Planting & Growing Garlic Part One

The best time to plant garlic in the mid-west is in the fall. Garlic is a very easy plant to grow and it is nice having your own supply, especially if you like to cook.

A little about garlic first: Garlic’s botanical name is Allium sativum. Garlic is in the Liliaceae Family. Onions, Leek, and Shallot are all in the same family.

The first year you will have to buy your garlic cloves to plant, but once you harvest your first crop you will be able to plant garlic the following year from your own yield. There three main types of garlic, Stiff-neck, Soft-neck, and Elephant. Stiff-neck has fewer cloves but is generally larger and easier to peel. Soft-neck has many smaller cloves but is harder to peel. Elephant is the mildest of the garlic and is used a lot for stews; garlic mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables. The smaller you cut up garlic the stronger the flavor. This is true for your Stiff and Hard – necked varieties.

Plant your garlic in the fall before the first hard freeze in a location that receives full sun. Garlic is a bulb similar to tulips and needs time to grow in the warm weeks before frost to germinate and get their roots started. It is okay if they sprout up before frost. Be sure to water them in well in the fall. The soil should be well drained and have plenty of organic matter (Compost). You should plant Stiff-neck or Soft-neck cloves about 2 inches deep and 4-6 inches apart. Elephant should be 3-4 inches deep and 6-8 inches apart. Use only the biggest cloves for planting; they produce bigger bulbs for harvest. Do not break the gloves off of the bulb until you are ready to plant. Before the ground freezes, mulch the garlic in. Shredded leaves work great to protect the garlic cloves during the winter months. The mulch helps keep an even temperature; it also helps with retaining moisture and controlling weeds! It acts like a warm blank for the garlic during our cold Iowa winters.

There is nothing more to do till spring so we will pick up with the rest of growing garlic in the spring.

Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Here is a Female Black Swallowtail. The males do not have as much blue, but they have more yellow. She is feeding on my Zinna plants.

Don’t Forget to Admire your Flowers

We have worked hard so far this growing season weeding and watering our flowers. Now is the time to cut some and bring them in to the house to ADMIRE. Here I have Zinnia’s, Cosmos, and Northern Sea Oat Grass. The blue bottle is an empty wine bottle. You don’t have to use a traditional vase, using different sizes and colors or grouping of vases give you different look. Just have fun. So go cut some flowers and bring some color inside.

Hot Summer Heat--Tips for Plants

During July and August the weather is generally very HOT.. Here are some tips to keep your Annual flowers blooming and looking healthy.

1st-- Make sure they are being watered regularly. When they get too dry that put stress on the plant.

2nd-- You should also be fertilizing your flowers at about 1/2 strength 1-2 times a week.

3rd--If you are going to be gone for a day or two you can move some of your sun loving plants to a shady spot out of the direct sun while you are gone. This will give them a little rest from the heat and help with the watering while you are gone.

Don't forget to stay cool yourself!!

Parsleyworm Caterpiller

This Parsleyworm is feeding on dill in my garden. They also like to dine on parsley, celery, fennel, and other plants in the carrot family Apiaceae. After he or she is done dinning for 3-4 weeks they will then form a pupa in a grayish chrysalis. After roughly two weeks an adult Black Swallowtail Butterfly will emerge. This butterfly will feed on nectar, mate, and lay eggs to produce more Parsleyworm caterpillers. In the midwest there is generally two hatchings of Black Swallowtail Butterflies. When fall comes the caterpillers form a chrysalis and stay in their chrysalis until spring of the next year, when they start this process all over again. I will be watching for the Black Swallowtail Butterflies when they hatch and post a photo at that time.

3 Easy Steps to Kill Your House Plant

First I want to say that what I am about to write about was ok'd by my favorit sister-in-law. (ok my only sister-in-law/the-collinsclan.blogspot.com) but she said I should put this on my blog, I could not go to sleep last night I was laughing as I was thinking of this blog so here it goes...

3 Easy Steps to Kill Your House Plant

1st let your 3 year old pinch, twist, tear and squeeze all the leaves. (If you don't have 3 year old barrow one. All 3 year olds love to play with plants!!)
2nd over water the plant. Don't pour out the extra water from the tray. You real want to drown the roots. You want the roots to start to root!!!
3rd after it has been tortured and drowned, next you need to set it out side in the hot Mid-West sun. I mean full sun!! You really want to get it FRIED!!!

If you still can't get your house plant to die just let me know and I will see if my sister-in-law can finish the job for you!! She is an experienced YELLOW THUMB!!

More on Aloe Vera

When using Aloe Vera for minor burns, scrapes or stings, it is best to take the bottom leaf of the plant. This method puts less stress on the plant.

If you break the top leaf off the plant it will lose more water and take longer to heal, making it difficult for the plant thrive. The tip will not grow back. Aloe Vera grows by producing new growth from the inside out. As the plant gets older and bigger the outer, lower leaves will die off. By taking the leaf from the bottom it puts far less stress on the plant.

Aloe Vera Plant Care

Here are some tips to help your Aloe Vera plant grow. Aloe Vera plants are succulent plants meaning they can go long periods with out water. They store the water in the leaves and roots. When watering an Aloe Vera you need to let the soil dry out completely before watering it. In the winter the plant needs even less water. The best way to tell is check the plant once a week, by sticking your finger down into the soil. If the soil is dry 1-2 inches down you can water it. Make sure the pot it is in has good drainage so the water flows through the pot and do not let the plant sit in standing water. Aloe Vera plants like pots that are wider than deep. Their roots spread across not down. You may set your Aloe Vera outside in the summer. Do not placed it in a loction that gets the full sun in the afternoon. Morning sun is fine, but the hot afternoon sun can burn it.
Aloe Vera plants have been recorded since Biblical time for their medicinal uses. To use the plant at home for a burn or bee sting, just remove the lower leave of the plant, cut the leave and them rub the gel on your wound.

3 Tips for House Plants

Now that spring is in full swing and we are worrying about our tomato's and annuls we can't forget about our house plants. There 3 little tips you can do to keep your house plants looking and doing great.

1st- put some of your plants out side when there is a nice gentle rain. This helps clean off the dust and it also gives them a drink of fresh rain water.

2nd- spring is the best time to transplant most house plants, remember only move the plant up in pot size by 2 inches.

3rd - give your house plants some fertlizer. Worm compost is the best!!! I will talk about this more in the future.

Have fun and happy planting!!

More about Hosta's

I have included this photo of a Pacific Banana Slug. We saw this slug when we were in Oak Harbor Washington in April. You will not find this guy in your gardens here in the mid-west so don't worry!!

To tell if slugs are eating your hosta's, you look for little holes in the leaf. If you see just one or two small holes you may not have slugs, but you will want to check the plant in a day or so to make sure there are not any more holes. Slugs look like a snail with out a shell. You can look on thte under side of the leaves for them. Slugs can defolige a hosta in no time if you are not carefull.

Wide Brim Hosta

This is a hosta. Hosta's are perennials that love the shade.

Garden Tip of the Week

For those of you who love to garden and don't want to spend every dime you make in the garden and who also want to be more earth friendly. I read a great tip and I tried it at home... Here is the tip. If you have Hostas and have slugs munching on them sprinkle used coffee grounds around the base. If you are not a coffee drinker you can get free used coffee grounds at Starbucks!!! So give it a try you are not out any money and you are not handling any chemicals and and coffee does not hurt your soil. I have not had any munching going on since I did this 2 weeks ago.