Some people have never planted garlic before. Six years ago, I was one of them. It is such and easy crop and uses garden space during the slower parts of the growing season when you have the space.
The first step is to buy good bulbs of garlic from the farmer's market. Make sure they are not damaged and are nice and firm. Size will depend on the type you are planting, but the bigger the better. If your goal is to braid garlic, then you will need a soft neck variety (ask your farmer, he will know). If you like a bigger bulb, then the hard neck varieties are probably more your speed. I have hard neck garlic in the photo above. You will never braid those stiff stems. I have one bulb broken into the six individual cloves. The cloves are what you plant. So, in this case, one bulb should yield six more bulbs if all goes well.
A general rule of thumb for planting bulbs is to plant three times the depth of the bulb. A one inch high bulb would be planted three inches deep. My garlic will go in about 4" deep. I dig a trench, add some compost, put in the clove of garlic (pointy end up), and cover with more compost. Done!
I mark the ends of my garlic row so I don't start another early season crop there next spring. I also put down some of my expanded metal squirrel-be-gone deterrents. If you have ever planted fall bulbs just to have them come and dig them up, this is an effective barrier to keep them out. I have had mystery bulbs come up in my yard from squirrels re-burying bulbs from the neighbor's yards. This year I had a bonus canna. Other years I have had tulips, hyacinths, and one other spring bulb that has multiplied and I still don't know the name of it.
As long as I had the shovel out, I dug a trench on the north side of one of my raised beds and tucked the Alpine strawberries in for winter. Unless we get a warm stretch, my berry days are done. I have not covered them in past years and they seem to overwinter just fine. I choose the north side to reduce the freeze-thaw cycle that the south side of the beds tend to have. I also chose to not put my garlic in the raised beds this year as last year's mild winter was confusing the garlic into growing so early. It didn't matter what side it was on as the soil barely froze last winter.
Tomorrow I will get out to clean out the beds and get my snow drops and daffodils in for next spring's bloom.
All the tomatoes have ripened and are not going to wait for us to eat them all fresh. Tonight, they became spaghetti sauce with one lone tomato on the window sill as a tribute to all the tomatoes that have gone before.
I am still holding on to my lettuce and cilantro. The late crop of radishes that I put in have a couple sets of leaves, but I doubt that the gamble I took will pay off in late radishes. I have a double cover on the bed of row and frost cover. The rain has been getting through, the sunlight is too low to really push any growth at this time of year. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The two varieties of kale that I grew for eating are powering through this time of year. Kale thrives in the cold weather and the flavor improves. I have to get out and get some of this on our plates soon.
There is still some Swiss chard and radicchio hanging in there. I haven't prepared as much of the chard as I have in years past (not one of John's favorites). The radicchio is a new plant for me. My coworkers enjoyed the first crop preparing it in different ways. They shared how well it worked in their cooking. I think this will be on our plates soon.
Parsnips are just starting the process which makes them best in cold weather. The starches start to turn to sugars making the plant fused with anti-freeze qualities. It also makes them very tasty. I used a couple in some beef pasties a few weeks ago. They are only getting sweeter as they get colder.
The Alpine strawberries are still trying to put on some fruit. It is taking so long for them to turn red. Sunlight is waning and so it the ripening power. They are still a delight whenever I find one on the plants. I think the squirrels have been beating me to the picking, though.
On the other side of cold weather plants are the ornamentals. The sedum in the background is a lovely back-drop to the Sunrise flowering kale. The sweet alysum fills in with a bed of snowy white flowers. Right behind this bed are the stars of the garden right now.
As everything else has died back, the 4-pack of flowering kale I purchase this spring is just glowing! While walking back from voting on Tuesday, I was astounded at how vibrant these are even from the distance. It is no wonder I have had so many people stop and ask what they are. They are like the neon signs of my fall garden. I apologize to those wondering what variety it is since I did not have a tag with them. Next year...more flowering kale. They really do look best when in full sun.
My pot of Sunset flowering kale is also looking pretty good. The plants brightened up after moving them into brighter light. I will tuck a few evergreen boughs into the soil to fill it out and take it into the Christmas season like I did last year. Maybe some lights as well.
The sauerkraut has stopped emitting gas so fermentation has completed. When you push down on the top and no bubbles rise to the surface, you know you have arrived. We have enjoyed a couple meals with our fresh kraut by just dipping some out of the bucket and replacing the cover to reseal the kraut from air. It has been very enjoyable eating homemade sauerkraut after so many years of not having it. My cut is a bit course since I used the knife instead of a mandolin or cutter to get it thinner.
Last night we enjoyed the kraut along side the last package of venison bratwurst and some store bought perogies. We do not make our own sausage, but had them done by a Croatian butcher near our home. Milwaukee is full of different ethnic populations that still make dishes in the old world tradition. The south side of town is blending in a larger Hispanic population with several grocery and bakery shops featuring Mexican and other Latino foods. El Rey is even a "chain" of stores with one right down the block from our home.
There is one sausage shop I really like in one of the old Polish neighborhoods. They were featured on Wisconsin Foodie if you are interested in seeing how they make sausage in the old tradition.
http://wisconsinfoodie.com/2012/01/24/european-homemade-sausage/
They are only open three days a week, Thursday-Saturday, and only until 4 pm. My job takes me by here at least once a week, so I can make a lunch time stop to get sausage for supper. They have some of the old "favorites" like head cheese (if that is your thing). They also carry a few other food items from other local producers, like pickled herring and perogies. People come in from out of state to pick up sausage at their store on south Muskego Avenue and west Rogers Street.
We are also enjoying the last of the tomatoes. The green ones are ripening very quickly now, so I have been sharing them with family and neighbors. Not as tasty as the vine ripened tomatoes, but slightly better than the store bought option. I have kept them in the basement between layers of newspaper which helps them hold the gases around them for ripening. Some people will individually wrap each tomato, but I think this is time consuming both for storage and for checking them for ripeness. Keeping them in a tray as a single layer is just fine. You are more apt to check them frequently if they are easy to check.
My goal this weekend is to can the sauerkraut. It will destroy the pro-biotic aspects of the sauerkraut, but I also know I do not want to continue monitoring the kraut for mold (so far nothing has grown on top). I may keep some in a large jar in the frig and can the rest for easier storage. Freezing is also possible, but I am reserving freezer space for our beef which is has made its last trip to the butcher this past week. Nuff said. Have a good weekend.
