Ducks ALIVE in 2025!

[flowerbug]

I will need some help from my family harvesting my garlic, which is now a "dirty word." I harvested scapes from the porcelain garlic 2 weeks ago. IF I need to harvest the bulbs one month later, that means I could harvest at least 1 day before my surgery, and then get outside a week or so later in July to harvest the rest. I cut 43 scapes, thus 43 bulbs.
Yesterday I cut 23 scapes from the German Red Garlic, so I am guessing I harvest those end of July, so doable.
Advice, @flowerbug?

i'm not a person who's grown a lot of different varieties of garlic and each one may be different so that some learning might be needed to figure out the best harvest time.

the garlic i normally grow that i sent you i tend to let it get yellow leaves on about half the plant and then i think about harvesting it. sometimes i then forget or get interrupted and don't get it out of the ground until later when it might be past the prime time. i have such heavy soils that they can stick to the bulbs when i get them out of the ground if it has been raining.

i still consider myself an amateur garlic grower because i don't have a lot of experience with a lot of different types of garlic - even if i've been growing this one type for 20 years or more...

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal , I only had 5 Alaska peas sprout. I let them develop pods and they are starting to dry out. How long should I wait to harvest them for seeds for Fall planting?
I figure that you're the expert!

Once the pods are dry to the touch, I'd pick them and put them in a paper envelope so they can breathe and complete the drying process fully. Some peas shatter really easily once they dry but I don't think Alaska is one of those, so you have some wiggle room.

 

[flowerbug]

regarding peas and seed saving if you have chipmunks around they can raid the drying seeds so for some varieties you may find that you have to bring some pods in before they get fully dry or you may end up with little seeds to harvest...

 

[ducks4you]

Thankfully, NO chipmunks! Probably bc of my cats, but Good to know!
I only asked bc the Porcelain garlic will come due to harvest when I am recovering from my left knee surgery.
NO amount of pleading will get my DD's to harvest them!
When I told Eldest DD (Chef) about freezing the scapes and making them into Pesto, she said "when?" like it was a threat!
I told her that they can be frozen and good for use within one year and I plan to use them in like January, when the gardening chores are fewer.

 

[ducks4you]

New mower AND God mower are now in use!
Rain expected this week, a little today and Thursday, then it picks up on Friday.
I have to go into the office to find a file for DH.
I told middle DD, it's like when somebody asks where the cocktail sauce is in the fridge, and you give them SPECIFIC instructions, and they say, nope, can't find it, THEN you walk to the fridge and 5 seconds later pull the cocktail sauce out for use.
BUT, "...the things we do for love..."

 

[ducks4you]

@flowerbug, should I replant garlic in the same places this Fall?

 

[ducks4you]

Once the pods are dry to the touch, I'd pick them and put them in a paper envelope so they can breathe and complete the drying process fully. Some peas shatter really easily once they dry but I don't think Alaska is one of those, so you have some wiggle room.

I need to take a picture. 4 of the vines are drying out pretty well, the 5th is still green. I have paper lunch bags and I am thinking of picking and saving (labeling) in one of those and storing in a kitchen cabinet, to revisit them in a few months and try a fall planting. I think there are around 100 peas, more or less.
We ate all of the sugar snap peas--yummy!--and I have 2024 seeds enough to plant those in the Fall, too.

 

[ducks4you]

Just went out for photos. You can see that Most of the pods are dry, but not all, and the youngest vine still has green pods on it, surprisingly. Also, I have spinach that grew and went to seed. @heirloomgal , any comments/suggestions are appreciated!

 

[ducks4you]

Spinach, gone to seed.

 

[ducks4you]

Here are my 3 roses, with the cardboard and rest of the bed covered in grass clippings. Had to refill the tiller with gass. The first two roses were stunted having to compete with the now gone blackberry vines.
I have business in town this morning, then back home to tilling and prepping beds for transplanting before the bit of rain at dinnertime. From left to right: Tropicana (orange-reddish,) Yellow Knockout, and Red Mr. Lincoln.
Two years ago the knockout was bigger than the existing Mr. Lincoln.
There is room, I think, between the Tropicana and Yellow Knockout, for a mini rose. Whatcha Think?