time to get the garlic out!

no, not against the Halloween vampires-it's time to get ready to plant.I';m just waiting for some cooler weather-should come as early as Friday.

My bed has been broadforked twice; compost greensand , lime and organic fertilizer mixed  in.They are going to live in that bed until next July so we want them happy.I might add; the shallots and multiplier onions get moved/planted in front of the garlic; they are smaller and need the sun.( Multipliers give us spring green onions mostly)

I plant the first row six inches apart; then stagger a row 3 inches down, and each clove in the middle of the row before not directly in front of them.. this planting makes the most of space.Push each clove in and then cover the bed with loose straw ( leave off the shallots until after the first freeze. they can rot if covered.)

I don't soak, add a bit of clorox, or baking soda, anything; buying organic garlic means the cloves are as clean as you could want. but if you got to the store of have some excess garlic to try, I would put them in a baking soda bath for a few minutes; tear off any blackened wrappers as well. Commercial fields are a bit more prone to disease.

Garlic is easy, and fun. remove the straw in the spring; put on more compost; keep them weeded. Remember you can eat the garlic scapes ( flowers) and if any garlic got left behind when you harvested this year, the garlic shoots that come up -should be up now, are excellent fro many uses. Stir fry, salads....

the good and the bad

We finally got some rain..but quickly re-entered  the dry weather.

got a little patio greenhouse loaded it with a 55 gallon drum full of water to help keep the thing from freezing. (though not a problem in 85 degree weather in October! )patio plants, fig tree and strawberry pot are in there; herbs will get gradually moved in also.some of the lavenders and rosemaries are huge! despite puppy trimming ( I am drying so much rosemary...sigh)

to resist planting more lilies ( as so many died) I plan to buy mums and pansies and fill up the back garden with color.

turnips and spinach coming up; many beds ready for next year and just need some straw, LOTS of garlic to plant.... parsnips look good.Some late trombocinis ( squash)coming on and a few tomatoes and lettuce.the pumpkins are really cute! we will cook them up in a week or two.

we took the comfrey bed ( comfrey and nettles, for mulches and composts; high nitrogen) and surrounded it with iris., looks good! also lined the front of the house, where we had to cut down a tree, with  iris. hoping they do well!

BUT- the pups ate the peppers, decimated the flower gardens, even killed a small lilac. they keep digging, especially where I have just been working.Sweet potato production barely adequate. hm.Searching out the most PRODUCTIVE tomatoes, not just heirloom....BREAK O' DAY comes highly recommended.


must buy more currants and cherries for the polyculture fruit tree area.The berries sailed through the drought; young bushes not so much!a different nitrogen producer needs to be found too. I'm thinking buffaloberry ?


the littel asparagus plants now need to have the bed built above ground ( our plan) they are in about 6 inches now; started with a  trench and filled all summer. We'll see if second year growth is really superior to starting with crowns!


looking forward to vines in the spring on the new arbor. we are building the soil in the 2 beds first.Kiwis( Ken;s Red) and clematis..and some morning glories or climbing type squash possibly to fill in the first year.

we keep raking up acorns for the goats- despite the hysteria that we will poison them.

nope.they DO get grain and alfalfa too you know.

so as usual-some good some bad. we'll keep chugging along.