23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I harvested a volunteer head of elephant garlic last week. This is the time that you would generally harvest garlic in my zone. In the heat of July when 3 to 4 sets of leaves have dried out.
Each dead leaf set is one layer of "paper" around the garlic. You could pick them early if you plan to eat them soon but if you want to store them you need to let this develop as it preserves the garlic.
Well, I am a little south of you in Central Indiana. I sowed in pots on the picnic table. I sowed cauliflower and a dab of broccoli on June 17th for a mid July plant out. I also sowed the later broccoli about 4 days ago in pots. for late July plant out. My varieties are full season ones...not 50 day wonders [after plant out].
Next I plan to plant butterhead lettuce and spinach in pots about the 26 of July. Also snap peas in the ground then. I also will plant lettuce and spinach in the ground in early August.
Minami, Since you are in zone 10, the shishito may end up being perennial, in which case looking to the long term, rather than short term may be wise. Also, with many pepper plants, judicious pruning early on will help establish a nice thick central stalk that will be able to support fruit later on. I currently have a manzano rocoto pepper plant that I wish I had pruned more aggressively early this spring.
They are reliably hardy for me in Michigan as long as I throw a good mulch layer over them. They bloom well, but I don't ever get ripe fruit in my shorter season with cool late summer nights. Too bad, I hear they make a great addition to things- even the semi-mature fruits have the characteristic passion fruit aroma when cut open.
http://www.grandtetonorganics.com/products
Nice seed. Good varieties. Price seems high until you realize that it includes the postage.
You can pick for immediate use as soon as the skin is hard enough that you can't puncture it with your fingernail. At this point, most varieties are white-ish with a hint of green or yellow.
To store, they need to fully ripen on the vine, roughly 4 more weeks, in my experience, beyond the stage above, although longer is better on the vine if not in danger from pests, disease, or weather. By then, the basic S.S. is yellow-ish in color, as the yellow deepens as it ripens.
florauk- Good point. The shallots in the previous picture were separated post-harvest. And thanks for the compliment but that picture is from a couple years ago. They didn't get quite as big this year.
Shallots grow in clusters like this:
(this picture is from earlier this year)
Rodney
That's powdery mildew. If you search the forum you'll find lots of posts about powdery mildew and how to control it.
gsweater- I don't know where sneed is located but it's been really wet and rainy for a lot of the country, perfect conditions for PM.
Rodney
Wow - great information about Kohlrabi! I may have to try it in the garden - it seems to have a multitude of uses.
You may be right, Nila. I need to check my frost dates. I was concerned that it would be too hot now for cool weather plants. It's pretty brutal out there!
I'll grow from seed, as per Itilton's advice - not sure I could find starts this time of year anyway.
Thanks everyone!
I would also recommend kale. My favorite is dwarf blue curled scotch. I sow it in August and then have it all through the winter because you can pick individual leaves from several plants without killing them. Since you're in zone 5 you would probably have to provide protection to them in the winter.
And I agree with Rodney - I love kohlrabi too! If you like to peel broccoli stalks and slice them up and eat them, you'll like kohlrabi.
-Anne
Yes - they're inside. I keep them near a big bay window that gets a lot of morning light. I imagine it's been getting up into the 80s in my apartment when I'm at work since I don't leave the A/C on all day, but when I'm home it's usually in the mid 70s.
If you lock up your windows and then leave for 8 hours and leave the plants in a sunny window, I'm going to bet it's hotter than mid 80's. You may have "cooked" them. There's a reason why greenhouses need vents
Kevin