I tend to call whatever block looks like a block with holes a cinder block… but there are also cement and concrete blocks… i guess it shows my age.
I made a raised bed with about 40 blocks that my dad grew garlic in for years. He planted green onions in the holes i think…
I have no plans on just planting in the holes… but will try a few to see how that works out. Probably put some small zinnias in most of the holes for pollinators…
As far as the fly ash… i hauled for 2 concrete companies and they both used ash in their mixes. I think the local block company uses it in theirs as well. A friend of mine used to haul ash to them but not sure now.
I guess you need to paint the blocks to be sure…because concrete blocks often contain ash.
I had a reasonable harvest, but did lose a fair amount to some type of rot this year. You can see the one on top further to the left of this picture that had some rot, but seemed worth keeping to see if any cloves would still be good. This was my harvest this year, mostly cured and ready to be cleaned up and stored.
These were grown at my community garden plot and most other gardeners are having issues with rot, possibly as a result of alium leaf minors, and many folks pulled their garlic before harvest since it was so bad. Garlic had been pretty carefree for me, but now I’m having more issues. The rot comes on suddenly and you see the top yellow and start dying and by that time it is too late. This harvest was German hardy (AKA German extra hardy, German white), Zemo and Romanian Red.
I’m not sure I’ll plant garlic this year, since this rot issue seems wide spread and the alium leaf minors are getting worse every year, particularly in a community garden which is just a hot bed of disease and pests. If I had lots of space I would, but I can use the space for things like broccoli, cabbage, etc.
I planted mine 2nd week in Oct here…and we had an unusually warm Fall…that lasted a long time… i had a foot of vegetative growth in December and lost most of a local heirloom that i planted… the others did really well even though alot of the vegetative growth died but they came back. I got really upset when daffodils poked up all over the place in my new bed… i had never seen daffodils grow there…
8 months is a long time to invest in a gamble… but so worth it if it succeeds.
My neighbor makes a garlic powder that wallops you with every sensation on your taste buds. I had no idea that garlic powder could have that many levels of flavor above the store bought. She makes it in an old dehydrator.
I eat alot of garlic… and my choices have mostly been cheap chinese grocery store garlic which is ignorant of me to even eat… im trying to change that.
In case anyone wants to know… i learned alot and did some overthinking on my garlic patches. Both beds have dirt from my spent dirt pile that i wheelbarrowed in… and then i dumped in wheelbarrow loads of horse manure and shredded leaves…i then mini tilled it all into a nice mix. Had to use hands to get it all just right… lots of prep in the Fall before planting. I planted and then top dressed with woodchips and then top dressed that with leaves and let it do its thing all winter long. In the spring i began weeding little by little… the beds were pristine… then around May i said screw it. I read everywhere that weeds are a no no… and they hinder growth and all kinds of stuff. I decided to stop weeding. The more i looked at it…the weeds were actually kinda helping… So here is the pictures of the beds after harvest…and those are all weeds i would have had to pull by hand for several months… yuck! I think the weeds helped… gave more moisture and the roots did their things to the soil.
So this year im going to do a really good prep before planting and im gonna forget about it til July. 9 months is too long to baby something that grows below ground and seems to me did just fine for me.
Adding Susan Delafield this year very popular in Canada and just making its way down to the states recently. Seems to maybe be a sport of Music but has been noted to have better taste and much longer storage. It is talked about as being very tolerant of wet conditions as well. Has thick tough skins so is noted for storing up until past May of the following year.
