The vegetable garden - Act III

The warm days of this fall came to an abrupt end last week with the first snowfall on my garden. Not just a sprinkling either; over an inch fell and blanketed everything in its path. While it did disappear in a day and was followed by a perfect Indian summer weekend, I had been lulled into complacency with those warm days of this past October. The vegetable garden was past due for a cleanup and the garlic was waiting to be planted. I did think I was long overdue on planting the garlic but records show that I planted it on November 9th last year. It is easy to plant garlic but in order to do so, the beds have to be cleaned out, the tomato cages removed and piled, the compost added, and then there is raking, smoothing and planting. It would take a few minutes if everything was in order but as with many gardeners, other chores sidetrack these until the reality of snow and cold present themselves. After assembling all the tools necessary for the cleanup, I pulled the dead dry stalks of the basil, marigolds, and tomatoes and proceeded to clean out several beds. The parsnips are lush and green in spite of the cold. They continue to sweeten as the colder temperatures arrive. Parsnips will winter well under an insulating blanket of mulch or straw and that was added as you can see. There is still parsley and lettuce being picked and a row tunnel was added for a bit of protection for the next month or so until very cold weather halts the harvest. I pulled a few parsnips for dinner and the last of the carrots were pulled. One of them qualifies for a veggie porn shot don’t you think?

Last year I purchased garlic from a mail order company and this year I just selected some of the biggest bulbs from this season’s harvest to replant. They are easy to plant once the ground is prepared, as you just break the cloves from the head and pop the largest of them into the ground an inch or so deep and four or five inches apart with the point up. I broadcast an organic fertilizer over the bed and then raked it smooth I decided to try a few cloves in a container since so many people are gardening on patios. I put five cloves in this container and then added some pansies which may or may not survive the winter. If they don’t, I will just add some violas or maybe parsley to the pots in the spring. The garlic scapes are quite attractive and should add an interesting vertical element to the container. There is no reason to have a container that doesn’t look great sitting on the patio. Have you even grown garlic in a container? If so, what was your experience with it?