SCGO garlic plants 2023 October
last updated 2023Nov26
VegBed4’s eastern end going from north to south. The signage is laminated laser printed names staples to 1×2″x1′ stakes.
We planted on 2022Oct 23 and on afternoon 2022Oct 24. Straw cover on Oct 25
We used the 6 hole Dibbler Mark III, 6 spikes in the dibbler, each 1 3/8″ diameter and 7″ long with 5″ spacing between spikes.
Two extending bars measured distance between rows, we used 6-8″ between rows.
Video recording in 0digitalcamera\2023\202310\video
cloves
Type Name Subtype Planted 2023
1 garlic Armenian(2015) porcelain 18
2 garlic artichoke formidable 24
3 garlic chesnock purple stripe 12
4 garlic crème de la rasa 2019 marlblepurple stripe 18
5 garlic F3V 18
6 garlic Fishlake Ted F1(2015) porcelain 30
7 garlic Fishlake Ted F21 porcelain 24
8 garlic Fishlake Ted F23 porcelain 36
9 garlic Fishlake Ted F3 porcelain 42
10 garlic Fishlake Ted F30 porcelain 56
11 garlic Fishlake Ted F40 porcelain 30
12 garlic Fishlake Ted F7 porcelain 24
13 garlic genki asiatic 24
14 garlic Georgian (2018) Porcelain 12
15 garlic german red Porcelain 12
16 garlic german white Porcelain 12
17 garlic Hungarian(2015) rocambole 56
18 garlic inchelium softneck-artichoke 24
19 garlic italian lorenz 18
20 garlic italian purple (2019 perth) purple stripe 30
21 garlic italian sicilian (2018) softneck 12
22 garlic Koji (2019) 12
23 garlic Kostyns Red Russian 6
24 garlic lakota 18
25 garlic lucian sicilian artichoke 12
26 garlic Marino(2016) rocambole 24
27 garlic mennonite Porcelain 56
28 garlic newfoundland (2019) Porcelain 24
29 garlic northern quebec porcelain 12
30 garlic northumberland porcelain 18
31 garlic polish jenn artichoke 18
32 garlic port au george (2019) 6
33 garlic purple glazer purple stripe 24
34 garlic railway creek (2019) rocambole 24
35 garlic red rezan Glazed Purple Stripe 24
36 garlic Roja (2019 fa) rocambole 30
37 garlic Rosewood(2015) Porcelain 30
38 garlic russian red rocambole 24
39 garlic Saltspring Select(2016) rocambole 12
40 garlic Sicilian Gold(2016) artichoke 18
41 garlic silverskin40 silverskin 24
42 garlic spanish antihelion(2015) 30
43 garlic spicy korean rocambole 30
44 garlic transylvanian artichoke 12
45 garlic ttv5 12
46 garlic Wettergren(2016) artichoke 12
47 garlic wild garlic 18
48 garlic yugo red (2018) rocambole 12
49 garlic garden3 unknown 1
total 1075
Archive for garlic
And it is DONE again! The SCGO Garlic Planting of 2023. It went quicker and easier than past years, thanks to a lot of prep work up front. cracking the bulbs ahead of time, each in its own labelled paper bags with name and number of cloves. All of the signage prepped, counted and sorted.
We planted on Monday and Tuesday 2023 October 23 and 24. Last year it was Saturday morning Oct 22 and on Sunday afternoon Oct 23.
Last year we used the 8 hole Dibbler Mark II, 8 spikes in the dibbler, each 1 3/8″ diameter and 7″ long with 5″ spacing between spikes. This caused Kevin some injury that took months to heal, so we chopped off the two end spikes and went back to 6 hole rows.
We planted in VegBed4’s eastern end going from north to south and moving the subbeds west. The signage is laminated laser printed names staples to 1×2″x1′ stakes. This naming system has shown to stand up to time the best of all others. The print is facing north, to avoid sunlight. We also printed off a new set of labels in a bigger bolder font, for ease of reading whilst standing up.
The first sub-bed had 38 rows, then 40, 43, 39, 34, 19 and 9, totalling 179 rows * 6 cloves per row = 1074 cloves!
It took just over an hour for each sub-bed and in total about 5-6 hours planting over the two days.
One last task is to cover them with straw to protect them from direct sunlight and the freeze/thaw cycles that happen over winter. Once frozen they should stay frozen until spring.
The number of varieties planted this year: To Be Counted yet.
