It's getting cooler now, we've had a few frosts and this morning we even got some snow flurries. While that doesn't make me happy, it does mean it's time to cover my garlic. On this bed i used a type of organic straw that's been treated so there are no weed seeds. Garlic does not like to compete with weeds, so it's good to use a mulch that doesn't have any in them. Leaves are acceptable as well as pine needles. Both leaves (especially oak leaves) and pine needles are more acidic, but only using it as a mulch and not digging it into the soil, will not affect the pH of your soil.

If you're planting hard neck garlic then you'll want a good 4" to 6" of mulch on top of them. For soft neck garlic you'll want 8" to 12". I'm planting both kinds this year, so obviously i want to keep track of what garlic i planted where. Next post i'll show you how I do that. This bed holds german red and music garlic, both hard necks.

The reason you want to mulch over your garlic isn't because it isn't winter hardy, at least with the hard necks. The reason is that in the fall and in the spring, we get cold temperatures, then warm, then cold again.. This can make the garlic bulbs heave out of the ground, not something you want. By mulching them over, it regulates the temperature better and they won't do that. For soft necks you're also protecting them from extreme cold, which they don't like, and which is why you use so much more mulch on top of them.

So why would I plant a soft neck when they're so much more trouble? They also have a higher failure rate than my other garlic varieties. The answer is, they are the longest storing types of garlic. I'm planting a kind that's supposed to be a little more winter hardy than some others. It's called susanville, and i'll let you know how it did next year.

For now, all my garlic is planted and protected, now all i have to do is wait....

We've been having some really nice warm autumn weather lately. A bit too warm to put straw down on my garlic. You don't want to mulch over your garlic while it's warm out, the reason is pest insects can make nice cozy winter homes in the mulch and you don't want to give them a head start next spring. So, I'll have to wait to mulch over my garlic. On the up side though, i'm still harvesting lots of stuff from the garden. Shown here from left to right; a fall crop of romaine lettuce, kale, above the kale are purple brussels sprouts (we have had a frost so they'll be sweet) a couple of nice green tomatoes and a 1/2 red sweet pepper. The reason you want to wait till a frost to harvest the brussels sprouts, is as i said, because they'll get sweeter, same for collards. The garden my collards are in though, haven't gotten a frost yet so i haven't started harvesting them quite yet.

I started planting my garlic on October 20th. Usually here (in New Haven CT) you want to start planting your garlic around mid October. You don't want to plant it too early as the cloves will start to grow too much, but you don't want to get it in so late that the garlic doesn't have a chance to acclimate before the winter sets in. We've been getting some warm days here so it gives me more wiggle room to get them all in. I've been working in 3 different gardens, but I'll be planting my garlic in 4 places. My partner and I are starting a farm and I'll have lots of room to put in more garlic this year. Garlic is a heavy feeder, so the first thing you want to do is enrich the soil before you plant. I get composted manure and humus mix, add that to the soil and dig it under before i plant. The above photo shows the compost added, i rake it around then dig it under and rake it smooth. 

Once i do that, i separate the cloves of my garlic. You want to plant each clove, pointy end up, 4-6" apart, and 6-10" between the rows. Remember that all these little cloves will grow into a full head of garlic so give them room so you can get a nice big head of garlic. If you plant them too close they won't have the room to get large. I like to separate the cloves and lay them out on the top of the soil, then all i have to do is dig 4" deep and plant them in, they're all set where they should be. Makes the work go faster. I'm planting 4 different kinds of garlic this year. The music and german red garlic are from what i grew this year. I'm also trying cascade rose which is an early developing hard neck, and susanville which is a soft neck garlic.Soft neck garlics aren't supposed to do well here, this one though, is supposed to deal with tough winters better than others, and the soft necks can save for over a year, which most of the hard neck garlics won't. So.. giving it a try.

You need to add some kind of mulch to garlic. While the hard necks are very hardy, you want the mulch on it to prevent heaving. Heaving means, the garlic rises up over the soil line, this isn't something you want to happen, it occurs when temperatures go up and down. 4 - 6" of mulch on top of your garlic will prevent this, for soft necks, you want 10-12" of mulch as they're not as hardy. I'll show photos of that when i add the mulch. I don't want to add it too soon as the temperatures are well above freezing and there's no need to do it yet. if you add the mulch too soon, it will give nice cosy homes to pests for the winter.

 Finally! Some of the mushroom logs a friend and i inoculated are starting to fruit! These are shitake mushrooms. Inoculating wood with mushroom plugs isn't hard. You do need fresh wood (not aged) and shitakes are partial to oak, but they'll also do well with other hard woods. You need a shady area, or you can cover the logs with a shade cloth as well. They also need sufficient moisture. Soaking the logs before inoculating can help, but make sure the bark dries out before you inoculate them. If it's hot and dry in the summer, you'll need to give them moisture as well. Once inoculated, you can soak the ends of the logs for about 8 hours, then turn them over to soak the other end. Doing this every couple of weeks will help them fruit. Letting the mushrooms fruit naturally can take time, sometimes, lots of time. You can force them as well, but they won't fruit as long if you force them.

Most mushroom varieties will give you a large fruiting in cooler weather, so spring and fall. If you force them, you can get them to fruit in summer as well.

Been starting to plant garlic as well. Our autumn has been very mild so i've been putting back the time i usually plant my garlic. Next week though, things will start to happen in earnest, got a lot of garlic to get in the ground!

Part of my harvest today. From left to right; red russian kale, swiss chard, carrots and baby bok choy, which is bit more like teenage bok choy at this point. I also got a few tomatoes, long cayenne hot peppers, lettuce and beets. The fall garden is going nicely, but we're starting to get cooler weather at night. Had to take out a couple of tomato plants today and have a feeling most will go in the next week or so. This isn't altogether a bad thing. I have limited space and i want to get my garlic in soon. I planting 4 kinds this year. Once we start getting some frosts, my collards will also get sweet! There's a zen saying I like a lot, and it applies to gardening; you never get something, but that you lose something. Always changing, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I know i've been slack with my blog lately. But i've been working 7 days a week since May, something had to give and this was it.. Needless to say i'm pretty exhausted! But, my fall crops are coming in nicely, been harvesting lettuce, kale, chard and this, my baby bok choy! Bok choy and pak choi do so much better here in fall than in spring. They grow quickly and bolt slow.. opposite of what they do in spring. My pak choi is doing well too though not large enough to harvest quite yet. Soon i'll be planting my garlic for next year, and i really wanted to show you that. So.. i'm back, and for a little while so are my vegetables.

I've been trying to find the time to add another post, it hasn't been easy! All the summer crops are still coming in, planting fall crops plus i also teach and have had workshops to do, it's been a bit busy lately. If you haven't planted your fall crops yet, you should get a move on! At this point in the season (at least if you live in the northeast) you should put plants into the ground, not seeds. I planted lots of seeds awhile ago; shown in this photo is chard and baby bok choy behind it. Late planted dill and cucumbers behind that, late as in once my garlic was out, so it's way too late to plant cucumbers now. I'll actually be surprised if i get many as it's cooling off fast here. But, my lettuce, spinach, chard, pak choy and baby bok choy are doing really well. If it starts getting too cold, too fast, i'll put my hoops up and a row cover to protect my crops. These are cold lovers though so i'm not too worried about that, yet.