Allium Family Perennial Vegetables. 2.10.16

Chive Beds and New Raised Bed.  2.10.16

 All of the overwintering Allium family perennial vegetables are growing.

The 2 raised beds of garlic chives broke dormacy last week, now 2 to 2 inches of growth. 

I priced these concrete blocks today at Home Depot.  They were 99 cents each.  I think they are less expensive than the wooden beds, will last longer, and are easier to assemble.  I don't know about thermal properties.  The corners have openings that would be good for posts.

Garlic Chives.  2.10.16

Chives.  2.10.15

Garlic Raised Bed.  2.10.16

Egyptian Walking Onions.  2.10.16

Standard chives are growing fast.

Garlic is showing great growth.  My subjective estimate is the garlic in the raised bed is about  twice as big as the garlic in the ground, probably due to warmer temperature although the soil mix could also be better.

Egyptian Walking Onions are also growing nicely.  I protected them from deer and rabbits this year.  There was still evidence of something foraging - maybe slugs.

Not shown, the new starts of White Potato Onions are about 6 inches tall.  This time around they are also protected from herbivores.  There is no evidence of foraging on those plants.

I'm not concerned about potential frost or freeze.  These are hardy plants.

Gardening for the Winter. Multiplier onions, Flower Bulbs, Tree Protection.

Multiplier Onions about to be planted.

More Daffodils for the yard.

 The Yellow Potato Onions are now planted for their winter "incubation".  The roots and tops grow during the remainder of fall, then settle in for winter.  Most were the very big size this year, leaving fewer small starts to plant.   I planted about 25 sets, with half being large - to make multiple small sets, and half being small - to make large onion bulbs.  They grew very well last year, with the September - planted ones growing better than later - planted.

One also made topsets.  I planted those as well.

The Egyptian Walking Onions are growing roots and tops.  Fast start.

This Daffodil mix brings the # of bulbs planted this fall to about a hundred.  There are about 150 more to plant.  It sounds like a lot, but they are quite easy to plant.

I made 5 tree - guards so far.  This year I am experimenting with hardware cloth.  These are /12 inch mesh.  I think I'll buy 1/4 inch mesh once I've used up this roll.  Based on the web sites I've read, 1/4 is superior for vole exclusion. 

The ginkgo may not need protection.  Ginkgo trees are considered deer and rabbit resistant.  But no harm in a little protection.

I also have tree wrap saved from last year.  Tree wrap may seal in moisture, which could encourage fungal infection.  So I am not as enthusiastic about that.  On the other hand, tree wrap is easier to apply, compared to hardware cloth.

Varmint Screening for Crabapple Tree

Varmint Screening for Ginkgo Tree

The websites often state the hardware cloth should be partly buried.  However, that would mean damage to shallow roots.  So far, animals have not under-mined trunk protection.  If they do, I'll have to consider more secure options.

Raised Beds. Progress report.

Here are the raised beds now. I added another this weekend. Planted the new bed with Snow Peas Oregon Giant, Bok Choy, Spinach, Radishes, Lettuce, Onion sets, between the onion sets planted Evergreen Bunching Onion seeds - packaged for 2011, might not grow. Also Swiss Chard 5-color Silverbeet, Beets Detroit Red, and Chinese Cabbage, Napa variety. Most of the rows are short, 2 foot rows. The Snow Peas and onions are full 4 foot rows. Also a row of mixed color Ixia. For color. The allium raised beds, planted last fall. Growing by leaps and bounds. Amazing to this small town Illinois boy, a garden with rapidly growing plants before March first. Garlics are about 1 ft tall. Shallots about 6 inches, White Potato Onions about a foot, and Egyptian walking onions about 6 inches. Illinois Chinese chive is about 2 inches and Changchun Chinese Chive is about 1 inch but thicker and sturdier and growing faster now. The Chinese Chive seedlings from last fall have reappeared, I think, although those might be seeds I planted last month.

Raised Bed. Fall planting onions, garlic, garlic chives

Half full. More trips around the area for mole hills. Several wheel barrows full. Piled in a layer of soil, then a layer of compost, then turned over, then watered, then repeated this routine for more layers until about 2 inches below the upper edge. Raked smooth.

The Starts I brought from home. It was a strange feeling - like getting starts from a friend or neighbor or relative, except they came from me.

Inchellium Red, from containers this year. I separated about 40 cloves, and wound up planting 35 of them. Should be enough, with a few heads to repeat next year if fate allows.

The separated cloves. These are very big.

Heads from Egyptian Walking Onions, sets ready to separate and plant. Most will be for scallions. I'll try to pull scallions to separate plants about 6 inches or a foot apart to repeat this cycle, too. Also for some fresh onions.

Garlic chives. I dug these from around the yard, where seedlings had taken root and grown. One batch is a rescue from my late parents' yard. I remember, I planted them as a boy, thinking they looked nice and not knowing they were edible. They persisted and reseeded, annoying my Dad but he was never able to get rid of them. I'm glad. Now I have this memory plant from my boyhood. It has smaller, more delicate leaves compared to the plants I've been growing. Those came from a seed packet from north China, most likely a commercial variety. They are about 4 generations of saved and replanted seeds, or self-sown. By mixing they 2 types together, maybe the next generation of seedlings will be in between. A little more hefty than my boyhood plants, a little more tender than the Chinese plants. I'm into genetic diversity, regardless.

All arranged. The garlic is about a foot apart, 7 X 5 = 35 cloves. The White Potato Onions are arranged similarly, except 7 X 6 = 42 plants. The Egyptian Walking Onions are in 3 narrowly spaced rows of about 15 per row, thinking most will be used for scallions. The garlic chives are in bunches, making a single wide row about 6 inches wide. They look kind of sad, but I think they will do OK, grow new roots, and generate nice plants for the Spring. I cut off the flower heads, but left the leaves, so they can photosynthesize during the fall and make roots and store energy for next Spring's crop.

All done. Doesn't look like much, but when the garlic and onions germinate, they'll make a nice neat garden bed. The blue tub was what I used last fall for the same purpose - multiple tubs. I planted it with more Egyptian Walking Onions, thinking they will grow faster in dark colored plastic container = warmer in the sun, and give scallions this fall. Experiment.