F.A. Farm

I checked my garlic today out on the south side of the barn. It is about 4-6" tall and looks quite good. I didn't even get my garlic planted until November 12th (!), but this may have been a blessing in disguise, as it was not above the ground for the two hard freezes we had out here. I did put some leaves down, but I neglected to put them down right before a rainstorm so they would stay in place. Consequently, the leaves blew onto the rest of the garden and my garlic is all by its lonesome. However, it is doing quite well now. I find garlic to be quite a forgiving crop.

On another note, I planted some shallot seeds last April that I had saved from an Ambition F1 (hybrid) shallot that I let go to seed in 2009. These shallots were slow to take, but they have survived the winter very nicely and are now thriving as multiplier onions. Some people regard shallots and multiplier onions as the same thing, while others say the red skinned ones and/or those with a more distinctive, delicate flavor are shallots. Taxonomically they are the same. it will be interesting to see what they do in the spring as the soil starts drying out.