It feels more like Spring than January! Garlic Planting?!?!

 2012! I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year!!

The weather here in Southern VA has been so strange, I finished picking the habanero's and jalapeno's off my plants only 3 weeks ago.  So I have been cautious about putting the garlic into the ground.

I put some into containers in late October and they're already growing well

Siberian Garlic planted from stock I harvested this year

One New Years Eve it was 65 degrees (felt so wrong!) so I figured it was time to clear out the Summer garden and get some garlic in the ground before it was way too late (I am already a little behind the curve on this one I know)

I figured I'd share a photo collage of the garlic planting.

Because garlic will not be ready for harvest well after I want to get Spring planting done, I devoted the far left corner of my plot to this endeavor.  I decided 3 rows of 6 cloves each (2" apart) was a good start. Plus I have 9 cloves growing in plots














I went a little crazy ordering Garlic varieties this year (who can blame a girl, there are so many good ones out there)

Here is what I ended up planting in the garden

Row 1
    Cloves 1-4: Ajo Roja
    Clove 5-6:  Xian Turban

Row 2
     Cloves 1-3: Spanish Roja
     Cloves 4-6: Persian Start

Row 3:
      Cloves 1-2: Burgundy
      Cloves 3-4: Chesnok Red
      Cloves 5-6: Susanville

I also planted in pots:  Siberian (home grown stock), Oregon Blue and Red Toch

Preparing the cloves

After preparing the cloves (I LOVE the color of some of these cloves, they're just gorgeous!) I placed them in pre-made holes. I am hopeful, but I have never grown garlic in the ground before.....  Everything I planted this spring in the plot grew very very well. So I'm hoping for the same with my garlic 

Ajo Roja getting ready to be tucked in for a long winters nap

Lime and Chili Herb Grilled Chicken

So I've been wanting to try my Lime Thyme in a chicken marinade for a while.... I'm not sure what took me so long, but I finally found some time this weekend....

I threw together this marinade from a few ingredients I had lying around from my garden in addition to the lime thyme... I was a little skeptical at first, but was pleasantly surprised by the final result

Ingredients for Marinade

This made enough marinade for two chicken breasts, it may cover more, but two was all I had

Ingredients 
3 Limes
2 Chili Peppers (I used 1 jalapeno an 1 red chili pepper from the garden) sliced
4 Crushed Garlic cloves
3 Tbsp Olive Oils
Herbs (any would work)
     - Several Sprigs of Lime Thyme
     - Tarragon
     - Rosemary
1 Scallion thinly sliced  (I threw that in after the picture was taken)

1. Juice 3 Limes into a bow
2. Add in sliced chili peppers, sliced scallions and crushed garlic
3. Add olive oil
4. Pour Marinade over chicken in a ziploc bag
5. Add fresh herbs whole into the bag as well
6. Seal bag and marinate overnight in the refrigerator
7. Once your grill is hot, pull out the chicken and top with a pinch of salt and pepper
8. Grill over high heat for 3 min/side
9. Put chicken off to the side or lower heat for 10 min (I did it on a charcoal grill and just put it to the side)
10. Let it rest, and enjoy :)

Final Product

I really was pleasantly surprised by the flavor and juiciness of the chicken!

Maybe next weekend I'll have to try something different with the herbs...

Hope you're having a great weekend!