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.
Beautiful, colorful dahlias continue to bloom at my farm.
Dahlias begin to bloom with great profusion just as other plants pass their prime and they last right up until the first frost. My all-dahlia garden is planted in a large bed behind my vegetable greenhouse. I have flowers ranging from small to giant dinner-plate size in all different colors and forms. And to keep them flourishing, I make sure to continuously deadhead spent blooms - it’s the key to keeping this garden bursting with flowers all season long.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Every day I’m home, I make it a point to tour my farm several times to see how the gardens are doing. This time of year, when it’s hot and dry, it’s important to make sure everything gets watered, weeded, and maintained properly.
I often say my favorite flowers are those blooming at the time because I love them all. Right now, my dahlias are bursting with color. There are about 42 species of dahlia, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants. A member of the Asteraceae family of dicotyledonous plants, some of its relatives include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia.
The genus Dahlia is native to the high plains of Mexico. Some species can be found in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica as well as parts of South America where it was introduced.
Dahlias were first recorded by Westerners in 1615, and were then called by their original Mexican name, acoctli. The first garden dahlias reached the United States in the early 1830s. Today, dahlias are grown all over the world.
It is named after the Swedish 18th century botanist Anders Dahl, who originally declared the flower a vegetable, as the tubers are edible.
Flowers come one head per stem. The blooms can be as small as two-inches in diameter or up to one foot across. They are divided into 10 groups: single, anemone, collarette, waterlily, decorative, fall, pompon, cactus, semi-cactus, and miscellaneous.
Dahlia leaves are typically dark green, lance-shaped, and have a slightly rough texture.
Dahlias can vary in height, leaf color, form, and shape. This is because dahlias are octoploids, meaning they have eight sets of homologous chromosomes, whereas most plants have only two.
They produce an abundance of wonderful flowers throughout early summer and again in late summer until the first frost.
Dahlias are popularly grown for their long-lasting cut flowers. From the side, many dahlia petals grow all around the flower head giving it a very full appearance.
And they thrive in rich, well-drained soil with a pH level of 6.5 to 7.0 and slightly acidic.
The majority of dahlia species do not produce scented flowers or cultivars, but they are brightly colored to attract pollinating insects.
Dahlias come in white, shades of pink, red, yellow, orange, shades of purple, and various combinations of these colors – every color but true blue. In the 19th century, a London newspaper offered a pound, or a little more than a dollar, to the first breeder to create a blue dahlia—the reward was never claimed, but there have been many attempts that are near-blue.
And as the flowers finish blooming, when petals have begun to wilt, fade, or turn brown around the edges, it’s time to deadhead, or remove spent flowers.
Deadheading through the season prevents the plants from redirecting their energy into seed production, allowing them to focus on producing more flowers instead. Ryan clips below the flower head just at the junction with the neighboring stem.
Deadheading also helps maintain the overall health of the plant, keeps the garden looking tidy and prevents the spread of pests and disease.
Ryan will check the dahlia garden once a week and trim any faded blooms.
After just a few minutes, Ryan has deadheaded the entire garden – it doesn’t take long at all.
And to prevent wilting, when cutting do so only in the early morning or late afternoon. And only cut them after they open to mature size – dahlias will not open after cutting.
So, go out and check your dahlias. Deadheading now and through the season will mean more to enjoy until the onset of winter.
Planting evergreens in the garden provides year-round lush foliage of color and texture.
Here at my farm, I have an area I call my pinetum, an arboretum of evergreens and other conifers located behind my giant Equipment shed. Earlier this year, I expanded the pinetum under my grove of weeping willows and planted a number of interesting pines, junipers, and Oriental spruce. As the garden develops, I check to see what areas need more filling and plant accordingly. It takes lots of patience and time to create a garden. This one is looking better and better every season.
Enjoy these photos.
Early last spring, I decided to expand my pinetum. The bed was cleared, cleaned, and prepared for planting.
Over several weeks, I planted a variety of different evergreens with interesting growth habits, foliage, and texture.
After the area was recently groomed, I noticed more plants were needed to fill in various empty spaces.
I worked with my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, to plan what specimens would make nice additions. These are potted Eastern red cedars.
Here’s Ryan also positioning some potted pines – the varying colors of the trees and shrubs will look so beautiful together.
More plant were placed strategically around the giant garden bed. As gardens develop, it’s important to watch what does well, note where plants are still needed, and then thoughtfully decide what should be added next.
I always encourage my team to use the right tools for the right jobs. Do you know the difference between a shovel and a spade? A shovel is longer, angled, and its blade is curved into more of a scoop with a pointed tip. Shovels are better for digging up, breaking apart, and lifting soil as well as for scooping and moving loose materials. A spade has a relatively flat blade with straight edges and the blade tends to be in line with the shaft, rather than angled forward. Spades are good for edging and cutting.
Norman uses the spade to cut through the soil and outline the hole which should be at least twice the size of the plant.
Then he uses the shovel to lift the soil out.
Now this hole and its surrounding soil are ready for a sprinkling of fertilizer.
I use the appropriate Scotts fertilizer for evergreens and flowering trees and shrubs.
Norman removes the plant from its pot and teases the roots on the bottom. The root ball is in good condition, so this can easily be done with one’s hand. Scarifying the roots helps with nutrient absorption by loosening them and allowing them to expand into the new soil.
Norman places it in the hole and checks to be sure that it is planted at the right depth. It should be at the same level as it was in the pot.
Finally, he backfills and tamps down lightly to create a good connection between the root ball and the existing soil.
These weeping willow trees, which I planted here years ago, have done so well. Weeping willows are wide and tall with curtains of drooping branches that sweep the ground.
It takes a full day to get all the plants in, but they fill the areas nicely. When adding plants to any garden, always consider the planting environment, the plant’s growth habit and space needs, and its light requirements.
Norman plants a cypress nearby.
I always look for interesting and hardy specimens to add to the gardens. Many are slow growing, but in time these will fill the spaces nicely.
Everything thrives here in part because of the excellent soil which I amend often with nutrient rich compost and organic fertilizer. I am very proud of how it is developing. I’ll be sure to share more photos of the pinetum as the newest trees and shrubs grow.
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