We cut down on the number of types this year, as many of the smaller yields just did not make the cut.
The planting method:
1) we planted two stakes at the beginning and end of the subbed, a measured distance away from the fence to allow for a walking path. A string was tied to give a line to work on.
2) the subbed was raked over to get as flat of a surface as possible.
3) The first dibber went in up against the beginning stake. Each subsequent dibble lined up with the string and used the two extension bars to mark 5″ to 6″ from the last set of holes.
4) Name stakes went in on the opposite side of the string. Each row got its own namestake. As this was going on, Kim would get the next bag, check the name against the stake and start planting about 2-4″ down, or as deep as we could get.
5) Once the subbed was done, the string came off and two more beginning and end stakes were measured and driven in for the next subbed.
Then the straw went on top of the garlic, protecting it against extremes of light and temperature and soil compaction.
Garlic Harvest 2023 Data
The 2023 Garlic Harvest is complete.
Over the course of 4 mornings, Kim dug up, organized, tied and hung up approx 1392 garlic plants.
They dried over the next 3 to 4 weeks, got cleaned, weighed and measured.
This past year we planted 75 types of garlic:
Name # bulbs totalweight(g) averageweight(g)
Armenian(2015) 14 693 50
artichoke formidable 25 571 23
chloe 6 231 39
continental(2021) 7 216 31
crème de la rasa 2019 15 629 42
czech broadleaf 8 141 18
dujanski 7 182 26
F3V 15 406 27
Fishlake Ted F1(2015) 30 823 27
Fishlake Ted F21 20 562 28
Fishlake Ted F23 40 860 22
Fishlake Ted F3 42 2116 50
Fishlake Ted F30 52 2012 39
Fishlake Ted F40 31 846 27
Fishlake Ted F7 24 536 22
french 16 288 18
genki 24 590 25
georgia crystal 7 194 28
georgia fire 7 164 23
Georgian (2018) 16 562 35
german red 17 658 39
german white 18 417 23
Hungarian(2015) 59 3528 60
inchelium 19 722 38
italian lorenz 15 379 25
italian purple (2019 perth) 31 1296 42
italian sicilian (2018) 13 530 41
japanese 8 230 29
japanese sikura 7 116 17
Khabar 4 189 47
kilkarney (2021) 8 194 24
Koji (2019) 15 538 36
Kostyns Red Russian 8 321 40
korean purple 8 156 20
lakota 14 597 43
lucian sicilian 9 927 103
Marino(2016) 26 874 34
mennonite 54 3705 69
Mexican Red Silver 14 209 15
music (2019) 18 697 39
newfoundland (2019) 24 1573 66
northern quebec 16 788 49
nothern siberian 8 174 22
northumberland 8 673 84
omas 8 277 35
polish jenn 15 509 34
port au george (2019) 20 518 26
purple glazer 24 729 30
railway creek (2019) 30 910 30
red rezan 25 399 16
Roja (2019 fa) 24 1819 76
rose de lautrec 15 228 15
Rosewood(2015) 23 1195 52
russian red 25 1127 45
Saltspring Select(2016) 16 597 37
seversky palisek 12 212 18
siberian marble 7 250 36
Sicilian Gold(2016) 17 697 41
silverskin40 26 757 29
slovak 8 265 33
spanish antihelion(2015) 31 865 28
spicy korean 18 915 51
sweet candy(2015) 24 1000 42
transylvanian 15 693 46
ttv5 14 322 23
us polish 8 192 24
us republican 7 186 27
us romanian 7 255 36
vampire 7 193 28
Wettergren(2016) 14 346 25
wild garlic 16 785 49
wyld garlic 14 417 30
yugo red (2018) 15 570 38
zemo 8 177 22
garden 3 unknown
total 1320
min 4 116 15
average 18 669 35
max 59 3705 103
loss of 1392-1320=72 bulbs
This is a little hard to read outside of a spreadsheet.. here are the top ten performers by average weight
Name averageweight(g)
lucian sicilian 103
northumberland 84
Roja (2019 fa) 76
mennonite 69
newfoundland (2019) 66
Hungarian(2015) 60
Rosewood(2015) 52
spicy korean 51
Fishlake Ted F3 50
Armenian(2015) 50
Phew! Kim worked hard and has completed the processing of the 2023 SCGO Garlic Harvest.
This involved cutting the tops and bottoms off, cleaning the dirt off and then measuring each bulb and weighing each type.
We hope to transcribe the data sometime in the next week to get a feel for what worked and what did not work this past year.
