Identifying Garlic and Onion Plants

At first glance, onions and garlic plants look alike. I always have some coming up in the spring that I didn't plant in the fall - I just didn't dig them up good enough - or in the case of my onions, I have walking onions that plant themselves from the top bulbs. It is helpful to know which are which.

Above is a garlic plant. You can tell it is garlic because the leaves are flat.

This is an onion plant - you can tell because the leaves are round instead of flat.

I remember being confused about this and once it was pointed out to me, it was a duh moment.

So there you have it - if you didn't know how to tell them apart before, you do now.

Pictures of my garden Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The tomato plants are looking very healthy in the basement.


The pepper plants are not looking so good. Most of them are not up.


The cabbage and brocolli look great - the cauliflower and brussells sprouts not so good.


I have this pile of grape vines on the patio table from the fall. What was I thinking? Did I really think I could use them to weave a basket or something? I think they need to go in the compost....


The snow shovels are still by the back door - I think we can safely put them away now.......at least I hope so.


Lilac buds will soon be fragrant flowers! I can't wait - I love lilacs in the spring.


Lillies will soon be up.


The rhubarb is awakening also.


The onions I planted on Sunday.


Andy's garlic project.


Kind of blurry - but some of Andy's garlic A (the old stuff) is actually coming up.


My next big project - I have started digging these shrubs out. I don't like the bushes in the front of the house and the rocks. I want a nice flower bed with mulch.

My little gardener!

Here are a couple of pics of Andy's science fair project. I was so proud of him. His project might not have been the most detailed - but it was all his - and after all, he is only in 2nd grade and he does have autism.

Checking in on Andy's garlic experiment

Garlic B is all up and looking healthy


Garlic A on the other hand, didn't fair so well - only one very weak shoot.

A garden experiment for Andy

Andy didn't have any homework yesterday and he needs to be kept in a routine so when he doesn't have any homework I make some up. So yesterday I decided he could help me plant the garlic - after all learning about gardening and how things grow falls in the area of science in my book.

While we were looking for garlic to plant we came across 3 old shriveled up bulbs from last year that didn't get planted. Andy wanted to know if they would grow. Rather than google the answer, I thought why not plant them and let him find out for himself. If they don't grow, they won't take up any space and I'll plant something else there in the spring - if they do grow, we'll have garlic.

We discussed it and decided that we should also plant some fresh garlic so if there is another factor like weather or when we planted it affecting it, we'll know that. Besides I want to make sure we do end up with some garlic!


Here is the old garlic we planted. I think maybe one or two of them look viable and will grow. Andy thinks it all will. We are going to call this Garlic A.


Here is the fresh garlic we are planting. We are calling it garlic B.


Here is Andy planting Garlic A.


Here he is planting Garlic B.


And here are our row markers showing what we have planted.

We got a really good rain last night - so now we wait and see what sprouts. Watch for updates and let's see what Andy learns.

Signs of Spring

In spite of the crazy weather and snow just a few days ago, I am able to find signs of spring in my garden.

Daylillies

Rhubarb

Garlic

Lilac buds

The weather is supposed to be great this weekend - maybe in the 60s on Sunday! This will be a great weekend to get things done outside.

Garlic

The garlic tops have died back - it is time to harvest them. I will not have large cloves because I spring planted them instead of fall planting. The small cloves will be fresh in my memory - I will remember to fall plant this year.

Here is my main garden. You can see the lettuce in the back and the beans in the front. Onions are along two of the sides and garlic along one. I also have carrots, parsnips, beets, basil, dill and more lettuce planted here that is either not up yet or so small you can't see it yet.