Wednesday, June 29, 2011

growing garlic and herbs


if i had known how effortless garlic was, i would have started growing it long ago.


on a whim last fall, i planted some grocery store cloves from the fridge. after reading now was the time to get those garlic bulbs in, i stuck 'em in the 2' by 2' box, and that was that. no fussing, pruning, staking or trellising. yes please.


the cloves sprouted before winter and grew very quickly come spring. eight out of nine made it, but two were very small. this fall i'll choose the largest cloves, and i'd like to plant many more.


the browning leaves are a sign it's time to harvest. mine were ready mid-june.


they were washed and set out to cure on our porch in the shade. it'll be a few weeks more before they are completely dry.


we sampled the two smallest bulbs and oh my, homegrown garlic is gooood.


growing my own has become quite an addiction. a few months ago i planted a piece of ginger root in a pot. today i noticed a little sprout - yippie!=)


in pots we also have cilantro, oregano...



basil, sage and dill. in the ground we've got spearmint, which comes back and spreads every year. it makes a very nice addition to our smoothies. oregano is also a perennial. we cut the tops off and dry them in a brown bag.


in a few weeks the leaves are crunchy enough to be crumbled and stored in a jar.


the rest of my herbs (basil, sage, dill, cilantro) were started from seed. basil seedlings give me such a hard time that i think i'll buy starters next year. if it's not the bugs eating them it's the sun scorching them...

8 comments:

  1. Your garlic looks good. I'll be interested to see what happens to that ginger.

    ReplyDelete
  2. cute little flower on your nail. :) And ooh, love the garlic! Growing some too and hoping it's ready soon. Got chocolate mint too. Other herbs and goodies are at the pea patch but can't wait to harvest soon.

    I'll be back to catch up on your other posts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yum, love garlic! Cute nail flower! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. woot! garlic for the win!

    we are in the process of drying our oregano right now too. :) we have a huge basil plant that's been supplying us for pesto, salads and everything else we can do with it. also sunflower sprouts and pea shoots growing on the deck...

    i love me some summertime!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. jane, thank you. i'm interested too! been reading up on it... it seems i won't get a harvest until next summer.

    thanks heidi. chocolate mint sounds delightful!=)

    hi lauren, thanks!=)

    rick, ha! me too! WOOT!=)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wonderful photos of wonderful herbs. I love garlic so much!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good job on the garlic...it looks great. I will be very curious to hear more about how your ginger does.

    ReplyDelete
  8. that garlic is awesome!! My son planted a tiny bulb that began to sprout on the counter and we now trim the young greens and eat them like chives--taste just like garlic! Yummy on everything, well maybe not EVERYTHING, but you know what I mean.
    Peace and Raw Health,
    E

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...