Planting Garlic. 9.27.2020

Garlic is something I like to do on nature's schedule.  It's fall, late Sept.  Sept (preferably) or October is Garlic planting time for me.  That's why I was in a hurry to construct this raised bed, which meant clearing out the mess of snow peas, weeds, and their trellis that occupied that location (needed doing anyway), buying the parts, leveling the ground, putting it together, and filling the bed, including getting some soil.  Getting things is not easy in the time of Coronavirus, especially for someone who is at higher risk for complications.

 Anyway, all of that is done.  I planted Musik (or is it Music?) that I grew last year, the largest and among the best tasting garlic cloves and heads that I've ever grown.  Three reasons:  (1) Musik is a great variety, and very delicious. (2) Growing them in shelter.  All of those people who insist that deer and rabbits don't eat garlic plants are either just quoting someone else, or their deer and rabbits have not read that book.  Repeated munching and torturing of the photosynthetic biomass of growing garlic plants does not make for good production or big bulbs.  And (3) the raised bed situation makes for much easier weeding, hoeing, and other care.

I used a trowel with marked measurements, and planted with the bottom of the trench at about 4 to 5 inches.  I planted the cloves 6 inches apart, and the rows are a foot apart.  I think the raised bed allows for a little closer together planting compared to in-ground, but this is roughly what is done in-ground too.

I also dug up the few remaining bulbs that I had let mature their scapes.  I had planted those in Spring and didn't expect much from them.  Some of the books say they won't develop cloves if planted in the spring, but these made about four, average sized cloves.  I planted those here too, so now one row is from those salvaged garlic cloves, which is good.

 Almost everything else here can be done in the course of time over fall and winter.  It's a nice feeling to have this job, which I like, done.

Planting a Seedling Oak Tree From A Container. 9.27.2020

 Last year I rescue this seedling, squirrel-planted oak tree from somewhere.  From the leaves I'm guessing it is a Northern Red Oak.  It survived a root injury and grew about 8 inches.  This location is near the woodlot.  I stepped it out, the easement extends 30 feet from neighbor's fence, and this is 40 feet, so that should be OK.  There is a ginkgo tree a few feet from here, something killed it.  I don't know what.   I've had three ginkgos die on me, so I think it's the ginkgo tree and not the location per se.

In the container where I've been taking care of this little tree for a year.

I like to bare root my trees before planting them into the native soil.  There are a few reasons.  First, I get to inspect the root system.  Second, I can spread the roots around in the soil so there are no girdling roots.  Third, it's recommended by WA State horticulturalist Linda Chalker Scott, for these and other reasons - for example, roots tend to circle around in a hole that contains an nice potting medium whereas the surrounding soil is native.  Fourth, I think one of the issues with previously planted trees, maybe those ginkgos too, was that moles love the potting medium and dig through it, disturbing the roots and providing a route for voles, which eat the roots.   All of the trees that I planted during my first couple of years here, which I planted including their original potting medium, were severely disturbed by moles.  Since I started bare rooting them, that doesn't seem to happen, or not nearly as much.

This tree's roots look fine.  The damaged root is not 100% better but there is a lot of growth of the rest of that root, surrounding the injury.   There are also some new roots, thick and white, which is a good sign of root growth going into fall.

Planted into the ground.  It's a nice looking little tree.

This is on the deer all-you-can-eat salad bar route through my yard, so this tree needs protection.  I read that oak seedlings are eaten by deer.  I also added a plastic mesh with 1-inch openings.  Deer seem able to pull leaves through this more open, but sturdier wire fencing, so I use both.

 

Making some sourdough bread. 9.25.2020

 Today I made some sourdough bread.  I made two loaves - one a standard white bread, and the other a 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white flour with added sesame seeds, millet, poppy seeds, flax seeds, and sunflower seeds.  It's about a teaspoon of each type, but a tablespoon of the sunflower seeds.

I made buns from the white bread, instead of a bread loaf.  I used a cast iron muffin pan, which makes buns about the size of an English muffin.  There was some dough extra, so I used short, wide canning jars to make some additional buns. 

For sourdough starter, two weeks ago I decided to start a new "mother" batch.  I combined 1 tbsp four (organic, unbleached) with 1 tbsp water (well water, not chlorinated).  I used a 1 pint canning jar, let it sit a day, stirred in another tbsp each of water and flour.  I repeated that process for a week, then removed half of the mixture and mixed in 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water.  After letting that sit overnight, I used 2 tablespoons for a starter, and poured the mixture into a quart jar containing 1 cup of water and 1 cup of flour.  That jar is now the "mother", which I keep in the fridge, use every few days for starter, and replenish with equal parts water and flour about once every two weeks, letting it ferment until frothy before putting back into the fridge.  This starter has a nice buttermilk flavor, and the bread comes out really nice.

These were baked at 375 F.  The items in glass needed 45 minutes.  The buns in cast iron needed 30 minutes.

These were quite good.  I think the white sourdough buns would be nice for a quick garlic bread.  I buttered one, and made a small sandwich with another.

The wheat and seeds bread was also very tasty, especially toasted and buttered.

Planting Garlic Bulbils. 9.25.2020

 This year I let a couple of the garlic scapes make bulbils.  I think these are the variety "Musik" but I'm not certain.  The bulbils were really tiny, like rice  I don't know if they will grow, but it's not a big deal if they don't.  

Here is one of the scape heads with bulbils.  It was raining, so they are wet.

I planted them about 1/2 inch deep, an inch apart.  It's roughly 50 per 4 foot row, so about 100 altogether. 

Now it's just a matter of keeping weeds out and seeing what they do.  I don't expect to see any growth this fall, but you never know.

Crazy Potato from Compost Pile. 9.25.2020

 Yesterday when I was collecting compost for the new raised bed, I discovered these crazy potatoes in the bin.  They grew without added water or other benefits, just what came from the composting plants.  Potatoes tend to pop up all over, since I put the plant tops into compost and plant the potatoes in a different location each year.

These were Russets.  They made for some nice air fried French fries.