Oswy
3rd May 2011, 11:19
Mods: If there is a gardening-for-food forum please move this thread to it - I couldn't find one.
I've decided to have a go at growing my own veg in pots (I don't have a garden but access to a small patio which receives sunlight from early morning to about noon). There are some good books in my local library I can take notes from but wondered if anyone had any advice on the subject.
I'm going to start modestly with garlic and here's what I've learned so far:
1) Get your originating bulbs/cloves (hereafter b/c) from someone who knows what they're doing or otherwise from a genuine garden/veg nursery - supermarket b/c and b/c sold in gardening departments at DIY stores might easily be the wrong variety for your purpose (e.g. be Spanish garlic which doesn't grow well in colder, wetter soil further north as in Britain).
2) The bulbs come in two basic varieties, 'soft' (aka 'softneck') and 'hard' (aka 'hardneck'), the basic difference is that 'soft' kinds of garlic are important to have if you're going to roast them, otherwise they are more-or-less equally good for cooking. There's a suggestion that the stronger flavours tend to be from 'hard' garlic and that bigger, fuller cloves tend to come from 'soft' garlic bulbs (hence better for roasting).
3) Planting can take place at any time of the year if you are an accomplished grower and know how to care for your plants, but as a general rule garlic is planted in the autumn, usually from mid-October onwards. Some advise not to leave it too late as the sooner the garlic acclimatises to its conditions and gets growing before the winter sets in, the better able it is to cope with the cold.
4) Garlic actually likes and benefits from a cold winter, providing there aren't prolonged periods of freeze and frost (and where pots might benefit from bubble-wrapping or similar for the coldest couple of months). A good cold winter is believed by many to encourage a stronger flavour and a better size crop. So, don't worry about the winter - only if it is unusually cold weather is there a risk.
5) So, in the autumn, maybe mid-October if you're in the UK, you plant a single clove in a 5inch-6inch (approx 13cm-16cm) diameter pot. The pot needs to be well draining, so include a thin layer of stones (or broken pot) at the bottom to stop soil subsequently clogging the pot's drainage holes. Garlic doesn't like to be left waterlogged, overwatering is a bigger problem than underwatering (as long as the pot doesn't compeltely dry out that is). After that, fill the pot with a reasonably fertile soil or, to be sure, some of the fancy compost stuff, though apparently garlic is not very fussy on this. Better to use plastic pots for both cost and practicality, unless all you've got are clay pots and a very tight budget.
6) Give your pot, now already filled with soil/compost, a good soaking with water and leave it for ten minutes to soak it up before making a hole in the centre - one inch (approx 2cm) down - for your clove to sit in. The clove has a 'top' and a 'bottom' or 'tip' and 'root' end. The thicker, gnarled end is the bottom or root and which should face downward as you place it in the hole. Cover the burried clove with soil/compost and give another little watering.
7) Water the pot occasionally, but only lightly, taking care that it doesn't dry out (pots are vulnerable to drying out as they are exposed to wind action). Watch out for birds taking an interest in the shoot when it appears, use netting or other clear covering if you think this will be an issue until the shoot is too big for a bird to be interested in. All things going well you should think about giving the pot some extra feed in the spring, like liquid tomato supplement or similar.
8) When the stalk which will have been growing out of the ground starts to yellow and become papery your garlic should be ready to pull (from an October start, July is most likely). Remove the plant gently from the soil as bruising the garlic will prevent some cloves from lasting in storage. Wash and dry the bulb carefully and it should have a shelf-life of about two to three months.
9) Some advise that you can take your best cloves and re-plant for the following year, others think this is a bad practice and encourages disease and that it is better to buy or otherwise obtain good growing stock each year.
I've decided to have a go at growing my own veg in pots (I don't have a garden but access to a small patio which receives sunlight from early morning to about noon). There are some good books in my local library I can take notes from but wondered if anyone had any advice on the subject.
I'm going to start modestly with garlic and here's what I've learned so far:
1) Get your originating bulbs/cloves (hereafter b/c) from someone who knows what they're doing or otherwise from a genuine garden/veg nursery - supermarket b/c and b/c sold in gardening departments at DIY stores might easily be the wrong variety for your purpose (e.g. be Spanish garlic which doesn't grow well in colder, wetter soil further north as in Britain).
2) The bulbs come in two basic varieties, 'soft' (aka 'softneck') and 'hard' (aka 'hardneck'), the basic difference is that 'soft' kinds of garlic are important to have if you're going to roast them, otherwise they are more-or-less equally good for cooking. There's a suggestion that the stronger flavours tend to be from 'hard' garlic and that bigger, fuller cloves tend to come from 'soft' garlic bulbs (hence better for roasting).
3) Planting can take place at any time of the year if you are an accomplished grower and know how to care for your plants, but as a general rule garlic is planted in the autumn, usually from mid-October onwards. Some advise not to leave it too late as the sooner the garlic acclimatises to its conditions and gets growing before the winter sets in, the better able it is to cope with the cold.
4) Garlic actually likes and benefits from a cold winter, providing there aren't prolonged periods of freeze and frost (and where pots might benefit from bubble-wrapping or similar for the coldest couple of months). A good cold winter is believed by many to encourage a stronger flavour and a better size crop. So, don't worry about the winter - only if it is unusually cold weather is there a risk.
5) So, in the autumn, maybe mid-October if you're in the UK, you plant a single clove in a 5inch-6inch (approx 13cm-16cm) diameter pot. The pot needs to be well draining, so include a thin layer of stones (or broken pot) at the bottom to stop soil subsequently clogging the pot's drainage holes. Garlic doesn't like to be left waterlogged, overwatering is a bigger problem than underwatering (as long as the pot doesn't compeltely dry out that is). After that, fill the pot with a reasonably fertile soil or, to be sure, some of the fancy compost stuff, though apparently garlic is not very fussy on this. Better to use plastic pots for both cost and practicality, unless all you've got are clay pots and a very tight budget.
6) Give your pot, now already filled with soil/compost, a good soaking with water and leave it for ten minutes to soak it up before making a hole in the centre - one inch (approx 2cm) down - for your clove to sit in. The clove has a 'top' and a 'bottom' or 'tip' and 'root' end. The thicker, gnarled end is the bottom or root and which should face downward as you place it in the hole. Cover the burried clove with soil/compost and give another little watering.
7) Water the pot occasionally, but only lightly, taking care that it doesn't dry out (pots are vulnerable to drying out as they are exposed to wind action). Watch out for birds taking an interest in the shoot when it appears, use netting or other clear covering if you think this will be an issue until the shoot is too big for a bird to be interested in. All things going well you should think about giving the pot some extra feed in the spring, like liquid tomato supplement or similar.
8) When the stalk which will have been growing out of the ground starts to yellow and become papery your garlic should be ready to pull (from an October start, July is most likely). Remove the plant gently from the soil as bruising the garlic will prevent some cloves from lasting in storage. Wash and dry the bulb carefully and it should have a shelf-life of about two to three months.
9) Some advise that you can take your best cloves and re-plant for the following year, others think this is a bad practice and encourages disease and that it is better to buy or otherwise obtain good growing stock each year.