Winter Markets, Perennials and Garlic

We had our first winter market today and it was a great success. We sold a lot of parsnips, carrots, potatoes and garlic. The crowd was good and the weather nice, cool but sunny (and after the past two days of lows in the teens and highs in the mid thirties it seemed almost balmy).

After market we went to TSC to buy dog food and I got myself some winter boots that are rated down to -40˚F. I really hope I do not find out if this is true or not this winter. I have not had great winter footwear in a few years. Trying to do farm work outside in sub par footwear is miserable. Getting wet feet is the worse. So I now have these thick waterproof rubber and leather made in China (sigh, it is getting almost impossible to find American made items any more) boots that should get me through a couple of winter seasons.

After the buying spree we went home and ate lunch than started planting all the perennials we dug up yesterday at the old farm. thus far we have planted Japanese iris, some day lilies Eugene bought special from a local Day lily concern, Top O' The Hill Farm, that did not do too well last year because they got too overgrown to flower (but the corms looks good and healthy). We also planted some hostas we broke into several pieces, some bearded irises of unknown color (and we still have about 50 more roots to plant), a rose bush, liatris (also broken into several pieces) and some Lilac trees. We were going to plant peonies but a gardening book said they should not be planted in fall, wait for spring and so we shall.

Tomorrow we should be putting the garlic in. We have 4 beds ready to go and 2/3 of the cloves separated and ready to go. The plan is to put in 600 cloves each of German White, Chesnok Red and Persian Star. This is what we have been planting the past 3 or so years and it works for us. We plant from our own stock that we have been growing out. 6 years for the Persian Star and Chesnok Red and 8 years for the German White. In the future I would like to add a few other kinds of garlic. When we do, it will be a slow process. We will likely start with 4 or 5 cloves of garlic and will grow them out over 3 years to the point where we have enough to sell, eat and grow.