This will help us plan for the 2023 fall Garlic planting coming up in October.
I suspect that we will again this coming year, downsize from our largest crop of approx 1500 in the past years to something a lot more reasonable.
We used an 8 hole dibbler to make planting holes for the cloves last year and that was too damaging to the knees to work again, so it was cut own to a 6 hole dibbler, a 25 reduction in bulbs alone!
Garlic Harvest 2023
The 2023 Garlic Harvest is complete. Over the course of 4 mornings, Kim dug up, organized, tied and hung up approx 1392 garlic plants. They will dry over the next 3 to 4 weeks and then come down, get cleaned, weighed and measured. Then they go up for sale 🙂
This past year we planted 75 types of garlic, including:
Armenian(2015)
artichoke formidable
chloe
continental(2021)
crème de la rasa 2019
czech broadleaf
dujanski
F3V
Fishlake Ted F1(2015)
Fishlake Ted F21
Fishlake Ted F23
Fishlake Ted F3
Fishlake Ted F30
Fishlake Ted F40
Fishlake Ted F7
french
genki
georgia crystal
georgia fire
Georgian (2018)
german red
german white
Hungarian(2015)
inchelium
itaian lorenz
italian purple (2019 perth)
italian sicilian (2018)
japanese
japanese sikura
Khabar
kilkarney (2021)
Koji (2019)
Kostyns Red Russian
korean purple
lakota
lucian sicilian
Marino(2016)
mennonite
Mexican Red Silver
music (2019)
newfoundland (2019)
northern quebec
nothern siberian
northumberland
omas
polish jenn
port au george (2019)
purple glazer
railway creek (2019)
red rezan
Roja (2019 fa)
rose de lautrec
Rosewood(2015)
russian red
Saltspring Select(2016)
seversky palisek
siberian marble
Sicilian Gold(2016)
silverskin40
slovak
spanish antihelion(2015)
spicy korean
sweet candy(2015)
transylvanian
ttv5
us polish
us republican
us romanian
vampire
Wettergren(2016)
wild garlic
wyld garlic
yugo red (2018)
zemo
garden 3 unknown
Last year (2022 harvest), the heaviest bulb averages were:
Armenian (54g)
italian purple (2019) (56g)
khabar (52g)
mennonite (50g)
newfoundland (70g)
northern quebec (54g)
roja (99g)
rosewood (51g)
russian red (56g)
Anthracnose of garlic scapes reported for first time in Ontario, this was a story from FarmOntario
We do not have this issue at the Gardens, but it is something to keep an eye on.
Garlic Planting 2022
And it is DONE! The SCGO Garlic Planting of 2022. It went quicker and easier than past years, thanks to a lot of prep work up front. cracking the bulbs ahead of time, each in its own labelled paper bags with name and number of cloves. All of the signage prepped, counted and sorted. And then the fantastic weather of 20C with a nice breeze.
In past years we have planted at night, with floodlights with rain, sleet and snow coming down. No More!
We planted on Saturday morning Oct 22 and on Sunday afternoon Oct 23.
So, we used the 8 hole Dibbler Mark II, 8 spikes in the dibbler, each 1 3/8″ diameter and 7″ long with 5″ spacing between spikes. Two extending bars measured distance between rows, we used 6″ between rows.
We used two poles to hold onto it whilst jumping on each end and in the middle to get ground penetration.
Unfortunately the dibbler outpaces our human capabilities. We typically move backwards down the bed with feet spread across the 40″ so as to not compact the soil. So of us cannot straddle 40″ anymore 🙂 As well, with 8, larger spikes rather than the Dibbler Mark I, 6 smaller diameter spikes, the absolute PSI driving into the ground is much less. Even jumping up and down on the dibbler into damp soil, it rarely achieve the 7″ depth. We aim for the clove to be 4-5 ” below grade and with the shape of the spike, incomplete depth, this works out for us.
So next year we are planning to move to a narrowed Mark III dibbler, either back to the original 6 hole model or an intermediate 7 hole model. Same force on top with fewer spikes means more PSI per spike, hopefully going deeper than this one did this year.
We planted in VegBed5’s eastern end going from north to south. The signage is laminated laser printed names staples to 1×2″x1′ stakes. This naming system has shown to stand up to time the best of all others. The print is facing north, to avoid sunlight.
The first sub-bed had 38 rows, then 40, 43, 38 and 16, totalling 175 rows * 8 cloves per row = 1400 cloves!
