Hello Gardeners,
Garlic scapes: If you’re growing garlic, this is a good time to check your plants for scapes. Scapes grow as a stalk from the center of hardneck varieties of garlic and will produce a flower. Scapes can be chopped up and used in cooking. The flower should be removed before cooking.
Harvesting scapes while they’re still young can be helpful for a couple of reasons. If they’re left on the plant too long, they will take energy away from the bulb. More mature scapes can also be tough and stringy.
To harvest scapes, remove them from the plant without damaging the leaves. Scapes should be cut when they start curling. Scapes that have curled too much can start to get tough. Not all hardneck garlic varieties produce scapes at the same time, so you may find that some are ready sooner than others.
If you decide to leave the scape on the plant, the flower will produce small bulbs (bulbils) that can be planted. Here is some interesting information on growing garlic from bulbils: http://greyduckgarlic.com/how-to-grow-garlic-from-bulbils.html
Ticks: As the weather warms up ticks become more prevalent outdoors, and we do get reports every year of ticks found by gardeners. Wisconsin is home to a variety of ticks. Ticks can transmit a variety of diseases to humans also, but the primary concern is generally with deer ticks, which can carry Lyme disease. Please check for ticks and be careful. The UW Department of Entomology has extensive resources about ticks:
https://wisconsin-ticks.russell.wisc.edu/
Thanks, and happy gardening,
Lily
No comments:
Post a Comment