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Post by robertb on Apr 2, 2015 12:24:46 GMT -5
I lost a few southern European brassicas (I probably need to overwinter these under cover), and some of my potato onions. I don't know how many yet, as they're just beginning to come up, but there are going to be gaps as I found a few rotten bulbs where a fox had been digging around.
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Post by reed on Apr 2, 2015 15:35:18 GMT -5
Garlic is one of the most reliable things for me. I found mine near the foundation of what must have been a pioneer log house in one of the little creek valleys near here. I mostly just ignore it except to dig some once and awhile. It will get bigger bulbs if I dig and divide but I rarely do it. In more that 20 years it has never even died down in the winter, I guess you could call it evergreen. It makes lots of little bulbs but never seeds.
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Post by steev on Apr 2, 2015 20:39:59 GMT -5
reed: Sounds like you live in a cool place, pioneer log houses and all.
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Post by reed on Apr 3, 2015 4:47:01 GMT -5
There are quite a few of them still standing around the area but not right close to me. All the ones nearby are long gone, just the tell tell pile of rocks where the chimney collapsed. I'v found probably a couple dozen over the years within a few miles. Two near by have really cool stone root cellars still in tact. If one had been on my land I would have built my house by it. I think most all of them had those but they are also mostly just piles of rocks now.
There were never any roads that went to them at least not that survived and became county roads so I think they are much older than the ones that still exist. They have also been gone for a long time with big trees growing inside the foundation lines. I use to find them and then go back with my shovel and backpack and collect whatever was still surviving. I have rhubarb, garlic, onion, daffodils, lilacs, iris, roses, peonies and don't know what else. I figure those might have been planted by later residents. I have found lots of other things too, pieces of pottery, pieces of iron somethings and the like. Someday I want to get one of those fancy metal detecting machines and see what else might be there.
I don't know why they were abandoned except maybe because of accessibility as things got more civilized or because the terrain isn't really fit for farming so as the flatter lands were cleared and economies developed nobody wanted to live there anymore.
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Post by kazedwards on Apr 3, 2015 8:57:29 GMT -5
Sounds like you live in a really cool place with a lot of history.
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Post by philagardener on Apr 3, 2015 18:06:34 GMT -5
When I'm out walking the countryside, old lilacs usually are a good indicator there is a cellar hole nearby. Lots of history underfoot!
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Nov 18, 2015 19:26:00 GMT -5
Just found this thread. There are probably other threads i could have posted in. Two questions:
1. I've never grown leeks before, are they easy to cultivate? Are they perennial? Do they produce seeds like onions and chives? And where would i start if i wanted to try growing some?
2. We have lots of purple hyacinth covering much of the backyard. This past spring i had to decimate lots of bulbs to plant my peas. But my edible plants book says i can bake the bulbs and eat them. Has anyone eaten hyacinth before? They are usually one of the earliest plants to grow before anything else in spring and take snow quite easily.
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Post by steev on Nov 18, 2015 19:58:35 GMT -5
Leeks are pretty easy; they make plenty of seed, some bulbils, and a few offsets.
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Post by diane on Nov 18, 2015 20:36:32 GMT -5
By hyacinths, do you mean Camassia?
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Nov 18, 2015 21:10:44 GMT -5
By hyacinths, do you mean Camassia? sorry, instead of purple hyacinth i meant grape hyacinth. Muscari? |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 19, 2015 0:48:10 GMT -5
I grow leeks from seed the same way I grow onions from seed. Easy to do in theory. Hard for me to keep them weeded. In my garden, the clump of leeks is perennial. They make seeds every year. I can harvest either in the summer/fall or in early spring.
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Post by steev on Nov 19, 2015 0:59:57 GMT -5
Yeah, that's why I'm going to just start a "patch" of leeks/onions using seeds/bulbils and let them fight it out as best they can; I'm tired of trying to keep these guys segregated; when I go looking for what I need, I can tell a leek from an onion easily enough.
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Post by littleminnie on Nov 20, 2015 10:20:56 GMT -5
Leeks only survive some of the winters in central MN 4A. Scallions survive every winter.
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Post by mskrieger on Mar 14, 2018 13:35:06 GMT -5
Reviving this thread because we had an abnormal winter--huge freeze thaw swings (-15F to 50F and back again) and variable snow cover, open ground, and ice storms. Mix, wash and repeat.
Almost everything in the vegetable garden died, including 'Gilfeather Turnips' that had perennialized for several years. The sole survivors were garlic, leeks, and a couple 'Ice Bred' arugula plants buried under leaves.
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Post by reed on Mar 16, 2018 4:57:50 GMT -5
That type thing is becoming common here, very discouraging on my winter greens project but I'll keep trying. I have a single plant that I believe to be lettuce and two of what I believe to be wheat, that's all, other than the onions and garlic. I'm not gonna get in a hurry clearing some spots, in hopes maybe something survived below ground but it don't look good.
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