It took just over an hour for each sub-bed and in total about 5-6 hours planting
One last task is to cover them with straw to protect them from direct sunlight and the freeze/thaw cycles that happen over winter. Once frozen they should stay frozen until spring.
The number of varieties planted this year: 18+21+17+18+4=78
We cut down on the number of types this year, as many of the smaller yields just did not make the cut. We expanded the number of planted cloves in those varieties that did particularly well, like Fishlake and Hungarian.
The planting method:
1) we planted stakes at the beginning and end of the subbed, a measured distance away from the fence to allow for a walking path. A string was tied to give a line to work on.
2) the subbed was raked over to get as flat of a surface as possible.
3) The first dibber went in up against the beginning stake. Each subsequent dibble lined up with the string and used the two extension bars to mark 6″ from the last set of holes.
4) Name stakes went in on the opposite side of the string. Each row got its own namestake. As this was going on, Kim would get the next bag, check the name against the stake and start planting about 4-5″ down, or as deep as we could get. Because the 40″ wide row was too wide and we did not want to go around from one side to the other, we would plant two twos and then rake them over to fill in the holes, and then step forward onto the space to plant the next rows, etc. etc.
5) Once the subbed was done, the string came off and two more beginning and end stakes were measured and driven in for the next subbed.
Later today the straw will go on top of the garlic, protecting it against extremes of light and temperature.
SCGO Garlic Harvest 2022
The first draft of the results of the 2021-2022 garlic crop at SCGO.
There is still more data that needs to be transcribed but this is the first look.
Approximately 95-3=92 types of garlic and 1464 bulbs of garlic were harvested in July 2022.
We actually planted more but lost a few types over the winter.
The average heaviest bulbs types were:
Armenian (54g)
italian purple (2019) (56g)
khabar (52g)
mennonite (50g)
newfoundland (70g)
northern quebec (54g)
roja (99g)
rosewood (51g)
russian red (56g)
Verona 2022 Garlic Fest
The 2022 Garlic Fest in Verona has come and gone .. and that reminds me that the SCGO garlic harvest has come and gone as well.
The weather was perfect and the vendors numbered a few more than last year. It was busy but not overwhelmingly so. We were able to browse, engage with the vendors and make purchases without much waiting if any at all.
It was a 2nd good year in a row for our SCGO garlic yield. The tape irrigation system we believe plays a large part of it.. regular morning watering for a couple of hours keeps the garlic well hydrated without the ups and downs of floods and droughts.
spring gardens
A quick snap of Vegbed5 for historical records… Approx 960 garlic cloves were planted on 2020 October 25 & 28 in the eastern section (left side of image). Potatos went in to the southern section (center of image).
The black composter was moved in about a month ago to provide ease of access and maybe it would get more use.
The garlic was covered with straw for the winter. We will be removing it shortly to lay out the drip irrigation lines and may put it back again soon afterward.
vegbed5 north to south east to west +5C
Row 1 Oct 25 50 dibbles * 6 = 300 ( each dibble=6 holes/cloves)
armenian x2
artichoke x3
barcelona red x1
bubbas chesnock x1
carpathian x1
chesnock red x1
chilian x1
creme delarose x1
czech x2
dujanski x1
F3V x2
Fishlake Ted F1 x2
Fishlake Ted F21 x3
Fishlake Ted F23 x6
Fishlake Ted F3 x4
Fishlake Ted F30 x8
Fishlake Ted F40 x2
Fishlake Ted F7 x2
French x2
unknown x1
genki x2
georgia crystal x1
georgia fire x1
Row 2 Oct 25 51 dibbles * 6 = 306 ( each dibble=6 holes/cloves)
georgian x2
german red x2
german white x2
hungarian x2
inchileum x3
italian purple x3
italian sicilian x2
japanese
japanese sikua
khabar
koji
korean purple
kosytns red russian
lakota
lucian sicilian x2
magnificent
marino x2
mennenite x6
metechi
music x4
newfoundland x2
northern quebec x4
northumberland x2
omas
persian star
phillipino
polish jenn
row 3 oct 28 44 dibbles * 6 = 264 ( each dibble=6 holes/cloves)
port au george x2
purple glazer x3
railway creek x4
roja 2019FA x2
rose de la trec x2
rosewood x2
blank russian red check notes
russian red x2
russian red 2019 x2
saltsrping select x2
seversky palisek x2
shouldice
siberian marble
sicilian gold x3
silverskin40 x4
slovak x3
solent wight
spanish antihelion x3
spicy korean x2
sweet candy x2
vegbed7 early garlic (planted apart from main crop) 8 dibbles * 6 = 48 ( each dibble=6 holes/cloves)
aglio russo creo x1
acropolis greek x1
chiliean silver x2
italian lorenz x2
mexican red silver x2
vegbed10 last of early garlic (planted apart from main crop) 7 dibbles * 6 = 42 ( each dibble=6 holes/cloves)
red rezan x3
spanish roja x3
tibetan x1
Grand Planting Total 2020 = 300 + 306 + 264 + 48 + 42 = 960
Garlic prep
We are now (still) in the process of transcribing that data to get averages across the 90 odd types that we grew this past season.
