DIY test for garlic stem & bulb nematode

Holy carp guys. What I am about to share is going to CHANGE MY LIFE. My gardening life anyway. Or more specifically, my garlic-growing life. Last year (um yeah… that was my last post… don’t judge) I published my heartbroken post of discovering what my years-long problem had been with my garlic, which was to…

Dashed garlic dreams

I’ve been growing an increasing amount of garlic at my family farm for about 5 years now, but over the last two harvests I’ve been really disappointed in the quality of it, and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. It looked like rot. The wrappers were yellowed, the roots more or less missing from…

Garlic Mojo

By late February, early March, my remaining garlic harvest is usually starting to try to sprout and go soft. I usually try to roast what’s left and freeze it to prevent it from sprouting past its usefulness. This year however, I came across Rick Bayless’s Garlic Mojo (Mojo de Ajo) recipe, which is a simple…

The garlic is in!

Back in August I harvested my 2015 crop of garlic. I’m still tallying up the totals (everything I do these days is done in the fastest, most efficient way possible, but not always with the same attention to detail as I used to give; having an infant around will do that to you). This weekend…

Garlic obsessed

I’m a little obsessed. I love growing garlic. I love eating it too of course. I love the smell of it. I love the earthy goodness of it. I love roasting it and using it in salad dressings, or marinating with it. Back at the end of July I harvested my garlic crop, which I…

Toronto’s Garlic Festival

A couple weeks ago we hit up the incredibly popular Toronto Garlic Festival, held at the Brickworks, which is right around the corner from my house. We went last year as well — and it was just as busy. Last year I was looking to beef up my garlic seed. I have been growing garlic…

Diggin

I got to get my boots dirty this weekend after a long summer of no gardening. We’re not going to be able to get any gardens up and ready this fall at the new house so I planted next year’s garlic out at the farm. I had picked up two new varieties of garlic at…

Soon, drywall

Slowly but surely, our house renovation is moving along. Almost all our new windows have been installed. We weren’t planning on doing that upstairs one at the front of the house, until we saw how awful it looked next to the brand new ones, so that one has been ordered to. By the way I…

Garlic

I was so pleased with my garlic this year that I’ve decided to plant more than twice the amount for next year. In fact, by next spring, I may regret how little space I have left in my garden for anything else! As the years go by and I gain more experience growing veggies, I’ve…

Cured garlic

My garlic harvest is now cured and stored away safely hanging in my basement. I had it on a drying rack in the garage with a fan on it for about 2 weeks or so, and then I trimmed off the dead leaves and the roots, and then brought them inside. I tried my hand…