Garlic and other new friends

Last fall I planted garlic, shallots, leeks and a couple onions.

I had planted garlic and leeks before to limited success. But, this summer I harvested a good amount of beautiful garlic and shallots. What a boon!

You buy a few bulbs in the fall, plunk them in the ground, ward off the frenetic squirrels for a few weeks and then wait till late spring or early summer to harvest.

Awesome. It was almost too easy.

So, this year (2012) I plan to go bigger with my allium (onion family) fall planting. In July I started leeks from seed. In late October and early November planted the leek starts in the troughs. I set aside about a foot on the side of the trough for the leeks and then created a barrier to the sections with bricks.

The reason for this is that leeks need to have soil added to them so that a larger part of their stems remain white. In order to do this I am starting the leeks in soil that is lower than the rest of the trough's soil. I am using bricks to create a barrier between the area I am planting the leeks and where I am planting other stuff. That way I can start them off lower than the other items and then add soil to create larger white areas in the leek stems. This is definitely an experiment since this is the second time I've ever attempted leeks.

I also planted several types of garlic and shallots. I am excited to see which ones we prefer next summer!

And, in between it all I inter-planted lettuce, pak choy and arugula in one trough and beets in a section of the other. My hope is that they will be done long before the garlic, shallots and leeks really get going and need more room. But, as I said this is a working experiment.

Today as wrap up this blog entry that I mostly wrote earlier this fall, the lettuce and pak choy seem to be coming along best. Both troughs are covered with a shade cloth to help protect their contents and soil from the rain, and lately frost.


Now comes the tough part. Waiting.