Garlic

This has been the first time ever that I have had any success with garlic and I am very excited.

Months ago now I planted garlic bulbs - Purple Monaro and the bulbs of a locally produced garlic. Their bed was dosed with old sheep manure dragged out from under the shearing shed  and the patch was watered when it needed it with nettle tea made from the stinging nettle found about the property in places where previous sheep had camped. Some weeds are very useful!

The garlic grew and thickened and then, just the other day, I realised that the plants were flagging and not responding to water.  The lower leaves were browning off and the tops were yellowing - I decided to pull.

The bulbs have been sunning on various surfaces - on the deck and,

 on the garden bench.

Today I decided to plait them before their stems got too brittle.

It was the first time I have tried plaiting garlic  - really because I have never had any success with garlic before...

Here is the first plait on the left - a little bit loose isn't it, but things got better.

The second plait - next to the first one in the picture on the right is much tighter, and below - the third plait is even better! Yay for continuous improvement (except for the poor photography featuring the knees of the plaiter).

Finally, all 4 plaits, or rather 3 1/2, are done.

and now decorate the entrance to the house along with the Driza-bone, hat and gaiters, the garlic of course positioned to ward off any vampires that may be lurking in the Lower Snowy Mountains!

They will go somewhere airy and dark when they have dried properly in the meantime I feel like a proper peasant.

Winter wrap

How can it be nearly  two weeks since I last blogged? I guess it is because with spring everything is coming in a flurry and I have been busy flurrying. There has been action on a shed, visitors past and impending, trips to Canberra, new fencing, weeds, weeds and weeds, and lambs, lambs and lambs and there has been frantic seed raising activity for the vegetable patch.

But before blogging on spring progress it's time to reflect on the season just past.

Weather
Our first winter at Highfield was remarkably productive considering we didn't really know what to expect weather wise. Here in the Lower Snowy Mountains we had frosts  around the house and the vegetable garden but many fewer and much less severe that I had anticipated.  I suspect that  was due not to the weather around here, but really clever positioning of the house. You see the house and veg garden sits on a small ridge and the real frostiness seems to drain off the ridge on both sides. The frost that we did get  was not very serious, just nipping the tips of the citrus occasionally. I got to the point where I stopped even covering them on the cold nights.

But just as last summer was determined as the hottest on record across Australia, the winter here we considered warm -  an anomaly or a sign of things to come climate change wise?

Produce
Despite the under developed soils and  raids of the patch by chooks and sheep the produce has been quite spectacular. I have bought very few vegetables all winter. Here is a little more detail on the pick. It does focus rather heavily on brassicas - the veg that grows best here in winter.

Wombok Mini
Wow - this is the first time I have grown any wombok and I am in love. They come out of the ground quickly and easily, grow fast and taste great. I even liked the mini version. This little brassica I will grow again and I will grow more of them spaced thru the colder season.

Calabrese broccoli
Good sized heads initially followed by a huge number of side shoots. Really worth the space they take up.

Purple broccoli
Loved these. They grew well and easily and the purple was such a pleasure in the garden. The only downside is the weird colour they turn on cooking.

Cabbage - Savoy
This is an old favourite of mine but this year they were less successful than in the past and I am not sure why. They seemed to do not much for a long time and then bolt to seed... disappointing, but nevertheless I got some
good specimens.

Cauliflower Mini
I got some nice heads of little white tight-curded cauli but in the future I wont grow the mini version.

Romaneso broccoli
Mad lime green spirals and also spirals of purple tinged lime green  - pretty crazy things. I am not sure why they are called broccoli - the plants grow like caulis and despite their greeness (or purpleness) they taste like cauli.  I will grow them again.

Cabbage - Mini
I actually got very little from this crop and not just because they were a mini variety. They took a long time to develop and then bolted. I wont grow these again

Cabbage - Red drum
Gosh - these look beautiful in the patch but have not headed very well at all and have taken so long... I probably wont grow these again.

Florence fennelWhat can I say - these have been fabulous and are likely to be the veg that tales me thru the hungry gap. I have picked them young and slim and now I am picking them fat and juicy. They will always be part of my patch.

Spring onions
An ever-reliable little crop, these have done well this year. I just wished I had had more in the patch early on in the cooler season.

