Seed Garlic Vs. Farmers' Market - Garlic Harvest 2014

In October 2013, my friend Kate and I decided to undertake a little research project. We wanted to know how organic seed garlic purchased through City Folk's Farm Shop from Seeds of Change compared to large, fully developed cloves from reputable farmers' market growers. Many garlic growers keep back their own seed stock and it stood to reason that maybe those of us who don't have seed stock could save a little cash and perpetuate locally adapted strains by buying from a farmers' market vendor.

So we planted four varieties of garlic in two different locations in the garden. They all grew well, we ate the scapes, and then as leaves faded it was time to harvest. What seed source would win?

It turns out that our paper map (which is a more detailed record than I usually keep) was missing one critical component: number of cloves planted. Wooden markers long degraded, we couldn't quite tell where one variety stopped and another began. This made comparing the harvest difficult.

We only grew Broadleaf Czech garlic from Seed Saver's Exchange. It made tiny little heads with many little cloves which means fiddly peeling work to cook with it. We won't be growing Czech again.

The Music or Elephant varieties grew similarly whether from farmers' market or Seed Saver's Exchange seed stock as far as we could tell from our incomplete documentation. Elephant is fun to grow because it produces big heads of big cloves, but it doesn't keep well so we know we won't ever rely on that variety alone.

The one obvious, undeniable conclusion was that the German Hardneck harvest from Gerry's Garden, a Clintonville Farmer's Market vendor, produced bigger heads than the Seed Saver's Exchange seed garlic. Overall, this variety was the most vigorous producer too. Our 2015 garlic plot (planted in just a few months) will be dominated by German Hardneck seed stock that we hold back from our 2014 harvest.

How did your garlic grow this year? On Thursday I'll share how we harvested and cured our 100+ heads of garlic.

PS. I'm teaching about harvesting and produce storage techniques at City Folk's Farm Shop on Thursday evening. Seats are still available!

Seed Garlic Vs. Farmers' Market - Garlic Harvest 2014

In October 2013, my friend Kate and I decided to undertake a little research project. We wanted to know how organic seed garlic purchased through City Folk's Farm Shop from Seeds of Change compared to large, fully developed cloves from reputable farmers' market growers. Many garlic growers keep back their own seed stock and it stood to reason that maybe those of us who don't have seed stock could save a little cash and perpetuate locally adapted strains by buying from a farmers' market vendor.

So we planted four varieties of garlic in two different locations in the garden. They all grew well, we ate the scapes, and then as leaves faded it was time to harvest. What seed source would win?

It turns out that our paper map (which is a more detailed record than I usually keep) was missing one critical component: number of cloves planted. Wooden markers long degraded, we couldn't quite tell where one variety stopped and another began. This made comparing the harvest difficult.

We only grew Broadleaf Czech garlic from Seed Saver's Exchange. It made tiny little heads with many little cloves which means fiddly peeling work to cook with it. We won't be growing Czech again.

The Music or Elephant varieties grew similarly whether from farmers' market or Seed Saver's Exchange seed stock as far as we could tell from our incomplete documentation. Elephant is fun to grow because it produces big heads of big cloves, but it doesn't keep well so we know we won't ever rely on that variety alone.

The one obvious, undeniable conclusion was that the German Hardneck harvest from Gerry's Garden, a Clintonville Farmer's Market vendor, produced bigger heads than the Seed Saver's Exchange seed garlic. Overall, this variety was the most vigorous producer too. Our 2015 garlic plot (planted in just a few months) will be dominated by German Hardneck seed stock that we hold back from our 2014 harvest.

How did your garlic grow this year? On Thursday I'll share how we harvested and cured our 100+ heads of garlic.

PS. I'm teaching about harvesting and produce storage techniques at City Folk's Farm Shop on Thursday evening. Seats are still available!

Edible Plant Flowers

Lil doesn't have much patience for gardening some days because "it's all about vegetables!" She plants her garden in flowers instead of food and she's taught me to appreciate beauty for beauty's sake alone. But most of the food we grow comes from flowers too. Can you identify these flowers from edible plants?

Answer key: 1. chamomile 2. cucumber 3. elderberry 4. pattypan squash 5. potato 6. sesame 7. tobacco 8. tomato 9. seed poppy

Edible Plant Flowers

Lil doesn't have much patience for gardening some days because "it's all about vegetables!" She plants her garden in flowers instead of food and she's taught me to appreciate beauty for beauty's sake alone. But most of the food we grow comes from flowers too. Can you identify these flowers from edible plants?

Answer key: 1. chamomile 2. cucumber 3. elderberry 4. pattypan squash 5. potato 6. sesame 7. tobacco 8. tomato 9. seed poppy

Garden Experiments 2014

I don't believe much of anything that doesn't have some evidence to go along with it. Maybe I have issues with authority, or maybe I'm too well-trained as a scientist, but sometimes I don't even believe evidence provided by other people. I like to test things myself.

