Root

Any of you with a garden will know this is the busiest time of the year!  Not only is the garden harvest still going strong (no frost over here yet), but it is also the time for food preserving, drying herbs, pressing flowers, and wild foraging for nuts and roots.  Our front porch has become a daily staging centre for moving the harvests in from the fields, and into our kitchen, root cellar, pantry, dehydrator, drying shed, or outdoor wash station!

It is also the time for seed saving, finishing cover crops, fixing fences, mulching the garden for winter, and planting winter greens in the hoop house or cold frame.  And it is time to plant garlic.

The beloved garlic!  This was the first crop we planted in our new-to-us field last year, only weeks after moving into this house.  We grow only hardneck garlic varieties because these are best for cold climates.  Last fall we planted 3 hardneck varieties (Music, Chesnok Red, and Russian Red), chosen for their flavour, storage capability, and cold hardiness.  Many of you have received our garlic and are hopefully enjoying it in your kitchens.  It is truly our favourite food as medicine! 

This year we are planting our own saved seed from these three varieties, as well as adding 5 new varieties.  You will know by now that we like to experiment in our gardens, and as grow a wide selection of colourful vegetables and heirloom types so that our market stand and CSA veggie boxes are interesting and unique.

Our new garlic additions include the famous Legacy (an heirloom from dating back to the 1800’s, known for it’s long storage and full rich flavour), Persian Star (originally from Uzbekistan, with above average excellent storage capability), and Rootdown (an extra cold hardy variety, reliable storer, and full flavour!).  We are excited to get these into the ground, and share them with your next summer!

Garlic planting is a process.  The ground needs to be prepared, including a weed-free bed and rich compost added because garlic is a “heavy feeder”.  Since we are practicing no-till farming we use our handy broadfork to aerate the soil, then spread compost by wheel barrow, and plant each clove by hand.  Garlic is planted in the fall because it needs a long period of cold before plant growth takes off in the spring.  This is called “vernalization”.  We plant garlic in the last warm days of fall to let roots begin, before the plant goes dormant for winter.  After planting, the garlic is tucked under a thick blanket of straw mulch as it rests over winter.

This rooting of the garlic before it rests and gathers it’s energy offers nice symbolism for us to remember.  Big plans and projects take time, first starting with small roots, often needing to percolate and rest, before bursting into bloom.

What are you rooting this fall?  Where are you letting roots take hold?