First Harvest of the Year...... Garlic

I have harvested all my Garlic already, its only June. The plan was not to pull it up this early but things happen that change your plans. I over wintered the garlic with my onions and they were doing brilliantly however over the last month or so they got rust on the leaves and were looking terrible. Only the garlic was suffering, the onions are thriving and have no sign of rust yet! The rust was killing the leaves and I noticed that the plants were trying to send out new shoots and at first I thought great they will keep on going. When I looked closer though the cloves in the bulb were growing individually and thus as new plants all together. So if I was going to use them at all I needed to get them up.

I was actually rather surprised at the size of them, most are bigger than any garlic I have grown before with well formed plump cloves. All in all 40 bulbs of garlic are now drying in the shed.

Unplanned as it might have been to lift them now and have an unexpected empty part of my veg bed it does give me the opportunity to get something else in. Its still early enough to get another batch of sweetcorn going so that is what I am going to do. I had an unused pack of Eskimo White Corn sitting in the seed tin. I just got to run some manure and fertiliser through and hopefully double my money. 

Garden Update 2014

So I posted they pics earlier on G+ but with out explanation. I am rather please with how well every thing seems to be going and since I took the photo many of the plants have grown considerably.

 I have to admit I have that I have a problem, I can not stop buying plants..... I don't go around buying everything I see but if I do see something exotic or unusual I really can not help myself. Hence in the picture to my right 4 Chilean Guava plants and 2 Goji Berry plants. I have never eaten a Guava berry in my life but I could not help myself, however they were an absolute bargain, I got 6 potted plants for £10 on the Dobies website, follow the link here if you want some. I actually thought I was buying 3 plants so gave 2 to my neighbour. The Goji berry came from Morrison's supermarket at the very reasonable price of £2 a plant. I also came home with 2 Gooseberry bushes. All are intended to be grown in pots for now.












To the left I have some Nasturtium Empress of India in my tin can hanger, they are very easy to grow add a bit of colour with the added bonus of having edible flowers. They do attract the cabbage white butterfly though so you have to be quick to get some before the caterpillars have their fill.













I have gone tomato mad this year, it being my first year with a proper greenhouse. I love tomatoes but I think everyone I know will be sick of them come the end of the season. I have about 5 varieties on the go the one in the picture is called Latah and promises to yield fruit in late June and early July. Fingers crossed it does. I bought the seed for this from Realseeds.co.uk








Because of the greenhouse I have also got Melon Madness..... I think I have 4 or 5 Melon varieties, to the left we have Minnesota Midget again from realseeds.co.uk. The small seedlings are Cucamelons not true melons but more like little cucumbers that look like watermelons. I got the seed for these from Russia. But i have seen therm everywhere after I bought them.













After a very successful harvest last year of sweetcorn, I have I have trebles the amount at least of plants for this year. Sticking with the same variety called Double Standard. The Sweetcorn is planned to be part of a Three Sisters planting scheme with peas, French beans and and courgette. I have added a few other plants too such as sunflowers broadbeans and I think I might try a melon or cucumber in there as well.








An there is one of the courgettes, this one will be from in the pot, its actually been hit by the frost a bit but I think it will survive.

















Last year I wanted to grow enough spuds to last me all year, and I did. This year I have growing even more and more varieties too. My main crop here in the pic is Mayan Gold.I have had my potatoes in this barrel for since the start of March which was a little risky but the weather has been kind. The are soiled up to about two thirds of the barrel. The crop in the beds is just getting going now.






Ahh the Rhubarb seems to have taken well after being moved for the second year in a row. I wont be moving them for the foreseeable future/ Still I will only take a little from it this year just to make sure they get established.








Finally the Garlic, the picture really can do them justice, they are so well established from over wintering. I will always over winter from now on. The varieties are Elephant Garlic and White Solent. I have mulched them and the onions for the first time too.

Elephant Garlic and White Solent

For this year I decided to overwinter my Garlic, I chose two varieties specifically with this in mind. White Solent was my first choice a good sized bulb and excellent flavour. My second choice was Elephant garlic, not a true garlic but a a very close blood relative. The bulbs a huge and the flavour milder! I planted them out around October or November and they look in excellent health!