Veggie Garden Update ~ November 2008

I am amazed that I actually have something to report about my veggie garden in NOVEMBER! Although, it is admittedly, a short report. For more veggie garden going's on check out Tina's blog, In The Garden where you will find links to other garden bloggers reporting on their veggies.

I finally got around to planting my Egyptian Walking Onions and my garlic on one of the nice days at the beginning of November. While looking for someplace to buy garlic bulbs (other than the grocery store), I came across Egyptian Walking Onions and they sounded so interesting, I had to try them. The description, according to the Burpee site, is as follows:

"Each bulb produces a clump of stalks atop which form bulblets of hardy scallion-size onions. Held high above the plants these “floating” onions offer an early harvest of very sweet scallions in the spring. When left until summer they become much hotter in flavor. You can eat either end, but usually you eat the bulbs from the ground and plant the top bulbs for more onions. If not harvested the top bulbs will fall over and replant themselves, thus beginning their “walk” across the garden. "

So I will let you know in the spring how they turn out and we will see if they walk across my garden.

This year I really branched out when it comes to garlic. In the past I just planted the cloves from whatever garlic I may have had laying around the kitchen, even though this is not what you are supposed to do. And sometimes I wouldn't plant any garlic but bulbs left in the ground from the year before would sprout and that would be my next years crop. But this year I thought I would order some bulbs of the proper type for my area.

I found Gourmet Garlic Gardens on the web and since they offered several different variety packs I chose them as my garlic supplier. They also have a great website with all sorts of garlic history and information about many different varieties. There are two main types of garlic, hardneck and softneck. Softneck varieties are what are most often found in grocery stores. They store a long time, have many smaller cloves, and should be able to grow pretty much anywhere. Hardneck varieties form a stalk (scape) which curls at the top. These generally have fewer but larger cloves and tend not to store as well. But they do grow best in cold/cool winter areas (like Pennsylvania).

I ordered a hardneck garlic sampler which would grow best in my area. You don't know ahead of time what varieties you will receive, it's based on what they have available, etc. I received 4 varieties, with two bulbs of each one except one which had three bulbs. The varieties I received were Carpathian (Rocambole), Purple Italian Rocambole, Slovenian Rocambole, and German Extra Hardy (Porcelain). Rocambole and Porcelain are two of the three distinct families of hardneck garlic. Purple stripe is the third but I did not receive any of those. Rocamboles should store for 5-6 months, while the Porcelains store 8-10 months. I'm really looking forward to trying these different varieties.

I ended up planting one bulb of each of the four I received. That should give me plenty of garlic next year. I plan on using the remaining bulbs now so I can get a taste of what to expect next year. I can't wait.