Garlic Capers: The Genuine Gusto of Garlic?

 Garlic update

 

Remember these? 

Garlic scapes are tall this year.  Amazingly, some of  ours grew over 6' high-- and the florets and  bulbils  are quickly developing.  See these?  They grew from a variety of garlic that offers larger bulbs than normal.   Yours may be different in appearance;  in our seed catalogs earlier this spring there were over **20 varieties of garlic offered .

Immature Garlic florets with bulbils

It won't be long before we get to plant the  'little bulbs'  or bulbils. It is no longer necessary to buy garlic 'seed'. 

 Note the bulbils  must be allowed to fully ripen for the best growth performance when planted .

 After the skin on the florets begins to dry,  splits,  and the bulbils begin to ripen, it is time to collect them. Cut the scapes long, let them air-dry them carefully for a few days or a week.  When dry, you can cut off the florets, separate the bulbils and plant them.

 
These bulbils  in this photo will be the  'seed'  or starters for a whole new generation and crop of  top-quality,  organically grown  garlic.  
 The largest of the bulbils --like the beauties below-will be dried , separated  and planted a couple or three weeks before the ground freezes hard. 
These bulbils are almost a half inch in diameter.

Planting them this fall will result in  some rounded garlic bulbs, (displaying no clove sections) next fall  which can be planted again, -- or garlic bulbs with clove sections --which can be divided.  Naturally, only the largest cloves will be replanted.

Two or three weeks after fall planting, if you happen to dig one of these bulbils up you'll see that a substantial root system has already  developed,  --which  give the garlic plant a great head start for growth in the spring. The root system goes dormant when the ground freezes hard.
 Ideally, for your area,  remember to plant garlic with just enough time to allow development of  roots without  surface growth before the ground freezes solid.    Why?
Top growth would simply die back when the ground freezes--setting the plants back and using up valuable energy from the bulb. 
Smaller floret bulbils  can be planted too, -- or simply  peeled and frozen for cooking  like any garlic clove.
While planting garlic bulbils,  don't forget that it's also the right time  to ripen and divide mature garlic bulbs you have harvested. Always be selective and  plant the largest cloves for a wonderful crop again next fall !

**Don't be surprised if there's another update on Garlic. Why?  We learn new stuff every day. So it goes with garlic, too!
At the Nolalu Market, a small, dedicated collection of growers and vendors sells  fresh organic produce, baking  and crafts every Friday evening.  Recently  I was fortunate enough to meet a new vendor that grows many varieties of garlic.  He has a list of   40 or more !! 
 I only have TWO types  under cultivation --- so far, that is!  

 Am I  missing out on the  potential genuine gusto of garlic  or what?  We'll certainly be remedying that situation!   The challenge is on!  How many varieties do we need?  As many as possible!

  More to come on that one for sure...more information, more varieties, and more gusto!  

Is that Incoming I hear ?

Bits and Pieces

Bits and Pieces

by Raymond Alexander Kukkee


I  am getting that  uneasy feeling ---again. It is that time of year.  It happens every year up here in NW Ontario, but somehow, it seems to have arrived earlier this year.  
Evenings and early mornings are becoming cool, dew is heavy.   Yes, it is a welcome relief in some ways-- from the extreme heat--most people will agree.  No matter,  I get the same feeling every year. ...Summer is ending, the end is in sight--even if it's still a few weeks away, the feeling that fall is already upon us has arrived--at least in the mind. 

Out there in the reality of the back yard, some leaves are indeed turning dull.  A few are even yellow.  Is it because of the stress from excessive heat all summer?  The land is dry in spite of rainfall. We thereby reason, but do not satisfy the uneasy mind.
 
Is it the imagination, or is it just  a perception, a 'feeling'?   Are our instincts that good?
Is it worry about woodpiles that need to be collected?  The sudden race to rescue and collect the traditional garden and field harvests from inclement weather on the way?  
Is it about survival? Is it fear of change, or is it about self-preservation?
 The urgent need to complete a building project?  Could it be buried echos of  dreaded school days surfacing from long ago, the  torture of school about to start again, the loss of idyllic summer freedom? That's a stretch, --albeit genuine stress recalled in the past.

 Is this year different, somehow?  Is the Mayan calendar of doom  right?   Do you know what I mean? 

The beavers down the road have build a huge dam on the creek to store food. Is that a sign of a difficult winter on the way?  Are we like other creatures in nature, like honeybees that instinctively must store food, in  bits and pieces?

--And by the way,  here's an interesting aside,  no wonder honey is good for the common cold.  Honey bees seem to love the lowly Coneflower, also known as Echinecea as much as butterflies do.  How about that?Are they stocking the medicine cabinet for the winter?

A honeybee on Coneflower (Echinecea)

Do you suppose honeybees get 'the feeling' as they go from blossom to blossom too?  

Perhaps  'the feeling' is just one of Mother Nature's unique, persuasive methods--to get us to work harder--and survive, -making us stronger.  NOT a bad thing.


