Thursday, September 25, 2014

NINA'S GARLIC FARM

NINA'S GARLIC FARM

Most people wouldn't get excited about

THIS:

Garlic Labels-I Used Rocks Which I Painted With Acrylic and Sealed

or THIS:

Hard to Believe This Was Once A Steep Slope and Now Will Be the Home of my Garlic Farm

or THIS:

Look at the Size of the Late Italian Garlic!

or THIS:

The Elephant Garlic is the Size of a Softball!

or THIS:

Lots of Hay for Mulching-We are Supposed to Have a Very Cold Winter Here in Virginia

But I DO!

Since my grandchildren call me Nina, I thought it might be fun to use that name for my garlic farm. I was really excited when my first batch of seed garlic arrived from Territorial Seed Company over the weekend. I was anxious to dig in and make a dent in the hundreds and hundreds of seeds I must plant. After doing more research, I find that the best time to plant garlic in Virginia where I am, is October. So, I am putting it off for a few more weeks. Last year I made the mistake of planting in September and had several false starts whereas the greens from garlic grew pretty tall in warmer weather and then when we'd have a freeze, they would break off. This happened several times which I believe is why I ended up with rather small garlic. It tasted delicious though!

I painted a sign designating my garden and have painted several rocks in various colors naming each variety. I will spray them with a good sealer before placing outside.

Plans for the future for the garden include 3 tall sculptures of women with baskets. They will be either planting the garden or harvesting. I will use Ferro Cement, something I just learned about recently. After applying cement to my figures, I plan to mosaic their aprons and hats. I'm hoping to get these at least started before winter sets in. I tend to plan very big and sometimes things get done-other times, they stay on the back burner. Unfortunately, these tall sculptures have been on the back burner for several years. Now at least, I have a place I want to put them and maybe that will force me to get started.

I have a few garlic keepers for sale in my Etsy shop. Below are some pictures. Just click on my Etsy shop and take a look. You can purchase directly from there or send me an e-mail if you'd like any one in particular.

Luscious Brown

Rich Blue

Deep Purple

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7 comments:

  1. Hi Cheryl ♥
    I get excited by garlic! Your sign is splendid, the name is perfect too!!!
    The idea of summer passing is unbelievable to me, the weather still felt like spring, not many days over 80 degrees...I am preparing for winter too, with the hope that Murphy's Law will kick in and winter will be mild.
    By the way, your Sacajawea Sculpture is my new favorite work, no wondering why she sold so quickly, that's wonderful☺
    XoXo

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  2. Hi Cheryl. I'm happy that you are so excited about your garlic garden. I wish you lot of garlic. You can dry it, you know. I just dried some ginger for future use. I really love the blue color on your garlic holder. Of course I have two already or would order it. Have a great day and thank you for you nice comment on my blog.

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  3. I am very excited for you!! That garlic is amazing!!!! You have done a lot of work and I know you will have an abundance of good garlic.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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  4. I might me almost as excited as you might be!!! all wonderful ideas and you are my new inspiration for our garlic planting as well. I just love the idea of your sculptures for the future garden...keep showing us! xoxo

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  5. Most Asians or at least for my family, are lovers of garlic. Every dish we have here will surely have garlic.

    I miss reading your posts. I'm glad to discover that you are continuously expanding your horizons Cheryl!

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  6. I once tried to grow garlic, i had only tiny,tiny garlic i do not remember when i planted them.....

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