Ducks4you for 2022

[ducks4you]

Smaller bean harvest this morning. NO tomatoes, but a better boy is mostly red and so is a Cherokee Purple that I forgot that I had planted with the 24.
Buying a cheapo steamer at WM today, 8 qt with 2 baskets. Thought about buying two, but I think I'll share it with DD's bc I only want it to blanch.
Also, I am leaving soon to buy a 3 or 4 drawer plastic dresser, to go into the closet of the guest bedroom. It's purpose is storage of a whole bunch of nice plastic food storage containers that don't yet have a home. It's a funny closet. You need a 3 step stepladder (which I have, it's wooden), to get INTO this closet, so no traffic, therefore the cheapo dresser will survive.
I have a similar 3 drawer dresser under where I hang shirts, no traffic, and it holds my clean long underwear, leggings and stuff. It's quite safe there. Used in leiu of a wooden dresser and it would be toast in this house.

 

[ducks4you]

Check THIS out, ALL OUT OF STOCK!

Organic Seed Garlic & Shallots - Adaptive Seeds

Garlic and shallots will be available for pre-order beginning late August, 2022, for shipping in September. For an exceptional selection of garlic planting stock, we recommend Garlicana in Tiller, Oregon. Garlicana is not certified organic but uses only certifiable inputs and methods in all...

www.adaptiveseeds.com

Seed Garlic - Certified Organic Non-GMO Seed from High Mowing Organic Seeds

We offer certified non-GMO, organic seed garlic for varieties well-suited to both organic home gardening and commercial production. Growing, soil, disease and storage information provided.

www.highmowingseeds.com

I am shopping today, and then later (if none today) at a local farmer's market for my garlic. I will probably just store it in my onion bin bc it's pretty dry, but if I get sprouting, I guess I'll have to plant some early.
It has gone from very dry here to heavy dew every morning, not drying out until really 11AM.
Good for the crops, bad for painting or anything else that needs to dry well, but not impossible.
Oh, I also harvested 12 more pears, brought to ripen inside. All are now harvested from the a branch that had sprawled to the ground, Now that the heavy fruit has been picked it is almost high enough to mow underneath it.

 

[ducks4you]

Hit the Amish farm stand and I found garlic. Bought $10 worth, which was about 10 big garlics. Dunno if they are softneck or hardneck, BUT they were grown here in the state, so I am happy to try growing them.
According to the U of I, I should be planting late September/early October.

How to grow garlic

Want to get a head start on planting your vegetable garden for next year? Then garlic is the plant for you! Garlic (Allium sativum) has been grown for thousands of years as food and for medicinal purposes. It has a long growing season, which may seem daunting.

extension.illinois.edu

Think I'll store them in my 1st floor guest bedroom, where it is always dark and cool.
I also found the 8 qt steamer with 2 baskets and the clear 3 drawer storage dresser I was looking for, esp since color wasn't important.
It will be Really nice to be able to easily access food storage extra containers, but still have them out of the way.

 

[Zeedman]

Hit the Amish farm stand and I found garlic. Bought $10 worth, which was about 10 big garlics.

That is a really good price for garlic planting stock, much cheaper than if you had ordered. So all those companies being out of stock for garlic worked in your favor.

Early October is generally the best time to plant garlic in the North. Don't break open the bulbs until just before planting... at that point, if you post a photo of the peeled bulb, it should be possible to identify at least the garlic type.

 

[ducks4you]

Here is my purchase. I am thinking that this is hardneck.
If nothing else, the local University, 25 miles north of me is generally a good place to find out local planting dates.
There is PBS program out of Wisconsin called, "Around the Farm Table," that broadcasts out of WI. One program several years ago showed planting a huge field of garlic in October and covering it with straw.
Is that what you do @Zeedman ?
Btw, it is going into a cool, dark and dry closet this evening, which might be garlic smelling for awhile, but after seeing 10mo sweet potatoes sprouting bc I kept them in a plastic bag, I will take NO chances!

 

[Zeedman]

Here is my purchase. I am thinking that this is hardneck.
If nothing else, the local University, 25 miles north of me is generally a good place to find out local planting dates.
There is PBS program out of Wisconsin called, "Around the Farm Table," that broadcasts out of WI. One program several years ago showed planting a huge field of garlic in October and covering it with straw.
Is that what you do @Zeedman ?
Btw, it is going into a cool, dark and dry closet this evening, which might be garlic smelling for awhile, but after seeing 10mo sweet potatoes sprouting bc I kept them in a plastic bag, I will take NO chances!

Hard to tell from the photo, but those appear to be Artichoke type (soft neck). Those who like to braid their garlic prefer soft neck varieties. Artichoke-type garlics also tend to have the largest increase, because of their high number of cloves... so a smaller percentage is set aside for planting. They also tend to have longer storage life - if the bulb wrapper is intact. This doesn't matter if all the stock will be planted... but the bulbs with exposed cloves, if those were from your garden, would need to be either planted, processed, or eaten first.

So the garlic will be stored in a guest bedroom? Are you not anticipating visitors, or has someone already overstayed their welcome?

Yes, I normally plant garlic in October, then cover the bed with 3-4" of hay. The hay keeps weeds down (unless the hay itself is weedy), prevents frost heave (which can kill garlic planted in bare ground), and prevents premature sprouting if there is a Winter warm spell. I use hay rather than straw because it feeds the garlic a little as it decomposes. I can give you more info on planting of you need it, or post that on the garlic thread.

 

[ducks4you]

I was thinking the same thing looking at some cloves exposed. Next week I will be hitting a farmer's market at a small town 20 NE of me, on Wednesdays, 4-6PM to find More garlic.
About that bedroom...It has a twin bed in it, last slept in 15 months ago. Before that, DD's slept overnight on 12-31-20, one slept in the bed, the other slept on the couch. I have them in a bowl I bought in Mexico.
Advice on which ones to consume, just from this photo, pls?

 

[ducks4you]

Today's harvest. Only one large okra was too tough to cut, the one on the far left.
We have been having HEAVY dew every monring. When there is a lot of humidity, larger okra pods don't all get tough. Still, you may have thought I wasn't going to Get an okra harvest, planting so late.
Okra is one tough vegetable/weed!!

 

[ducks4you]

@Zeedman , there;s a Garlic Thread?!?!?
Pls post a link!!
OR are you refering to @Manda_Rae 's thread?

 

[ducks4you]

I have heard a lot of tomato complaints this season and I found this to share.