Is that Incoming I hear?

Captivating Unknowns: Orchids?

the "Whitewood Orchid"

 Orchids of Northwestern Ontario

 by  r.a. kukkee


Here at Incoming Bytes sometimes it seems even the very concept of exotic flowers must belong elsewhere. We couldn't be more wrong-- Mother Nature is amazing, isn't she?

Admittedly, tender blossoms and the plants they are borne upon do not usually survive 'our kind' of extreme weather. In the flower gardens we tend to stick with the tried and true,  the indestructible black-eyed Susans,  Sweet Williams, Coneflowers, marigolds, and wild daisies.
 By contrast, delicate tea roses and orchids are perceived to be humid warm-climate plants,  heated greenhouse specialties that are "out of the question" or 'impossible' .  
  It really would not be surprising if flowers complained of off-season temperatures of -40F -- not uncommon in Northwestern Ontario for a couple of weeks or more in the long winter.

Does location make it impossible to have exotics?  No. Even in the wilds, the common " Pink Lady Slipper", a beautiful, delicate orchid, survives in Northwestern Ontario. 

We fearlessly like to believe  think nothing is impossible if you look in the right places at the right time.  It becomes more complicated when we realize that some orchids only blossom  every few years--and under specific conditions. Is that why we don't easily spot them?

I have found three specific flowers that offer unique  characteristics that are reminiscent of orchids.

Check this out!  I found this flower 3 years ago, and at that time I had never seen it in this locality.
  I  tentatively called it  the Whitewood Orchid- simply because there is no better name for this beautiful, and exotic, perhaps even rare flower.

Whitewood Orchid

The  small, creamy-white, less than half-inch blossoms  spring from individual bracts hosted by a single, tall flower stalk that bolts and grows from three or four leaves on the forest floor in a semi-shaded environs. The  habit and  presentation of this flower is similar to that of the common Phalaenopsis orchid.   The main flower spike varies from 7-10" tall with individual plants depending on location. Note the  single, tall flower spike and elongated leaves.  It is a beauty, is it not?

Whitewood Orchid

I made a new discovery this year--another orchid-like flower that has never been seen in previous years .  We have lived here for 33 years and have never seen this species before.  I wonder if the warmer summers have something to do with it?   Check this beauty out!

I have tentatively called this one the Whitewood Pink-fringed Orchid.   You can see why . The flower is similar to the Whitewood orchid, but pink-fringed--and it has completely different leaves.

Pink-Fringed Whitewood Orchid

And yes, it is small. Very small. The blooms are only  about half as  big as the "Whitewood Orchid" and the evidence is fleeting.   Check this out!  Look what we caught in the act, eating the evidence.  
 Now we know who eats this beautiful flower.  It must taste good.  The tiny beetle dining at the top  of the spike  in the photo below is about 1/16" long.Bon appetite!  Would you like fries with that?

 Pink-Fringed Whitewood Orchid  with beetle

Unfortunately, this one and only blooming specimen was trampled and broken by bunnies or Yogi bear between the time I first discovered it and got back to photograph it an hour later.
 I was very fortunate to be able to find the remains of the flower spike in the detritus---enough  to photograph, with a couple of blossoms.

   The leaves of this variety  are distinctively rounded.  There are also a couple missing!
 There were three or four leaves the same size as the largest one in this picture when this plant was still intact.  See?  There are also a couple of immature plant specimens close by.
Hopefully they will blossom next year.

Leaves of the Whitewood Pink-Fringed Orchid  ( Note the mature  big leaf and immature specimens)

As small as that unusual flower is,  in 2010  I discovered one even smaller.

 I called it the "Red-stemmed Spotted Orchid" because --you got it,  it is spotted.  The blooms are between 1/8" and 3/16"  across.  Very tiny, but exotic, aren't they?  It was very difficult to get this macro photo.

Whitewood  Red-Stemmed Spotted Orchid

Like the  rare Ghost orchid, the almost- transparent  Indian Pipe  --also found in this locality,  the Red-stemmed Spotted Orchid presents itself  only on a tall flower spike, without any visible leaves.
 2010 was  the first time we had ever seen this tiny, beautiful and unusual spotted flower as well.

The three stalks were carefully guarded in this location until they faded away naturally, hopefully to feed and preserve the plants.

Three  individual specimens of Red-stemmed spotted Orchids-- carefully guarded

Interestingly, about 20 years ago, an Indian Pipe, the Ghost orchid  was found about 40 feet from this location, but has not bloomed since that time.  Fascinated by exotic flowers,  we've been watching for it to return, but to no avail.  Yet, that is.
*unfortunately, my difficult, miserable and uncooperative internet system has not allowed me to find and add photos of the Pink lady-slipper  or the "Indian Pipe" at time of posting.

Well, that just about does it for orchid-like flowers in this neck of the woods.    I hope you liked them!  We're always on the lookout  for new ones! 
Have you discovered any indigenous wild orchids where you live?


Is that incoming I hear?



Photos by r.a.kukkee (c) 2012