In case you would like a sneak peek into how our veggie garden is coming along, here are three photos:
The first shows my husband Bill's garlic bed. Growing garlic is his specialty and certainly something he gets a lot of enjoyment out of. Bill planted the cloves last fall, which spend the winter developing roots. In late winter, new green tips started poking out of the ground. As you can see, they're growing really well. Yesterday, I sprinkled an organic fertilizer that has extra potassium in it on the soil to encourage good root growth.
The next photo is of our two onion beds. One has a small block of shallots in it, which Bill also planted last fall. We weren't sure if they'd do OK being planted at that time but they look terrific so I'm excited about getting to savor sauteed shallots later this year. Yum. Anyway, we just planted the onion starts yesterday. We get the plants from Dixondale Farms (www.dixondalefarms.com) each year. This season, we're growing 'Yellow Spanish' and 'Big Daddy' onions. I sort of wish I'd select 'Copra' onions from Dixondale because I later realized just how well they keep. We're still eating the ones we grew last year and they're still in great shape. Not bad, considering the fact that we harvested them around Oct. 1st.
The last photo is of our potato patch, also started yesterday. We dug two troughs for planting the seed potatoes in, figuring we can fill in the troughs a bit as the plants grow. That should encourage additional tuber growth. You'll notice the pine needles we placed in the troughs -- that's to discourage potato scab disease.
Behind the potato troughs, there's a small section where I've poked in some Fava bean seeds. I've never grown them before and have no idea if I've planted them too early. The packet says they do well in cool weather and should be planted in early spring when the soil can be worked. Well, our soil is nice and crumbly so we decided to go for it. Will let you know if I've pulled it off!
The next photo is of our two onion beds. One has a small block of shallots in it, which Bill also planted last fall. We weren't sure if they'd do OK being planted at that time but they look terrific so I'm excited about getting to savor sauteed shallots later this year. Yum. Anyway, we just planted the onion starts yesterday. We get the plants from Dixondale Farms (www.dixondalefarms.com) each year. This season, we're growing 'Yellow Spanish' and 'Big Daddy' onions. I sort of wish I'd select 'Copra' onions from Dixondale because I later realized just how well they keep. We're still eating the ones we grew last year and they're still in great shape. Not bad, considering the fact that we harvested them around Oct. 1st.