Growing garlic (1): Winter update

Well, not really much to update about. There isn’t really anything happening at the moment. Snowy days. Cold ground. But I went past anyway just to check things out.

The garlic is just barely peaking out through the snow. Leaves patiently waiting for warmer days to make a move. These are from some large cloves I bought at the organic grocery store. I’m hoping that these cloves turn into huge bulbs in the spring. Very curious to see the results. This is the first time that we’re growing garlic, so I’m hoping for a good finish! Plus, I love garlic. Nothing like being able to breathe your colleagues half to death because of last night's meal.

In October I had already turned most of the soil over. I emptied our compost bin into the garden and worked it in as best I could. For the garlic section, I added a bit more and worked the ground as loose as possible. The cloves went in about 2-3 cm. In late November I covered it up with a layer of dead leaves for insulation.

Seems like its working out alright. Still going strong even through the cold. And when warm weather comes, I’m hoping for some good growth action as the plant bolts to form bulbs.

Compost

I’m trying to improve the soil fertility in our garden this year by working on the compost heap. We’ve got most kitchen scraps going into the little green bucket in the kitchen and once that gets full, it goes over to the compost heap at the garden. Surprising how much garbage actually comes from kitchen scraps. We also throw in the used coffee filters, dried leaves, and all the old plants from the garden at the end of the year.


Its been going since about October, so hopefully in a few months, we’ll have some good compost. Optimum soil conditions, here we come!

 Little green bucket --> big green bucket

Winter in Holland

Its winter in Holland. Lots of snow. Trains are running late. Cars drive at 50 km/h on the highways. The Fries up in the north are staring excitedly at their canals hoping for enough ice to skate on between 11 cities. Dogs get cold feet and have to lick their toes clean every 5 minutes. And the rest of us go walking through the meadow on Christmas day.