majors 2023 garden

[Dahlia]

6/18/2023 update...
THE ELEPHANT GARLIC HARVEST OF 2023.......
WITH THE RAINY WEATHER NEXT WEEK DECIDED TO HARVEST.......
FROM THE 2 PLANTS FROM LAST YEARS HARVEST, HAVE 23 PLANTS.... 90% OF THEM ARE MATURE HEADS. THE REST ARE YEARLINGS.
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my old load locks works great to hang the heads...

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the largest head had a circumference of 15"....
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some of the largest heads with corms still attached.. will remove them and save for fall planting...
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just look at them...
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bucket with loose corms from harvesting....
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will roast the large cloves and make garlic/herb butter and freeze and of course dehydrate some for garlic powder.
all the smaller mature cloves, 1st year blubs and the corms are my seed for this fall to plant....


the 3 stages of the life cycle of elephant garlic....
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Wow! That is some awesome garlic! We use so much garlic in our cooking and I'm always the one stuck chopping it! I always try to target the biggest cloves and these here in the photos would be so excellent!

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Your garden is looking amazing. Your tomato plants make me jealous! Mine all have blight and are dying pretty quickly. Next year I plan to grow most of them in the greenhouse and I am praying they do better and live longer. Right now I just plant lots so I can still get what I need, sell and share.

 

[ducks4you]

I am SO happy that you bounced back and are now full throttle gardening again!!!

 

[majorcatfish]

Your garden is looking amazing. Your tomato plants make me jealous! Mine all have blight and are dying pretty quickly. Next year I plan to grow most of them in the greenhouse and I am praying they do better and live longer. Right now I just plant lots so I can still get what I need, sell and share.

i'm surprised that you have blight especially since your growing on fabric. do like your mator trellis, not sure if you're a heirloom or a hybrid person. here have tried heirloom mators and always a disaster, so i just stick with my hybrids. as I mentioned this year has been the perfect storm of a season,<we really had a long cool spring>slow warm up to blazing hot, with gentle rain instead of 1-3" thunderstorms every other day.of course keeping an eye on the weather plus i think pinching and trimming up 12" and removing excess leaves early on really really helped this year..


just food for thought for you and everyone especially in the south or has a long growing season.
here are my mator recommendations for at least a trail in your gardens. next year.....

plum regal f1 johnnys seeds #2537.11 75 dtm ... indeterminate.... heavy producer
very nice firm fruit lots of meat not to much snot, excellent fresh eating or canning

topic f1 tomato growers supply company #4992 80 dtm indeterminate breed for the deep south....
this is my 1st year growing them, i do recommend them. firm, meaty, really nice flavor. do recommend pick when they are still have a slight blush on them, not bright red. excellent fresh eating or canning.
not a heavey producer, but really nice mators

my 3 year running go to.. highly recommended.
phoenix f1 tomato growers supply company #2909 72 dtm determinate.... breed for the south...
all i can say is firm meaty tasty large fruit excellent fresh eating or canning. dw made salsa this year oh yes delicious.
yes pick them with a slight blush.. you won't go wrong with this mator..

here's my culinary tip for the day..........

most everyone likes a BLT sandwich. instead of a slice of red mator, take a green one bread and fry it and put in, and if you feel adventurous add a couple slices of avocado, and if you really feel adventurous after toasting the bread add a slices avo and then of your favorite cheese and pop under the broiler to melt...

oh applewood bacon is the best..... but in my case after heart surgery turkey bacon is a good second.

 

[majorcatfish]

I am SO happy that you bounced back and are now full throttle gardening again!!!

thank you.. would not say full throttle as in the past, since we are empty nesters and after surgery have learned to scale things back a wee bit. what we dont use or can, i just give away down at work.

 

[ninnymary]

Major, did you go back to work full time or part time? Thought you had retired.

Mary

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

i'm surprised that you have blight especially since your growing on fabric. do like your mator trellis, not sure if you're a heirloom or a hybrid person. here have tried heirloom mators and always a disaster, so i just stick with my hybrids. as I mentioned this year has been the perfect storm of a season,<we really had a long cool spring>slow warm up to blazing hot, with gentle rain instead of 1-3" thunderstorms every other day.of course keeping an eye on the weather plus i think pinching and trimming up 12" and removing excess leaves early on really really helped this year..


just food for thought for you and everyone especially in the south or has a long growing season.
here are my mator recommendations for at least a trail in your gardens. next year.....

plum regal f1 johnnys seeds #2537.11 75 dtm ... indeterminate.... heavy producer
very nice firm fruit lots of meat not to much snot, excellent fresh eating or canning

topic f1 tomato growers supply company #4992 80 dtm indeterminate breed for the deep south....
this is my 1st year growing them, i do recommend them. firm, meaty, really nice flavor. do recommend pick when they are still have a slight blush on them, not bright red. excellent fresh eating or canning.
not a heavey producer, but really nice mators

my 3 year running go to.. highly recommended.
phoenix f1 tomato growers supply company #2909 72 dtm determinate.... breed for the south...
all i can say is firm meaty tasty large fruit excellent fresh eating or canning. dw made salsa this year oh yes delicious.
yes pick them with a slight blush.. you won't go wrong with this mator..

here's my culinary tip for the day..........

most everyone likes a BLT sandwich. instead of a slice of red mator, take a green one bread and fry it and put in, and if you feel adventurous add a couple slices of avocado, and if you really feel adventurous after toasting the bread add a slices avo and then of your favorite cheese and pop under the broiler to melt...

oh applewood bacon is the best..... but in my case after heart surgery turkey bacon is a good second.

blight is slow to spread on the fabric grown tomatoes but it still ends up killing them. I could also be falsely calling something else blight tho? We also had lots of rainy days in a row and I was late pruning the bottoms. I wish I didn't have to grow so many plants just to get the harvest I need because that adds more work.
I grow some heirlooms and some hybrid. I'm definitely moving away from heirlooms tho we will always grow Cherokee purple.
I have noticed that the plot that is only two years old is having more problems. It could be high pH and low calcium.i plan to do another soil test this wi term and amend the soil.
Thank you for the variety recommendations. I will try those next year. I grow early resilience, jet star and cedro plum from totally tomatoes and they all do better than heirlooms varieties.

I have no problem growing peppers so maybe we can trade?

 

[majorcatfish]

end of 2023 report.....
I know it's been awhile since the last report...!!!

all i can say that this was the best season in a very long time every thing grew till early September except for the winter squash and peppers, both were happy campers in the cool weather till last Tuesdays frost unfortunately we were not here that week..
was able to save 6 squash but all the peppers were a total loss...

plus not doing a winter garden this year...

what a grand year....it's only 5 1/2 months till next season......tic toc