23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

If you are growing hard neck garlic, it will send up a blossom head called a garlic scape. The scape can be snapped off before in makes a second loop. It will still be tender and can be minced up to cook as garlic. Last year here in NH I made a wonderful garlic scape hummus for our 4th of July party. I would not wait until the leaves turned brown because I think by then, the cloves get too big and are splitting. I read an article last year that said with a garlic scape points straight up again, it's time to dig. I dig mine when the leaves are starting to turn brown.

I pulled or broken off all my garlic scapes after it makes a turn. According Wikipedia, "Garlic scapes are removed to focus all the garlic's energy into bulb growth. The scapes can be eaten raw or cooked" Some websites state that some types of garlics are not affected by this practice. But to my experience, garlics grew bigger when scapes are removed. I have dug up a few to compare. And scapes are a delicious treat. A very hard find at any market.
If you harvest the scapes too late, they turn tough and woody.

Back to the OP's question. The time to pick garlic is July, but you can check by digging one out near the middle of the Summer. It is too early now, for the outer paper-like covering of garlic cloves are not yet fully transformed.

Hmmm....I think I'll go plant my Easter Egg Radishes.

You have me laughing and thinking of Easter and Egg related plants. The radishes might actually be reasonable to plant now with a bit of protection. Maybe start some White Egg Eggplants inside if I can find the seeds. LOL

I knew there was something called Easter Egg! (Sure I did). :)

The plants per person charts are extremely inaccurate and out of date. It is better to look at average yield per plant and see if that is how much you need.

Here is a link that might be useful: one such chart

I think that "plants per person" would just give you a vague, vague order of magnitude. I would instead look for figures for pounds of produce per plant, and match them against the pounds of produce that you'll use in the plant's season.

And then, of course, you'd have to think about how you're using the produce. If each tomato plant produces about three pounds per week, and you want to make one giant pot of tomato sauce per summer month that requires twenty pounds of tomatoes, how long will the tomatoes keep? Will you have to grow enough plants to produce twenty pounds in one week, and then figure out what to do with the extra in the non-sauce weeks?

Do you eat spinach fresh or cooked? Do you want to freeze beans and strawberries? Are you eating your corn off the cob or do you want a whole bunch for succotash? Do you use your onions for an occasional slice in a sandwich or do you want to cook a year's worth of frozen caramelized onions?

In other words, I think that every item is likely to require a personal calculation.

Should be there soon! It was supposed to be 60 today, made it up to 59' so it's getting better. But I know what you mean, it's been the same here all week, 5 or more degrees lower than forecast. Potatoes are in, will be hardening off everything else the next few days, and the peach tree is just about to bloom.

I feel you.
We are having spectacular weather, with that said we could get snow and a hard freeze any time in the next month LOL!!
I have onions out, just direct sowed spinach and lettuce, have potatoes in and artichoke.
I have growing under lights: tomatoes, peppers, basil and cucumber which got huge so I potted up and am now putting outside during the day.
Parsley is hardening off I may plant it soon as it's getting huge in pots.

My favorite sweet peppers are the large, squat pimento types. They are beautiful, very thick flesh and very sweet. I live in the extremely hot and humid south and had TONS of them from my rather small garden. What we didn't eat fresh or give to neighbors I froze and used on pizzas and in soups and stir-fries all winter. Red ruffled pimento is very good. Seed Saver's Exchange has a couple of great ones. I've grown some of the thin-skinned ones, but for me --oven-roasting, fresh, soups etc.... I really prefer the pimento types. No disease problems and very few blemishes --they will get heavy if you fertilize, so some sort of support is good -- I used 3 sticks/poles (triangle around the plant) with string around. Most fun thing I grow. : )

Aconcagua is the best tasting pepper ever. Odessa Market is my favorite to grow.
Keep in mind these varieties are owned by Monsanto now:
Sweet Pepper: Baron, Bell Boy, Big Bertha PS, Biscayne, Blushing Beauty, Bounty, California Wonder 300, Camelot, Capistrano, Cherry Pick, Chocolate Beauty, Corno Verde, Cubanelle W, Dumpling brand of Pritavit, Early Sunsation, Flexum, Fooled You brand of Dulce, Giant Marconi, Gypsy, Jumper, Key West, King Arthur, North Star, Orange Blaze, Pimiento Elite, Red Knight, Satsuma, Socrates, Super Heavyweight, Sweet Spot

And also all you need to do is give the heavier melons some support in a panty hose or some other kind of sling....I've seen watermelons grown on a fence...

Minnesota Midget would work.

Close up pic of soil

Definitely a clay type soil but looks good; lots of tiny pieces of organic "stuff". ;-)

How you amend the soil at the end of the season is just as important as at the beginning. In late October leaves are in wonderful abundance. Collecting autumn leaves, chopping and forking them into this soil will give you a richer and fluffier growing medium the following year. This means purchasing less amendments in spring.

If you don't want to mess with bird feed but still want to attract birds, add a couple of bird baths. Make sure that they are positioned in a location that makes keeping them cleaned and filled easy....near a hose.

Birds are very happy to have a source of clean, fresh water nearby.

Chicago - I think juncos fly north in the spring.

I had a similar situation - chopped out cement and put a raised bed in its place. At the time, I didn't do much research and just mixed extra dirt with Amend. I didn't till the existing soil, but just dumped stuff on top. Now that I know more, I put vermiculite, peat and compost mixed up on top. Every time I put in new plants, I add more compost. since the vegetables just grow in the top layer of soil, that's where you need the minerals.

Here is a link that might be useful: My raised bed garden

I believe that your different soil amendments should be mixed together to create a homogeneous mixture. The layering of different types and textures impedes the movement of water, but also roots.

Add whatever is required to create a decent soil and mix it thoroughly. After planting, top dress with compost in small layers and keep adding to it as needed.

If you have not put the soil in yet, I would go with cardboard instead of landscape fabric. It might kill the ground cover before it turns to compost. I had it in one of my beds and it caused way more problems than it helped with. If you have put the soil in, good luck. Some of them are very hard to get rid of.

lgteacher- is there any way to get rid of oxalis????????
It has INVADED me!
I don't mind the pretty stuff we saw all over Santa Cruz last week, but the kind I have is a very DENSE cover , low growing and getting worse! Nancy

There is another thread about overwintered lettuce currently where the idea of bitterness being caused by age has been mentioned.

I grow lettuce here in Houston. I've tried about 15 varieties over the past 3 years. I do my planting in October usually and harvest leaf by leaf until around April 1. You'll probably want to plant a little later down in South Texas (RGV?), and you'll probably finish sooner.

Anyhow, the varieties so far that have done the best for me are Black Seeded Simpson, Crisp Mint, Gentilina, and Mignonette Bronze. They seem to roll through the occasional winter heat wave without bolting or turning bitter. Even those don't last once it starts hitting the eighties for me, although at that point they're pretty old. I started a second round in January this year, so I'll find out how hot a younger head can take before it turns bitter... Crisp Mint I especially like, because in addition to staying sweet, it stays pretty crispy.

Water is crucial, as others have said...