QUAIL SEEDS
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Plant for Summer
    • Vegetable Seeds >
      • Arugula
      • Beans
      • Beets
      • Broccoli and Cima di Rapa
      • Cabbage
      • Carrots & Roots
      • Celery
      • Chard
      • Corn
      • Cucumber
      • Eggplant
      • Fennel
      • Genepools and Landrace Gardening
      • Greens
      • Kale and Collards
      • Lettuce
      • Melons
      • Oil Crops
      • Okra
      • Open-Source Seeds (OSSI)
      • Onions and Leeks
      • Peas
      • Peppers
      • Spinach
      • Squash & Pumpkins
      • Sunflowers
      • Tomatoes
      • Tomatillos/Husk Cherries
      • Turnips and Rutabagas
      • Winter and Greenhouse Vegetables
    • Perennial Vegetable Seeds >
      • About Perennial Vegetables
    • Flower Seeds
    • Herb Seeds >
      • Medicinal and Historic Herbs
      • Culinary Herbs (and teas)
      • Herb Collections
    • Seed Collections
    • Pollinator and Pest Control Plants >
      • Pollinator and Pest Control Mixes
      • Plants for Pollinators
    • Grains >
      • Heirloom Wheat Barley Oats & Rye
      • Gluten-Free Grains
    • Cover Crops >
      • Cover Crop Mixes
      • Cover Crops that are Food Crops
      • Decorative Cover Crops
    • Open Source (OSSI)
    • New for 2025
    • Plant for Spring >
      • Spring Vegetables
      • Spring Herbs & Flowers
      • Spring Grains
      • Seeds that Need Winter Cold
      • Fast, Fresh Food
    • Plant for Fall >
      • Fall Vegetables
      • ltalian Fall Specialties
      • Herbs and Flowers for Fall
      • Fall Salad Greens
    • Start these Indoors
    • People behind the Seeds >
      • Carol Deppe Varieties
      • Jonathan Spero Varieties
      • Frank Morton Varieties
    • Companion Plants
    • Recipes >
      • Spring Recipes: Fresh Flavors of the Season
      • Tomato Recipes
      • Preserving and Fermenting
    • Mid-to-Late Summer Sowings
  • About Us.
    • Our Story
    • Shipping Info
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • HOW-TO

April: Start the New, Boost the Old

4/7/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture
The photo shows a garlic plant on April 1. As you can see, it is like a leek with a single bulb, and not very big. In the next few weeks, it should divide into cloves and get 10 times bigger. Now is the moment when its growth has to speed up and switch from making roots and leaves to making bulbs. 

To fuel that growth, your garlic plants--and all overwintered vegetables--need a boost right now. You can top-dress with compost, earthworm castings, manure, or any organic nitrogen source. 

New young seedlings also need nutrients to fuel spring growth. And while the soil is cold, nutrients are in short supply--the soil bacteria that make them are sluggish. Essentially, they are hibernating. This is a good moment for probiotic nutrient teas, either in the soil on sprayed on the plant.

We have found that probiotic brews like compost tea are easily absorbed and give a very quick result, even in cold weather. Fermented plant juice, made from fast-growing local weeds, gives a visible boost to growth and health.  These are just what your garlic needs to finish and your seedlings need to start.

These organic nutrients, ferments, and probiotics are easy and cheap to make from local ingredients. For recipes, click here: HOW-TO 
1 Comment
vidmate.onl link
5/11/2023 07:02:05 am

I wanted to express my gratitude for your insightful and engaging article. Your writing is clear and easy to follow, and I appreciated the way you presented your ideas in a thoughtful and organized manner. Your analysis was both thought-provoking and well-researched, and I enjoyed the real-life examples you used to illustrate your points. Your article has provided me with a fresh perspective on the subject matter and has inspired me to think more deeply about this topic.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Jamie Chevalier lives and gardens on a river in the Coast Range of Northern California. She has gardened professionally in Alaska and California, as well as living in a remote cabin, commercial fishing, and working with seeds.  She is the proprietor of Quail Seeds.

      Sign up for Monthly Garden Tips
      (We don't share your information with anyone.)

    Subscribe to Newsletter

    Archives

    March 2025
    July 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    February 2024
    November 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    September 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Plant for Summer
    • Vegetable Seeds >
      • Arugula
      • Beans
      • Beets
      • Broccoli and Cima di Rapa
      • Cabbage
      • Carrots & Roots
      • Celery
      • Chard
      • Corn
      • Cucumber
      • Eggplant
      • Fennel
      • Genepools and Landrace Gardening
      • Greens
      • Kale and Collards
      • Lettuce
      • Melons
      • Oil Crops
      • Okra
      • Open-Source Seeds (OSSI)
      • Onions and Leeks
      • Peas
      • Peppers
      • Spinach
      • Squash & Pumpkins
      • Sunflowers
      • Tomatoes
      • Tomatillos/Husk Cherries
      • Turnips and Rutabagas
      • Winter and Greenhouse Vegetables
    • Perennial Vegetable Seeds >
      • About Perennial Vegetables
    • Flower Seeds
    • Herb Seeds >
      • Medicinal and Historic Herbs
      • Culinary Herbs (and teas)
      • Herb Collections
    • Seed Collections
    • Pollinator and Pest Control Plants >
      • Pollinator and Pest Control Mixes
      • Plants for Pollinators
    • Grains >
      • Heirloom Wheat Barley Oats & Rye
      • Gluten-Free Grains
    • Cover Crops >
      • Cover Crop Mixes
      • Cover Crops that are Food Crops
      • Decorative Cover Crops
    • Open Source (OSSI)
    • New for 2025
    • Plant for Spring >
      • Spring Vegetables
      • Spring Herbs & Flowers
      • Spring Grains
      • Seeds that Need Winter Cold
      • Fast, Fresh Food
    • Plant for Fall >
      • Fall Vegetables
      • ltalian Fall Specialties
      • Herbs and Flowers for Fall
      • Fall Salad Greens
    • Start these Indoors
    • People behind the Seeds >
      • Carol Deppe Varieties
      • Jonathan Spero Varieties
      • Frank Morton Varieties
    • Companion Plants
    • Recipes >
      • Spring Recipes: Fresh Flavors of the Season
      • Tomato Recipes
      • Preserving and Fermenting
    • Mid-to-Late Summer Sowings
  • About Us.
    • Our Story
    • Shipping Info
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • HOW-TO