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How to Plant Garlic in the Fall: How, When and Why My method for planting garlic is for gardeners in areas that get freezing winters. If you don't get freezing nights, snow and frozen ground... garlic bulbs are often pushed into the garden bed  surface, about an inch deep and covered with some mulch. I am in Maryland Zone 7 and my beds freeze in the winter. Garlic should be planted 3-4 inches deep depending on how much cold you get. The video will show you how I set up the soil and plant the garlic cloves, broken from the bulbs. I will use diffenernt fertilizers as available. I often use bone meal for phosphorous, as it helps with bulb growth, and blood meal for nitrogen. The key to nice size garlic bulbs is very loose soil and fall planting. Garlic Sprouts - The Rusted Garden 2014 You plant them in the fall for two reasons. The garlic will recognize the winter and come spring will set off to form a bulb. Planting them in the fall also allows the clove to sprout a tip and deve...

Fall is Here and Now is the Time to  Build Raised Beds and Prepare Garden Beds for Next Spring Fall often signals the end of the gardening season. It is a great time of year to convert your earth beds over to simple raised beds or to increase the size of your garden with another raised bed or two. If you have a raised bed it also the time to clean out the old plants, amend your soil and prepare them for hibernation. Which really means tossing in some compost, dirt and maybe some cover crops. Come the spring, you just need to turn the beds and get them ready for planting. If you do the work in the fall, come spring you really just have to turn the soil, add what you like and plant your seeds. Raised beds are a great way to organize your garden. They can be planted earlier in the spring, as they drain better and warm faster. They also help you conserve resources by directing you time, amendments and money into the actual planting area. The space between the beds can be mulched for we...

7 Varieties of Cool Weather Salad Greens I selected these bulk purchase seeds based on what I enjoy in my salads. There are 4 types of lettuce with different colors and shapes. A spicy arugula, an endive and some turnip greens. You can grow these in the spring and fall in most areas. They love the cool weather. I am growing these now in my greenhouse cold-frame for fall and hopefully winter greens. Sprouted Seeds in the Cool Weather Seed Packages Arugula Roquette A leafy green with a slightly peppery flavor.  The young leaves can be used fresh or mature greens can be cooked. It will get to 3 feet tall when fully mature. It does not like heat. A definite cool weather crop. Endive Salad King Grows 2 feet tall. This is a dark green variety with curled and deeply cut leaves. The plants are slow bolting. Plants can stand a light frost. Plant in spring and fall. Lettuce Danyelle This is an incredibly red lettuce from baby leaf size to maturity. It is sweet and crispy with nice full head...

The Rusted Garden 2015 Tomato Seed Sale is Active: 40 Varieties I Hand Collected All 40 Tomato Varieties Test Germinated: Sale is On! Well it was a great summer. I grew over 40 varieties of tomatoes and collected seeds from about 40 plants for resale. All the seeds test germinated well. You can purchase them from my blog and here is the quick link to The Rusted Garden Tomato Seed Sale .  I have decent quantities but I think they will go pretty quickly. You can view the seeds at the link and order there. I have descriptions, pictures and videos for a lot of the seeds. I will add more over time. I also order some bulk tomato and pepper seeds from a company I use. These will be seeds I grow next year in the a garden. I am also offering them in a package of 10. I will do a few discount packages or bulk deals as time goes on. Thanks for being kind and watching my videos. I am already looking forward to next year. I hope everyone had a great year in the garden! Gary The Rusted Garden Tom...

Growing, Harvesting and Drying Hot Cayenne Peppers: Red Pepper Flakes for Pasta! A pepper that is very easy to grow is the hot 'Cayenne' pepper. There is a sweet version with no heat. I grow the hot cayenne specifically for making red pepper flakes for my pastas. I live in Maryland Zone 7 and transplant my plants late May into my earth beds and container gardens. I typically harvest the peppers in late August or early September when they are a brilliant red and start drying a bit on the plant. I believe harvesting them this way improves their flavor! The Finished Product - Crushed Red Pepper Flakes Peppers need warm days and nights to really start growing. If you plant them too early, frost will kill them and if you put them in past the frost date but when it is still cool... they will just sit. They prefer 60+ degree nights and 80 degrees days to really start growing. Warmer night bring faster growth. Late May is a good time to get them in ground in my area. I recommend using ...

 10 Varieties of Hot Peppers from Mild to Blistering with Mixed Flavors and Uses: Bulk Package Deal I selected these bulk seeds based on loving hot peppers myself. They range from very mild to quite hot. They are also functional too in that they vary in flavor and use. Some are great for grilling, sauces, pickling, salsa and just burning. These are seeds I bulk order. 10 Varieties of Seeds (30+ per pack)  for $14.00 (shipping inlcuded) Ancho/Poblano Mildly hot stuffing pepper. Heart shaped peppers are 4x3”. They start out green and turn deep red when ripe. 80 days. 76-80 days. The are picked as Ancho but when dried are called Poblano. Cayenne Long Slim Dark green, long fruit maturing to red. Slim 6” x 3/4” pointed and wrinkled. Strong, spreading plant, 20-24” tall. Great for processing & drying. 70-75 days. Great for hot pepper flakes. Habanero Orange HOT!  Late maturing pepper has fruits with thin walls and lantern shape averaging 2” x 1”. Matures to orange color tha...

A Gardener’s Perspective:   Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson … Didn’t Know Better? Are You Serious? Every once in a while I air an opinion on my garden blog not related to gardening, when something makes little sense to me. Ray Rice struck his girlfriend. It was quite violent. Adrian Peterson actually whipped his children with a switch. It was a violent act, not child discipline. I am a clinical therapist who has been in the field for 20+ years. Violent acts are an adult striking an adult and an adult striking a child. This is not about anger. We all get angry but we all don’t beat children or hit women. It is a choice in our behavior. So... people are actually saying they did not know better. Really? We have really done little to address child abuse and domestic violence in America. I only hope Rice and Peterson get their share of the consequences but also hope the NFL get theirs. Plain and simple… benign neglect is still neglect.The NFL is responsible for neglecting a deep pr...