I am of the opinion that the drip tape irrigation system contributed to the better than average harvest. We typically watered for 2 hours every day or every other day during the hot dry season in June and July. Then we stopped irrigation closer to harvest, letting the garlic start to dry.
Garlic was in Vegbed4 last season and will be going into Vegbed5 this season, as we always rotate the crops from bed to bed each year. The tomatos are still there at this time but we hope to clear the bed this weekend.
There will be a lot of tomatos and seeds in that bed when we are done so we start to prep the bed for a mid to late October planting of garlic cloves.
Saturday we hope to clear the bed of tomatos, then till it over to loosen up the soil and give the weed seeds (or in this case tomato seeds) a chance to germinate and grow a bit with the rains that are coming Sunday and Monday. After a couple of weeks (now into early October), we will lay down as many bags of composted sheep and cow manure that we can find (up to 20) and till the bed again, mixing it in while killing off the weeds (and tomatos) that have since grown.
Then a week or three later, just before the day we determine to plant, we will cultivate it (a shallower pass this time) just to get the weeds out.
String lines will be laid out, and this time 2′ between beds not the 1′ of last year. This is to help keep the bed in a straight line. It was a little too tight to walk down the beds.
We plant around 1000 bulbs, which we will have spent 3 or 4 evenings prior, precracking the bulbs to get out the cloves, of the seed garlic that we have selected even earlier. It makes for a nice few hours in the garage drinking wine while opening up the bulbs. They go into individually labelled paper bags.
We also gather up a master list of types, print off laminated labels to staple onto 1″x2″ x1′ stakes that mark each row.
On the day of planting we use a dibbler, a 2×4 with 6 wooden dowels spaced 6″ apart to create 6 planting holes at once, in a straight line. Then the next 6 are put in 8″ away and so on and so on. We get about 24/ 2/3 or 36 rows in each bed. Each bed is 30″ wide plus 24″ for a path gives approx 4.5′ for each bed and path. That goes into a 25′ vegbed5 six times giving us room for a total of 6*36*6=1296 cloves. Once each bed is complete, the string line gets moved over to the next bed.
Bag labels are double checked, cloves go in the hole, are raked over and the namestake pushed in at the path end of the row. Over and over again until we can take no more. This usually takes many hours on a nice morning, then a few more in the afternoon.
Finally, straw is set out, lightly covering the garlic to protect it through the winter, mostly from the freeze/thaw cycle that sometimes occurs in midwinter.
Hopefully the garlic will have a couple of weeks to germinate, establish some roots before the next heavy frost hits and stays.
You can also plant in spring after the ground has thawed. We have done this as well and basically the garlic is 2-3 weeks behind in development over a fall planting.
Irrigation rocks!
Over the weekend we installed out first irrigation system, the Irrigation Direct Canada “Drip Irrigation Watering Kit for Row Crops”.
We installed it in vegbed4, where the fall planted garlic crop resides.
A standard system of garden water hoses takes water to the vegbed. From there is:
a cutoff valve
a mechanical timer good for up to 120 minutes
a vaccuum breaker/backflow valve
a filter
a pressure reducer
an adapter to connect to the main line tubing.
From there were tried out two methods, one line down the centre of a garlic row, each row consisting of 6 cloves/plants and running approx 20-25′. We did this on two of the rows.
The tape looks to be pretty heavy duty with a water drip emitter every 8″.
Because of this spacing we also tried out another method on three of the rows, that being two tape lines down each row.
If we find that the single tape lines do not deliver enough water, we can easily move the two singles into a double line and install a new double.
We have enough to run another system in vegbed5, where the tomatos will be transplanted into in a couple of weeks
Garlic to bed
The 847 garlic cloves of 99 varieties in 142 rows are nicely to bed and sleeping under a coat of straw and snow.
