adekun’s japan blog

Enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of first-time parenthood. Progress on the organic vegetable garden and other ramblings of a gaijin in Japan’s least populous prefecture.

Gone is the garlic

Written by: adekun on 4 October, 2007 9:08 pm - Filed under: blog ?

I think I have been somewhat influenced by Patrick and Steph over at Bifurcated Carrots and In the toad’s garden. If being a touch frugal the garlic could last until late spring. Instead, it’s being invested, along with some elephant garlic, in the ground.
Although it doesn’t look a lot, the size of the cloves are more akin to heads of the organic stuff sold for ¥300 a piece. A potato ricer might be more appropriate than the nice stainless press my parents gave me. The Aomori garlic is to the left.

The heads were broken up at the beginning of the week, only today did I start planting them. A dozen hakusai (Chinese cabbage), several cabbages, and a few broccoli plants jumped the queue. Still got about a hundred cloves to plant, but hopeful the bending over will keep us stocked closer to a year.

9 responses to Gone is the garlic »

  • Michaels

    6 October, 2007 #

    Aww man, I can smell them from here. What does your wife make of you breaking up garlic and then leaving it for several days? ;)

  • Patrick

    8 October, 2007 #

    I’m going to plant mine in a few weeks. I’m still working on pulling weeds!

  • Meg Wolff

    9 October, 2007 #

    Beautiful garlic, again! So am I getting this right? You are planting these to grow them, or will they just “keep” better over the winter in the ground? This sounds like a stupid question, but being a city slicker…I’m trying to figure this all out.

  • Celia

    9 October, 2007 #

    Can’t wait to see next year’s garlic harvest!!! When I was weeding the veg beds I found a sprouting head of garlic which had been left in the ground and forgotten - so it’s been neatly split into cloves with nice green shoots and healthy roots and they make a nice little row. Must get some more.

  • adekun

    11 October, 2007 #

    It was my fingers that ponged.
    Meg, these are for growing. The main variety is New White 6 piece. I have little idea about it, but should be getting a sixfold increase…
    I would be happier planting garlic with a green tinge - it gets pretty cold and damp around this time of year. If they hang around too long, there’s a chance they might rot. Hopefully start to see them emerge in a couple of weeks.

  • TopVeg

    12 October, 2007 #

    Impressive photos of garlic - no wonder your press isa not up to it!

  • Meg Wolff

    16 October, 2007 #

    Oh! Very interesting…thanks for the explanation.

  • Tyra in Vaxholm Sweden

    17 October, 2007 #

    Garlic…..auhhhg I forgot to plant my garlic! Now I’m in a hurry, soon I’ll have frost and snow. I’ve been buzy cleaning +200 pots today and that was really hard work. I promissed myself that I’ll never again will plant that many plants …still, the same procedure as last year! Scary with the snake.

  • adekun

    20 October, 2007 #

    Some terracotta pots would like nice in the garden. I don’t envy the cleaning though.
    Any luck with the garlic Tyra? A fair amount of the stuff I planted sprouted after two weeks.

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