Sun on my back; Dirt on my hands - Ledo’s Land

[led05]

Today is garlic planting day, just broke up a lot, my thumbs hurt - I’ve been selecting / breeding two varieties primarily for @ a decade or so; I’ve got it so every head is 6-8 cloves & each clove huge, but flavor has only improved / become much more potent & well rounded. All hardneck

The chef of our house loves this, nothing worse than pealing 20 tiny cloves of varied size in a garlic head, golfball for scale…

These have been drying now 4 months or so, they were even that much larger when freshly harvested…

Garlic is a superfood few get enough of, you can smell me coming from @ the block - haha

 

[led05]

By this stage I’ve already cleared up 98% the weeds back there by hand & hoe, that was yesterday and one messy ass job

In addition to the tiller here are tools used today, shovel wasn’t needed - mostly I’m the big tool - ha

After a few passes

This area badly needed tilling so I did a few more

After this point ^ I make large mounds to plant the garlic in, this ensures they make it through the rains of fall & heavy snow & winds of winter

^^ After making the mounds I tamp down the top while using my feet/boots to firm up the sides,

Here’s the garlic outside and my glasses for more scale, I ended up planting 250-275 cloves

 

[led05]

Contd:

Using the above Dibble tool I made to make holes, while doing so I continue tamping down sides with my feet

These boots on their last legs, ha ha

You can see mounds really taking shape now

This front area where beets growing and all way up to the compost pit will be potatoes next year, planted early spring

Cover up the mounds lightly, rains coming this weekend to finish the job, perfect timing

 

[led05]

What I’d expect to be coming:

 

[led05]

One of the indoor rooms; I like a few things in here a lot but my easy favorite thus far is 2000 Sour D x Gambian, they are the two plants in back corner near the carbon scrubber - I just love their open structure but not too spreading and their stem & petiole rubs are one of my favorites of all time, so excited for them…

I also started what I had left of a 2011/12 pack of Tangerine Dream, they are beautiful plants too but only two ever came up, both females - I just sprayed ones top with a CS/STS blend (totally winged it measuring nothing), I’m such a sucker for an experiment I just couldn’t help myself…

The tubs truly make growing easy, almost too easy, all I’ve gotta do is stumble in there every few days & quickly water them with a big 2 gallon watering can, can’t take more than 10 minutes…

^ After experimenting with every form of lighting for at least the past 10 years I haven’t a single doubt that high powered intense LED along with same HPS is the only way for ME to grow inside; that and near pure UVB with my Favorite Ushio 306nm Mid Range bulbs - the plants just love it, maybe even more than the sun

These are Malana Cream from @2010 or a bit earlier even, I’m “reproducing” them for an old head & buddy of mine - They are acting like 15+ year old seed imo/e, we’ll get 4 to look at most likely, maybe if we’re lucky another will even pop up too, they are slow / stalled out some like most older seed tends to do

Some thin Cambodian 2’s, these “should” be fems, we’ll see

 

[led05]

Geisha - Gambian/Cambodian x Cambodian / Laos

Geisha x Sativa Auto, a buddy shared pollen with me - @gorilla ganja you still around this place?

Males I may use

Female examples

 

[led05]

Durlumbo Green (SMC/Durban x SMG) x Cambodian / Laos

 

[laszlokovacs]

Do you remember the name of garlics you've been growing? Those are beautiful fat bulbs for sure.

Maybe its because everything (fruit, veg, garlic...) you post is massive in size but that rototiller looks small and mighty. Can you give me general info on it? like power/size, i need one but have never owned one!

P.S. grew the striped romas this year per your recommendation! decent all around, definitely as good growing wise as the san marzanos for me but bad year for everything all around lol. Will try them again next summer for sure

 

[gorilla ganja]

@gorilla ganja you still around this place?

I still pop in from time to time. Everything looks great buddy.

 

[led05]

Cash Bean - Hash Bean x Cambodian 2 (f), the late one from GH last year, one my favorite smokes currently, 5 gallon bucket @2/3 full still, you can see I loved this stuff as it’s very well trimmed for my standards

Nothing like a good year of proper curing

 

[led05]

Do you remember the name of garlics you've been growing? Those are beautiful fat bulbs for sure.

Maybe its because everything (fruit, veg, garlic...) you post is massive in size but that rototiller looks small and mighty. Can you give me general info on it? like power/size, i need one but have never owned one!

P.S. grew the striped romas this year per your recommendation! decent all around, definitely as good growing wise as the san marzanos for me but bad year for everything all around lol. Will try them again next summer for sure

I bought 3 types of Garlic from some immigrant German farmers that run a tiny garlic farm around CNY, maybe 11 or 12 years ago, two German Varieties White & Red and one Italian Red..... Few years ago I stopped by their farm to see if they were still going and surprised they were, old fellas - I gave them back 10 or so heads, it pushed their hair back, they couldn't believe it came from what they originally shared with me, that's proper focused breeding & selection and with the nature of garlic things happen very fast.....

