Planting the 2012 garlic

It was the first week of November before we could get onto the garden to prepare for the garlic planting. I hate planting in November. I'd much rather have the beds ready by mid September and the garlic in the ground no later than mid October. November planted garlic tends to frost heave as it isn't in the ground long enough to grow roots to hold it in place as our soil freezes and thaws many times in most years. We didn't have much choice with planting time this year. It started raining in late August and has kept it up often enough since to keep me and the tiller out of the gardens!

The bed DW is weeding had potatoes left in it from the summer's failed harvest. 100F days through July and no water other than rain fall (of which there was not a drop) made the 90 pounds of taters we scattered across two gardens a waste of money. But that's how it goes if one relies on Nature's generosity, or there is no source of water and mulch for the garden.


The local newspaper readers often ask me if I do anything in the garden?


Sure I do, though as little of it as possible.


Popped and labeled cloves of 20 cultivars are being planted this year, some of them are in the plastic bag. the clip board is the garden map Wanda draws up as she planted. I mark each section of cultivars with metal stakes so they are easier to sort out come July harvest. We learned early on to count each clove so we don't mix cultivars should the marker stakes get moved. Epsoma's "Bulb-tone is the only fertilize we use. I pour a line of it on top of the raised row and DW pushes the cloves down through it. I rake the soil over the holes left behind by her planting.


DW adds a just planted cultivar to the map. Name and number of cloves in whatever row.


Bed No. 2: planted, raked and ready for rain or snow. 683 cloves made up from 10 cultivars.


Planting the last row of Bed No. 1. I don't know how she managed to stay bent over like that to plant 779 cloves! My back ached just watching her. She did complain of her knees bothering her. We're coming to this gardening after decades of standing in a factory all day. We're just not used to such work.



The garlic maps. I'll lose them if I don't put them several places on the Net!

1360 cloves in the ground and I don't care if I never see another for at least a day. I've a bowl full of culled cloves to peel and slice for the dehydrator. At least they are already popped free from the bulbs so my thumbs get a break!

The gift of an acre

This is a Google satellite photo of the acre we were gifted this spring. I picked up a deer tick as we walked around it back in April and had to go on antibiotics for Lyme disease. That set the stage for the rest of the season!

The acre was planted in alfalfa five or so years ago, but has since settled into weeds and wild turnips. It hasn't been plowed in at least 5 years!

Plowed May 15th. Our average last frost date. We got a very late start. It rained before the farmer could run a disk over it and we had to wait another week before I could get my little rototiller onto the ground. Sadly, so I thought at the time, I was only able to work up 3,000 sq/ft before the summer baked the ground too hard to till. We debated just sowing bush beans on what we had tilled and skipping gardening altogether until next summer.

The Texan homesteader argued that we had nothing to lose by planting late so why not take a chance. If nothing else we'd gain a feel for the ground so we'd be better prepared for next season. As we had dozens of tomatoes and peppers already sprouted and getting leggy we went ahead and planted everything.




These two "worms" turned up on a tomato and a pepper plant. I knew the tomato horn worm would eat anything in the tomato family, but I'd not seen one eating pepper leaves before. Live and learn. Happily I squished them both and we didn't see another all the rest of the summer.


The little garden section of the acre in it's innocence.

July was nothing but 100F days of sun. We lifted water from the ground with a hand pump and carried 5-gallon buckets to the garden's edge so they could warm to air temps over night. We'd been pouring cold well water on the plants and couldn't figure out why they weren't growing. DUH! We were putting them in shock everyday! Once we got that right the garden took off!


This was the average size of the Crimson Sweet watermelons we grew from seeds gifted by the Texan. She bought them from http://www.willhiteseed.com/

We had so many melons coming ripe that I took to doing drive-by watermeloning of friends' houses when no one was home! Later on, the recipients of the abandoned melons would force me to take cash for the best tasting melons they'd eaten in years. I guess we'll be planting lots of Crimson Sweet in the 2012 garden.


Tenderette bush beans were supposed to be used as a cover crop. We ended up only planting two 50 foot rows that managed to provide us with bags and bags of beans all through July and August. One family I supplied with veggies refused to open the door if I had beans for them! They would eventually peek out and see the melons and open the door. They'd take the beans too as they shoved money into my hands and told me "no more damned beans!"


More damned beans!


The July heat finally chased us out of the garden and the weeds began to appear.


I was very disappointed with the harvest of Livingston tomatoes we grew this year. They did not do well in our lack of care so I can't blame the varieties. Had we staked them, mulched them and watered them more frequently I suspect they'd have done better. The few we canned were excellent.

The peppers simply loved the acre. Dry hot summer and all!


My first attempt at pickling peppers and garlic. The peppers are mushy, but I like 'em anyhow.

There is a gardeners' saying. "Next year will be better." That goes for my pickled peppers too.

Garlicky Summer

The 770 cloves, of 16 cultivars, did better than I expected considering we had temps of 100F in May this year! We watched in delight as the scapes appeared and doubled back on themselves.

Come summer of 2012, I'm hoping to pickle at least a third of the scapes while they are tender. I'd pickle them all, but I'm not sure if it harms bulb development if I remove them too soon. I was told it is best to let them curl, then begin to straighten before cutting them from the stalks. Once they begin straightening the stems are too tough to eat. The umbels at their tops are good for flavoring salads and pizza though!

DW before the July temps hit 100F and stay there!

While I dug up our little planting of garlic DW went to work on a friend's commercial garlic patch. She and the high school boys washed 19,000 bulbs of garlic while I barely managed to lift, wash, sort and hang a mere 700 or so. I heard recently, the boys planted 28,000 for next summer's harvest!

700+ bulbs hanging outside the kitchen door. Glorious! Even if I was getting garlic "papers" and roots caught in my beard each time I went through the door!