention. The Land Pride PR1690 Power Rake is secured to the back of our tractor in order to rake and grade the carriage roads.
When the rake is lowered onto the road surface and tilted to the proper angle, the attachment moves the gravel and road dust to the center, creating a crown. On less used roads, the power rake freshens up the existing gravel as it turns and brings any compacted gravel to the surface. Pete just finished this section of road leading to my pastures.
It’s always busy at my farm. My crew works hard to get all the chores checked off the list every day. I hope you’re getting lots of your summer tasks checked off too!
It's garlic picking time when the bottom leaves of the plants start to die back and turn brown, the top leaves are still green, and the soil in the bed is completely dry.
Knowing when garlic is ready to pick can be tricky. If it’s harvested too soon, the cloves are small and underdeveloped. If done too late, the clove heads begin to separate, making them more vulnerable to decay. Yesterday was just right. My gardeners harvested our entire crop - the softnecks, which produce long-lasting bulbs with many cloves around a soft center stem, and the hardnecks, which are noted for their stiff central stalk, fewer cloves, relatively short shelf life, and intriguingly complex flavors. And all from our friends at Keene Garlic, a family-owned farm in Wisconsin.
Enjoy these photos.
Once the top of the garlic plant begins to die back, it’s ready to pick. My gardeners waited for a dry day to harvest – this allows the soil to dry out, helps to prevent rot, and makes it much easier to pull the stalks and bulbs from the ground. The main harvest time is usually late July through mid-August.
Garlic is planted in the fall. I’ve been planting Keene Garlic for quite some time and am always pleased with their growth and taste. The next several photos are from a sunny, mild early November day of last year.
Here, Ryan prepares the bed for planting. The majority of garlic in the US is planted from mid-October through November before the ground freezes. When planting multiple rows of garlic, the rows are at least one-foot apart.
It is also important to give each clove enough room to grow and develop. These are at least two to three inches from each other.
And then the garlic is left to grow. Garlic loves a rich fertile loam soil or a silty loam soil. It also grows best in an area that drains well – the cloves can rot if they sit in water or mud.
In June, one can see the scapes beginning to form. Garlic scapes are the flower buds of the garlic plants. They’re ready about a month before the actual garlic bulbs. Scapes are delicious and can be used just like garlic.
Scapes can be cut when the center stalks are completely formed and the ends are curled.
Yesterday was a beautiful day to harvest garlic. Matthew uses a pitch fork to gently loosen the soil in between the garlic stems.
Each garlic is pulled out from the base of the leaves so that the head comes out completely.
Here’s Ryan with one of the first garlic heads of the season.
As Matthew continues to loosen the soil, Ryan picks the garlic – it’s a very systematic process.
The whole garlic is called a ‘head’, a ‘bulb’, or a ‘knob.‘ Each small, individual segment of a garlic head is a clove. Garlic is both delicious and nutritious. It is known to lower cholesterol, decrease the risk of coronary artery disease, and is an excellent source of minerals and vitamins, such as vitamins B6 and C.
Ryan shows two bunches of freshly picked Elephant garlic. Elephant garlic is actually a leek that resembles garlic in growing and in appearance. It has a very mild flavor. It is most commonly found in grocery stores. Jumbo sized Elephant garlic will have about eight to 11 cloves depending on the size.
It isn’t long before the entire bed is picked.
The next step is to prepare the garlic for curing. Ryan cuts off the top of each garlic leaving about a three to four-inch stalk.
Trimming the stalks makes it easier to store and keeps them neat and uniform.
No bed is ever left empty during the garden season. After the garlic is harvested, the bed is cleaned and prepped for the next crop.
The bed is ready for planting. What do you think I’ll plant next?
Look at the bounty! But it is not ready to eat just yet. It must still dry. Curing is a process of letting the garlic dry in preparation for long-term storage. There’s no need to wash garlic – the point is to completely dry them out. Well-cured, well-wrapped garlic bulbs will keep six to eight months or longer. The best storage temperature for garlic is between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, with low humidity at about 60-percent – and never store garlic in the refrigerator. I will soon have lots of delicious garlic to use and share.
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