Tiller / Cultivator is what I'd call this one, it's kinda a in b/w..... Many years ago I tested out a few, all fairly expensive and either too big & bulky (tillers) or too small and weak (cultivators) then I stopped in a TSC store in my area for something else and saw that thing, I was like this is it (picked it up for like $379 at the time) ! I believe County Line is TSC private label generic brand, whatever it is / whom made it I love it, it gives me carb issues from time to time but I haven't rebuilt that in many years, just takes some finagling. I only use it 2, at most 3 times a year but it works perfectly for my needs, it's not small or big, like Goldilocks it's just right for me here..... next Time I'm out in the Shed / Barn I'll try and get the engine CC and details on it

Speckled Romans are hardy ! this was a washout year and my Amish Paste & Blue Beech Paste melted in comparison, last year Amish Paste killed it, but the SR are stalwarts here year in and out (not many things make it here more than 5 years, they have been with me 10 or more) , I've recommended to a few others and they all love them too !

Thank you for stopping in

I still pop in from time to time. Everything looks great buddy.

and you too my friend, thx for swinging by

 

[Calle Minogue]

pushed their hair back, they couldn't believe it

Made my day As always..

Maybe I should plant some garlic.

What I’d expect to be coming

When bro when ?


Tommorow I will cut my last plant. Season is over

Take care

 

[laszlokovacs]

Thanks for the reply ledo, definitely gonna start reading up on working garlic genetics... need to get my bulbs from last year back in ground soon! persian star & purple glazer

Yeah if you remember shoot me a message with the details but no biggie, but all in all good to know you dont need a massive machine. I only have about 1000sqft of garden and 300ish sqft of weed spot. Looking at a 5hp briggs stratton yard machine on craigslist @300$ unfortunately not a ton on the market. But yeah it will only get used 2-3x a year so a run of the mill one is probably fine.

My season finished yesterday... should have grown some proper NLDs still no frost forecasted till nov 1 here, but you have your work cut out for you with those 5lb monsters

 

[led05]

Made my day As always..

Maybe I should plant some garlic.

When bro when ?

when will garlic be ready I just planted; late June / early July 2024, for garlic to really grow well at least in areas like I live you’ve gotta plant them in the fall so they set roots & grow some, then ideally a deep snow blanket comes protecting / keeping them safe most winter from the brutal cold & drying winds, then they explode in early spring… If planting in Spring here you’ll get bulbs 1/2-1/3 the size, @ here you can’t plant in winter the ground can freeze up to 48” deep

I generally plant them here sometime mid / late Oct, all depends on what’s going on @ here & when I have the time & weather allows

 

[led05]

Me Trippin ^

 

[Levitationofme]

To say the yard at the Ledo abode is completely Terraformed is an understatement.
It would not surprise me if he leveled up his backyard a couple feet by hand. Shoveling every bit.
One of the nicer, well kept and fun places to hang out. Really well thought out from the choice of there exact location. Maximum Sun
Choice exposure. Hand crafted soils, mature raised beds. So many details.
The shear height of the indoor rooms….

Follow this guy in person and this can happen

No we didn’t fight LOL, but foolishly followed
him like a lemming thru the woods on high powered e-bikes


The guy can roast coffee like a master too.
Grill Meister too

 

[led05]

Harvested Sweet Potatoes, Ginger & pepper plants that were in the way - very surprised at the ginger as they were decimated early on from thrips, next year I’ll direct plant them vs starting inside, think I’ll get better overall results but am quite happy with this year too - sweet potatoes killed it and that’s only one 18 foot row, next year I’ll do two

Wasabi being eaten by green caterpillars but not too bad

Gotta keep it bright & happy during winter doldrums, that one Phal orchid has been flowering over a year, not very common, Amaryllis after only a week popping out already

I cut this down to the soil less than a year ago, what a beast - thing is a nightmare to move @ though, hernia what… easily 125lbs

Peace, happy farming

 

[KAGNCHA]

I’ve been encouraged a handful of times to start a thread here so will acquiesce, get ready for crickets & a whole lot of self deprecation…my humor is often lost on others, apologies in advance..

I’ve been growing organically on and off a long time but past 7-8 years intensely on an acre of land in a very large neighborhood surrounded by homes in upstate NY. I pull thousands of lbs of food for my family, friends & neighbors every year on this tiny space; I dream of a day & world where more did the same, vs mowing & fertilizing more lawn, in most cases paying someone else to do it for them, it kinda disgusts me if I’m being fully honest…I digress often, ha

We (wife & I, couple kids & two dogs too adding to the chaos) make plenty 5 star meals, our own cider, sauces, picklings etc, I grow some herbs too…it’s busy @ here…

This evening for instance I was harvesting some Russian Banana Fingerlings, the backdrop is a female on the left from 30 year old skunk beans and on the right a volunteer which is Laotian x Cambodian (F)

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Pretty good haul from this tiny cedar herb garden I built - there’s 20 times this out back to dig up, much less enjoyable than pulling from this loose soil raised bed… I have a small tiller, everything else here is ledo power, exactly how I like it; I don’t need to hit up the gym, nor excercise much, it’s a lifestyle what we’re doing here, a difficult one but one we’d not have any other way

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I love this pic, meeting of two lovely gals - like two converging rivers
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Planted spinach - late in the season, we’ll see if some magic goes down and weather allows some to mature

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X

 

[KAGNCHA]

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Black garlic roasted down slow many weeks - I did like 25 heads iirc

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Heavy load - lol

White peaches
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X

 

[led05]

^ TY brother Kagncha

I made a handful of these bags, this one is a gift for one my wife’s employees who’s Indian & loves to cook with Ginger, I’m demanding some recipes in return - fresh ginger is so much heavier than anything you can buy in stores here

Few plants in this room Just stretching out there feet after being extremely root bound for too long