Hakusai and garlic

Written by: adekun on 19 October, 2009 5:08 pm - Filed under: garden — No Comments »

Both the hakusai and garlic should have been planted at the beginning of the month. At least now they are in. This season far fewer cloves were planted. Three rows of twenty-four. 10 rows of the usual 6-piece white, 10 Shanghai and the remainder Aomori. The hakusai were spaced 45 cm apart with another row offset to keep them fairly close together.

Tags: garlic, hakusai

Another early garlic harvest

Written by: adekun on 14 June, 2009 9:50 pm - Filed under: garden — 2 Comments »

Not wanting to take a gamble on the weather, the garlic got pulled yesterday. The end of the month would have been better, especially for the larger, apple sized Aomori. Still, rust set in at the start and can’t expect the heads to miraculously swell. The Elephant garlic didn’t come to anything.

Tags: garden, garlic, weather

Spring was here

Written by: adekun on 25 March, 2009 11:14 pm - Filed under: garden — 2 Comments »

Every few days the weather seems to go from one extreme to the other. At the beginning of the week the first tips of asparagus had pushed through. Along with the garlic and onions, I had wanted to have got the beds weeded beforehand. At least clover was turned in. This may be back with vengeance and add to the list of things to keep an eye on. Once the weather settles, Kento can get out there and plant some potatoes.

Tags: asparagus, garden, garlic, onions, weather

Poor garlic

Written by: adekun on 8 February, 2009 9:31 pm - Filed under: garden — 6 Comments »

The winter vegetables have been bad this season. After the snow had gone the previous month, it was noticeable how poor the back half of garlic looked. It seems odd as that end was the first to come up and was looking good at the end of last year. It would be nice to think it will come good with a bit of sunshine. Continue reading

Tags: garden, garlic

Winter veg 08

Written by: adekun on 17 October, 2008 11:49 am - Filed under: garden — 5 Comments »

The last of the sweet potatoes have been harvested. Amen. Previously the bulk of the winter vegetables were planted. Despite the principles of permaculture, natural farming, amongst others being of great interest, the plants were laid down in bland uniform rows:

• Chinese cabbages
• Brussels sprouts
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Lettuces incl. mizuna
• Spinach

Even with a very limited understanding of the subjects, the understanding of others may be more the trouble if they were to look upon an experiment. Continue reading

Tags: garden, garlic, sweet potatoes

How to grow garlic

Written by: adekun on 18 September, 2008 10:31 pm - Filed under: herbs — 6 Comments »

Garlic is an undemanding herb to grow. Sticking a few cloves in the ground and waiting should suffice. In spite of this, the title of this entry is perhaps equally a question. I wanted to jot down a few thoughts for reference; to clarify or simplify. My objective is to be self sufficient in garlic. Japanese grown garlic sells for ¥400 a head, it makes a valuable commodity. Continue reading

Tags: garden, garlic, how to

Cold, wet and miserable

Written by: adekun on 7 September, 2008 6:02 pm - Filed under: blog — 2 Comments »

The above could be a fair reflection of the weather for the second half of August. To be dispassionate, temperatures were in the mid twenties, there were no typhoons, and perhaps it is me being miserable.
I managed to get sunburnt in the September sun as the weather quickly changed. We have had week of warmer weather. It brought some relief, as I worried about the puddles forming above the potatoes and garlic. Although the rain has now returned, I’m pleased to have spotted that one of the garlic cloves has already speared it’s way through to the surface.

Tags: garden, garlic, weather