Hopefully all will survive and grow to be Big Big bulbs next year!
They had a *lot* of composted manure this time around to help out and we will be adding in irrigation in the spring.
Garlic Prep
Two days after work or prepping for garlic planting. about 3 1/2 hours in total to crack open about 150 bulbs to get 847 cloves for planting in 142 rows of six each.
Working inside to do this part really helps in the field when planting. IT used to take us two full days in the garden, cracking and planting. Now we hope to be done outside in only a few hours.
This year we have at least 99 types, some of which are named the same but come from different sources.
acropolis greek
aglio Rosso Creole (2019)
armenian (2015)
artichoke formidable
barcelona red sp
bubbas chesnock
carpathian
chesnock red
chilean silver
chloe
crème de la rasa (2018)
czech broadleaf
dujanski
f3V
Fishlake F1
Fishlake F21
Fishlake F23
Fishlake F3
Fishlake F30
Fishlake F40
Fishlake F7
french
genki
georgia crystal
georgia fire
georgian (2018)
german red
german white
hungarian(2015)
inchelium
italian lorenz
italian purple (2019)
italian sicilian (2018)
japanese
japanese sikura
khabar
koji (2019) Perth
korean purple
kostyns red russian
kostyns red russian (2019)
lacota (2019)
lucian sicilian
magnificent
marino (2016)
mennonite
metechi
mexican Red Silver
music
music (2019)
musical/music
newfoundland (2019)
northern quebec
northern quebec (2019)
northern siberian
northumberland (2018)
omas
persian star (2015)
persian star (2018)
phillipino
polish jenn
port au george (2018)
purple glazer
purple stripe sicilian
railway Creek (2019)
red rezan
roja (2019)
rose de lautrec
rose de lautrec (2019)
rosewood (2015)
russian red
russian red (2019)
saltspring Select(2016)
seversky palisek
shouldice
siberian
sicilian gold (2019)
sicilian gold (2016)
silverskin40
slovak
solent wight
spanish antihelion (2015)
spanish roja
spicy korean
susan Delafield/Music (2016)
sweet candy (2015)
tibetan
transylvanian
ttv5
us polish
us republican
us romanian
vampire (2018)
wettergren (2016)
wettergren (2019)
wild garlic
wyld garlic
yugo (2018)
yugo red (2019)
zemo
Its that time of year… time to plant the garlic cloves before the ground freezes.
So this past weekend, we cleared out the VegBed4 of tomatos plants, stakes, basil, flowers and more.
It is about 28’x29′ or about 800 ft^2 give or take.
Added to that was 16 bags of composted manure, 15kg each, about 240kg total.
The big tiller fired up and we went through the entire bed in about 15 minutes.
There is still a lot of grass around the fencing, so we won’t be planting in it… there was actually about a 21′ line available North-South.
So we pegged two posts and ran a string between the two and then went through and made sample dibbles 8″ apart to see how many dibbles we could get in 21′.
The answer turned out to be 32 dibbles of 6 holes each.
Then we went in the East West direction to see how many sub-beds could be fit in the garden, with a 1′ gap between each for a walking path.
That turned out to be about 4 sub-beds in the 21′ long length and about 3 more sub-beds in about 16′, guesstimating maybe 25 dibbles in those sorted rows.
So we should have:
(32*4) + (25*3) = 128+75 or about 200 dibbles of 6 holes each, giving us a maximum planting of approx 1200 cloves.
We have cover cloth for use in the spring to try and slow down the leak moth issues, and we are also investing in some irrigation tape, to regularly water them in the spring and summer up to the end of June. This leaves July for them to dry up in time for harvest near the end of July.
So.. for the next few evening we prepare… predetermining what types and how many of each to plant (in increments of 6), get signage premade (cause if you don’t sign it when you plant it, you may never get around to it!), bagging those and also preparing 1″x2″x18″ stakes to staple the signage onto.
Hopefully on planting day, it will be warm, clear, not raining and not take more than 3 or 4 hours.
From 2018:
So the old signage comes off the short stake and gets reattached to the new 2 and 2/3′ long stakes. In addition, with multiple rows of the same type, we need to create some new markers so that *each and every row* has signage.
New for 2019:
Stakes that tall are too tall… you often get caught on sticks as you go through the bed… so we are cutting down stakes from 2.7′ to maybe 1.5′