Garlic
There is a big statement about to come here - I have had my BEST garlic season ever this year ( if that can be said before a bulb has been pulled?). I planted Monaro Purple bulbs  which were recommended by my neighbour and they have done really well. The garlic patch is full of thick stemmed garlic which must be building great bulbs below the surface? I cant wait to pull and plait.

Leeks
As with the garlic - I haven't really picked any leeks yet but they seem to be growing really well. I am looking forward to leek risotto.

Beetroot
These have been pretty unsuccessful this year but I suspect  that is because almost all beetroot were grazed off at least twice by the resident wallaby. They have tended to be too woody and too slow to develop. I will
however persist with beetroot because I love eating them. Provided I can keep the wallabies off, I think I can get a good root.

Parsnip
Lovely. This is the first time I have attempted parsnips and I Love them. The Hollow Crown variety have survived the hot summer and have developed well despite the new soil they are in. They have been small but deliciously creamy. There is still more in the ground and I am hoping that with the thinning I have done, I might get some decent -sized roots soon.

Celery
Probably the best celery crop I have ever grown.The plants are massive  and tasty.  I must pick more and juice them stems to get the best of the crop before they do the spring bolt.

Parsley
I have only had curled parley so far producing and these have been incredible. They have really enjoyed the wettish winter we have had and have been a feature of many of our meals and many of my vases. I have made many, many dishes with Salsa Verde.

Peas
Fail... complete fail. I cannot remember a winter without home grown snow peas. Alas this winter I was without these little slips of heaven - the chooks got them.

Brussels Sprouts
This is the first year I have tried Brussels and they haven't really been a good one for me. The little sprouts haven't really turned into tight little balls of delight at all, just flabby, leafy little puffs! I am not sure that I like Brussels enough to persist with them next year.

Special moments

• making cheese - quark and feta
• assisting a sheep with the birth of her lamb
• mist in the mountains
• the steamy grassy breath of our cow and the lick of her raspy tongue
• baby lambs struggling to their little hooves
• baby lambs bouncing
• rain in the gauge
• lichens on  wet wood

The garden in mid-April - Onions

If you are not tired of my garden in mid-April tour yet, here is the third instalment - the onion family.

Garlic
This season I am making a serious attempt at growing garlic. I have tried growing garlic before, but I am not sure I have ever been focused enough in the past to get a result I was happy with. This year I am trying Monaro Purple which are reputedly suitable for colder climates. I wonder what their origin is - the Monaro Plain of NSW? They look pretty good so far, I am certain every bulb I put in has come up.

They are Rocambole-style garlic which are hardnecks. The neighbours up the track had great success with this variety last year and so I am taking their lead. It is of course possible that it was their gardening skills rather than the variety of garlic that made the difference, but for now I am placing faith in the variety and a liberal dash of lime.

Leeks
I love leeks, really love them. I also like how they look in the bed and love their huge round flower heads. These leeks I bought in punnet form, but I have another row in which is much less developed that have been raised from seed.

I always put leeks in quite close together, thinning out by pulling some quite young. On the right of the leeks you can see some parsnips on the way.

Spring onions
We seem to eat a lot of spring onions so I have a lot in.  They are mostly in pots but there are some in the beds. These have all been raised from seed. Again, like the leeks, I tend to plant densely.

Red Shallots
Years ago, when I lived in Britain, I grew shallots, red and brown ones and they were heavenly! Why it has taken me so long to grow them again I don't know.  It might have had something to do with space but now I have lots of space there is little excuse.

I haven't put these in yet as you can see. I intend to plant them in a couple of weeks, in the meantime I have prepared a bed for them and am asking the chooky girls to help out. This morning they ate a lot of slaters that were hiding in the parts of the bed that had lots of straw. They have done a fair bit of scratching around already.

(Apologies for the shadow of the photographer in the photo.)

Other oniony things
I also have chives and garlic chives in pots but I kind of call these things 'herbs'.

Onions
Yes, hmmm. You will have noticed that I don't have any onions in. To be honest, I am a little scared of growing onions. Scared is perhaps an exaggeration,  I think I don't like the idea of tying up a big area of a bed when I might be unsuccessful. If I think growing garlic is a challenge, I suspect growing onions is even harder. If you have any tips for success with onions (and garlic for that matter), It will be greatly appreciated. Perhaps I will take onions on next year.