Monday June 24, 2024, Nepean Night Market Sunday ( cancelled)

 monday, june 24, 2024

it st john the baptiste day, so its is fitting, it is raining. I still have to go out and water my indoor plants for City of Ottawa.

last week, it was heatwave, i did not work from wed to friday. 

i weed around the farm, cleaned garlic field and work long hours in the field. 

very challenging, but thats the only time i can weed the gardens, when I am off work. 

i am only off work - when weather is bad, like heavy rain, thunderstorm and lightning and also another extreme: heatwave

life of a part time farmer, in a fixer upper farm is tough, but life is always tough anyways. 

btw, yesterday sunday - i signed up to sell garlic and garlic scapes to the Nepean Night Market. By 2pm, it was confirmed, it was a go. 

By 5pm, thunder and lightning and then sunny. CANCELLED. 

I was there, and It was sunny, but the event is cancelled. i have 2 bins of garlic greens and garlic scapes at home, to deal with. 

Tuesday - June 11, 2024 Weedingthe Garlic Field and Farmer life in General

 Tuesday June 11, 2024 sunny day

I know I have to work long hours, so I woke up at 5am to tend to the fields. The rainy days are over, now the weeds are growing faster. Scapes are coming out, so that means bulbs are developing. 

My fingers bleeds from blade of grass. - The gift to work in a fixer upper farm - which was formerly a hay field. well, its my farm, no use complaining, thank the heavens for having one. 

i planted my plants in the front yard, Joe Pye weed, hydrangea, chives, shasta daisy, black eyed susan. there are 2 haskaps and yew that needed to be planted. I have the machine trimmers going: the battery powered one ran out of battery, the gas powered one ran out of gas. yes, I worked very hard - but who is counting - it is just my reality of running an organic farm. Weeds are friends  - bio filter - but then if too close to plants, then too much.

I also have a Dahlia row, to my joy, they all come out. I need to feed them Mushroom compost to compete, I love them so much, I have one row of them in the middle of my garlic field. I did this because I will never neglect them, if I see them everyday, as I care for my garlic. 

So, time to get back and feed my dahlia compost and get back to weeding the garlic field. Its 6:42 am and that only gives me 1 hour to work in the field, before heading to work. 

Indoor Garlic Propagation: (Allium sativum)

Garlic after one week, todays date: January 16, 2011 - this garlic leaves is about 6 inches tall now.

Garlic cloves (2) in a 6 inch pot, marked and dated with sowing date Jan 10. 2012

two cloves of garlic, set aside for planting in a pot

Indoor propagation of common household spice: Garlic ( Allium sativum)

I swear there is no more window in my house without plant, or every corner in my house there is a plant, if not toys. Why i keep propagating another plant, because I am a mad gardener.

While chopping garlic this morning for my eggs, I found two of these cloves has scapes - i meant that green thingy that will eventually become leaves. instead of chopping it off, and fry it, i decided to set it aside. Ahem, you know what this green thumb of mine is up to, right?

Indoor soil. i always have indoor potting soil at home, i do have houseplants, and seeds which is a hobby of mine. Do not bother using garden soil, just save yourself the trouble. I found a 6 inch pot, fill it with potting soil mixed with play sand (grit and drainage), and put down the 2 cloves.

Notice that I did not totally cover the whole of garlic with soil. Base on experience, I remember Iris varieties with large rhizomes need to breath. So, as any bulbs from the Lilium family & allium(garlic belongs here). This might not be an expert village, but i am trying to find my grove here. Once the green shots come out full steam, then root formation starts. As roots grow, this will pull the garlic down, so eventually, this garlic will be totally buried under the soil.

Water. Another factor is watering. Since this is the propagation stage, and there are no roots present yet, bottom watering the container is useless. No root tips or hairs that can absorb water. And if ever i attempt to bottom water, I will have soggy soil that will rot my garlic. Plus, indoor environment does not have decent air circulation that will dry it out. Possibility of ROT is high! (and true, it happened to me before, and it does STINK, LOL).
So, i will water from the top, maybe 1/4 cup once a week, and make sure it drained properly and increase the amount as needed.

Location: I have no more space except the shelf beside my oven. I can closely watch this garlic grow everyday, and if in case it starts to show rot, the compost bin is not that far either.

Light & Heat: The amount of light depends on when my kitchen light is on, maybe a little bit more from the window, or heat when my oven is on. I know, this ain't an ideal environment, but who else can provide one in this frigging cold winter?

So, here you go, another herb growing in my kitchen, literally. And ops, I just called my the "mad gardener". Oh well, I hope that is original.

Photos are all mine, taken from my Blackberry. and of course, that garlic is mine too, I got it from Produce Depot last Sunday.




Angie
Zone 5B
Ottawa Ct, ON, Canada