We popped out to the lottie again yesterday and did a few things. We discovered that unlike us humans, the lottie inhabitants are merrily doing their own thing -- plants and animals are growing and interacting unhindered. The flower garden is looking a bit better with more flowers blooming. Here, the entrée: Do you remember the coot's nest that I showed a few days ago? There are two babies and they are out and swimming about now. This cute scene did not go unnoticed: This blue heron was ~ 3 m away from the nest. Luckily the family was away then, I scared the heron off and in the late afternoon the coot family returned for the night. The broad bean igloo needed now to be altered., We removed the enviromesh and replaced it with a different type of netting with large holes in it so that the bees can get in to pollinate the blooms. The bumblebees and get through easily: Wild garlic in in bloom now and the flowers and leaves are so useful in salads and cooking: One final note--the peas that we planted in the guttering are up! We are tentatively planning on planting out the purple-sprouting broccoli since we will have some wet weather tomorrow.
What a lovely garden you have! I'm sure the bees, butterflies, and other critters enjoy it, too. We have a variety of garlic that is only used fresh and only the leaves. It proliferates like crazy, and everyone I know now has it growing in the garden or in pots. I need to make new friends . . . .
I think the wild garlic that I was talking about is probably the same as yours. Thanks loads for the compliments.
I need some garlic ! Where do I buy it? Home Depot here is a very poor source for veggies, herbs and a lot of the rare plants.
Our garlic came from the grocery store. I bought three heads, broke them into cloves, and planted in October. After the harvested heads dry, I save a few to break into cloves and plant for the next season. Ours are ready to pull in late May or early June. The one on the left is our garlic, second season from the original grocery store cloves. The right is a clove, ready to plant. We have hard neck garlic. There are generally six to eight large cloves centered around a hard stalk. We dry it by hanging in the barn, then removing just the outer paper skin cutting off the roots but not into the head itself, and cutting off the dried leaves. Warning! Home grown and air dried garlic is much more potent than commercial garlic.
Islandlife, it tastes even better than it looks! A friend has a son-in-law who is a chef in Austin, and when visiting wanted to know where she got the "elephant garlic". She assured him it was simply garlic, locally grown. When he cut into it and got the aroma, he believed her!
We fWow, what beautiful garden you have, Sjoerd! I can only hope mine does as well. I'm hoping to have two beds next year. There's maple trees everywhere, here. I asked about making maple syrup, then found out you need a ridiculously large amount of sap to get just a small amount. I guess I should have paid better attention to Curious George! I seem to remember my granddaughter watching him learn how to make it. I'm going to be making rhubarb, peach jam in the next few days. I might make two batches and put ginger in one. It depends on how industrious I feel. Well I'm out to dig thistle, while it's still cool.
