Just discovered this new sub-forum specifically on Gardening.
It is cold enough to start fall planting but I still haven't gotten around to doing it.
I did plant a few cloves of garlic too early in the summer (before I found out you should start planting them in the fall). They sprouted some greens then the green died. But a few weeks ago, the greens popped up again so I guess the cloves are still alive! :)
And planting garlic is so easy to do. Just get a bulb from the grocery, remove a couple of cloves then stick them into the ground about an inch under the soil. Just remember to water now and then. From what I've read, the time to harvest them would be when the stalks start to turn the translucent white (the way they are when you buy them from the grocery).
Each clove, properly matured, will produce a bulb of several cloves, so it is easy to grow another batch from the previous crop.
I tried digging up one of the bulbs I planted in the summer when the greens wilted and the clove became round (like a small marble but hadn't split into smaller cloves yet) and developed just a few layers of "skin". I tried it out and the garlic smell and taste was very pungent! I wonder if the garlic is really potent at this point of growth, much like how sprouts are really good when they're still sprouts (and not yet full fledged plants).
some links on sprout nutrition:
_http://www.isga-sprouts.org/history.htm
This link shows a table of different sprouts and nutritional content.
_http://www.sproutpeople.com/nutrition.html
Getting back to garlic, planting garlic alongside other plants also provides a natural kind of pest protection for the other plants:
_http://www.garlic-central.com/co-planting.html
It is cold enough to start fall planting but I still haven't gotten around to doing it.
I did plant a few cloves of garlic too early in the summer (before I found out you should start planting them in the fall). They sprouted some greens then the green died. But a few weeks ago, the greens popped up again so I guess the cloves are still alive! :)
And planting garlic is so easy to do. Just get a bulb from the grocery, remove a couple of cloves then stick them into the ground about an inch under the soil. Just remember to water now and then. From what I've read, the time to harvest them would be when the stalks start to turn the translucent white (the way they are when you buy them from the grocery).
Each clove, properly matured, will produce a bulb of several cloves, so it is easy to grow another batch from the previous crop.
I tried digging up one of the bulbs I planted in the summer when the greens wilted and the clove became round (like a small marble but hadn't split into smaller cloves yet) and developed just a few layers of "skin". I tried it out and the garlic smell and taste was very pungent! I wonder if the garlic is really potent at this point of growth, much like how sprouts are really good when they're still sprouts (and not yet full fledged plants).
some links on sprout nutrition:
_http://www.isga-sprouts.org/history.htm
Nutritional Advantages of Sprouts
It is really only in the past thirty years that "westerners" have become interested in sprouts and sprouting. During World War II considerable interest in sprouts was sparked in the United States by an article written by Dr. Clive M. McKay, Professor of Nutrition at Cornell University. Dr. McKay led off with this dramatic announcement: "Wanted! A vegetable that will grow in any climate, will rival meat in nutritive value, will mature in 3 to 5 days, may be planted any day of the year, will require neither soil nor sunshine, will rival tomatoes in Vitamin C, will be free of waste in preparation and can be cooked with little fuel and as quickly as a ... chop."
Dr. McKay was talking about soybean sprouts. He and a team of nutritionists had spent years researching the amazing properties of sprouted soybeans. They and other researchers at the universities of Pennsylvania and Minnesota, Yale and McGill have found that sprouts retain the B-complex vitamins present in the original seed, and show a big jump in Vitamin A and an almost unbelievable amount of Vitamin C over that present in unsprouted seeds. While some nutritionists point out that this high vitamin content is gained at the expense of some protein loss, the figures are impressive: an average 300 percent increase in Vitamin A and a 500 to 600 percent increase in Vitamin C. In addition, in the sprouting process starches are converted to simple sugars, thus making sprouts easily digested.
This link shows a table of different sprouts and nutritional content.
_http://www.sproutpeople.com/nutrition.html
Getting back to garlic, planting garlic alongside other plants also provides a natural kind of pest protection for the other plants:
_http://www.garlic-central.com/co-planting.html
Garlic co-planting is especially beneficial to lettuce (where it deters aphids) and cabbage (deterring many common pests).
As well as protecting other plants garlic can also improve their flavour. Beets and cabbage are reported to be especially good companions that benefit from this.
Not all companion planting combinations are beneficial. Garlic doesn't seem to cooperate well with legumes (beans and pulses), peas or potatoes. Try not to plant these too near your garlic.