The garden is my experimental lab. I tested the 'potato towers grow twenty times more potatoes' theory, twice, and now definitively believe that the only advantage of potato towers is ease of harvest.

Two years ago, I sought proof for the garlic growing wisdom that one should remove the scape for the garlic plant to produce a bigger bulb. I planted a large patch of seed garlic. I split the patch down the middle and removed half the garlic scapes for cooking - they usually come up in early June - and left the rest as is. They grew beautiful flowers. At harvest time, we saw clearly that the plants with scapes removed produced bigger bulbs.

2014 Garden Experiments

This year, I've set up trials to answer these garden-related questions:

1. Which is better for production - organic seed garlic from out of state or high quality, locally grown garlic? I planted three varieties of garlic from multiple producers to answer this question. I am running the trial in two separate locations to eliminate location variables.
2. Are seed potatoes worth the cost? Organic culinary potatoes sprout readily and have grown well for me before. I question whether $6/pound seed potatoes are any better than sprouted $2/pound organic grocery potatoes. Because of the availability of seed stock, I wasn't able to choose varieties to directly compare but we can still measure yield from the four varieties planted (one seed stock, one grocery store and two saved over from last year's planting).
3. Can I grow artichokes in Ohio? If so, where? I grew four varieties of artichoke from seed and am planting them in locations around the garden including in the hoop house, the hugelkultur, and in regular beds.  Alex and I fondly remember artichokes from our year living in Monterey, California and we would love to have a source of fresh artichokes again.

Experimenting in the garden excites me and gives me a chance to explore my limits while learning new things to pass on to others.

What are your garden experiments this year?

Garden Experiments 2014

I don't believe much of anything that doesn't have some evidence to go along with it. Maybe I have issues with authority, or maybe I'm too well-trained as a scientist, but sometimes I don't even believe evidence provided by other people. I like to test things myself.

The garden is my experimental lab. I tested the 'potato towers grow twenty times more potatoes' theory, twice, and now definitively believe that the only advantage of potato towers is ease of harvest.

Two years ago, I sought proof for the garlic growing wisdom that one should remove the scape for the garlic plant to produce a bigger bulb. I planted a large patch of seed garlic. I split the patch down the middle and removed half the garlic scapes for cooking - they usually come up in early June - and left the rest as is. They grew beautiful flowers. At harvest time, we saw clearly that the plants with scapes removed produced bigger bulbs.

2014 Garden Experiments

This year, I've set up trials to answer these garden-related questions:

1. Which is better for production - organic seed garlic from out of state or high quality, locally grown garlic? I planted three varieties of garlic from multiple producers to answer this question. I am running the trial in two separate locations to eliminate location variables.
2. Are seed potatoes worth the cost? Organic culinary potatoes sprout readily and have grown well for me before. I question whether $6/pound seed potatoes are any better than sprouted $2/pound organic grocery potatoes. Because of the availability of seed stock, I wasn't able to choose varieties to directly compare but we can still measure yield from the four varieties planted (one seed stock, one grocery store and two saved over from last year's planting).
3. Can I grow artichokes in Ohio? If so, where? I grew four varieties of artichoke from seed and am planting them in locations around the garden including in the hoop house, the hugelkultur, and in regular beds.  Alex and I fondly remember artichokes from our year living in Monterey, California and we would love to have a source of fresh artichokes again.

Experimenting in the garden excites me and gives me a chance to explore my limits while learning new things to pass on to others.

What are your garden experiments this year?

2014 Spring Garden Update {Wordless Wednesday}

1. Bee on grape leaf 2. Bee on celosia flower 3. Chickens in their new dual pasture yard 4. Old chicken yard garden beds in progress 5. Fig finally springing back to life 6. Rows of garlic plants 7. Harmonious Gardens managed by Swainway Urban Farm 8. Potato leaves 9. Row of tomatoes and pollinator food, aka weeds 10. Strawberries

The spring garden is growing! Our annual produce garden is 75% planted, the front yard organic farm rows are in progress, and the egg-laying chickens are finally in a pastured system (more on that another time). What's going on in your garden?

2014 Spring Garden Update {Wordless Wednesday}

1. Bee on grape leaf 2. Bee on celosia flower 3. Chickens in their new dual pasture yard 4. Old chicken yard garden beds in progress 5. Fig finally springing back to life 6. Rows of garlic plants 7. Harmonious Gardens managed by Swainway Urban Farm 8. Potato leaves 9. Row of tomatoes and pollinator food, aka weeds 10. Strawberries

The spring garden is growing! Our annual produce garden is 75% planted, the front yard organic farm rows are in progress, and the egg-laying chickens are finally in a pastured system (more on that another time). What's going on in your garden?