SHEDWARS21: Gardening 🌻 Planting Elephant & Red Russian Garlic 🌻 Walking Onions & Pickling Shallots

🌱 The gardener has just harvested the last of their courgettes and is preparing to plant alliums in mid-October.

🌾 The soil preparation includes adding a mixture of sifted soil, leaf mold, coco coir, homemade compost, and found compost with added perlite for a nutrient-rich planting bed.

💧 Soil and leaf mold are specifically used for their excellent moisture retention properties which are beneficial for the alliums.

🧤 The gardener prefers to use long gloves to avoid getting soil up their sleeves when working with the soil and materials.

🧅 Different varieties of garlic, such as elephant garlic and red Russian garlic, along with shallots are chosen for planting, with a focus on good-sized cloves for better growth.

🌱 The planting technique emphasized is minimal soil disturbance; the pointed end of cloves and bulbs should face upward, and depth control is important for successful planting.

⚠️ Only firm, healthy cloves and shallots are selected for planting, while the slightest bit rotten or soft ones are discarded to avoid problems.

🏷 Labels are used to identify different plant varieties in the garden, and the gardener has created durable labels that can withstand weather conditions.

🌦 The gardener mentions the possibility of using cardboard to protect newly planted alliums from harsh weather conditions until they are established.

🍂 Leaf mold continues to be an important material for the gardener, who plans to fetch more and integrate it into soil preparations despite recovering from a back issue.