Garlic experiments

We experimented on the garlic in a dozen different ways this year.

First, there was the new-to-us variety that succumbed to cold/wet weather, an wasn't early enough or prolific enough to justify the space it took.

Second, we've always had trouble waiting long enough for the garlic heads to finish growing, but this year we waited a little too long. The ones we harvested in the first half of the month, before I was out of town, were at their peak, and the ones we harvested the 20th to today were somewhat over-mature, with their wrappers disintegrating. On the plus side, the bulbils on the top of the scapes were fully mature and easy to remove and save for eating and/or future planting.

Another experiement in the works: Pickled garlic. It's basically just peeled garlic cloves soaking in vinegar with a small amount of salt and sugar, left to mellow for thirty days. The first batch will be ready on July 28. I've also made a batch using just the bubils from the top of the scape, on the theory that they might be interesting on top of a cracker, perhaps with cheese in between. Sort of like caviar made out of garlic bulbils.

Still to come this year (if we like the first batch): picked garlic with a hint of habanero pepper, for those who like hotter stuff.

The experiment for next year is to test what I think is largely a myth among garlic growers. I've read in a number of places that removing the scapes will result in a bulb that's substantially larger than if the scape and it's bulbil head are left to mature. My theory is that there might be a small difference -- enough to matter to a commercial grower seeking top dollar for his crop -- but not enough to give up the secondary crop of the bulbils or to justify the extra work of clipping the scapes. So, we're planning to play two rows of six cloves, preferably taken from idential heads (or as close as possible in size and vigor) in close proximity to each othe, and then clip the scapes of one of the rows and not the other. Harvest them all at the ideal time (how can we tell if they're ready without the scape to judge by?), and then weigh them.

Wild turkeys

We have wild turkeys in the neighborhood -- three adults and a dozen or more chicks.

After checking out my deck (where my cats were fascinated by them), they wandered into the backyard to check out my car and the recovery garden.

First garlic

I'm having computer issues, so no picture, but we harvested the first few garlic heads a few days ago.

They were the new variety, which I'd begun to think wasn't actually going to be any earlier than the regular variety (even though we chose it specifically to be early). But it really is earlier than our regular variety.

I hadn't meant to harvest them -- the scapes are still growing, suggesting that the heads are still forming -- but inadvertently pulled one while weeding, and was surprised to find it fully formed. I pulled another one on purpose, to make sure the first one wasn't a fluke.

I'm still not sure I'd bother to plant this variety again. It's earlier by a few weeks, but it's also smaller and doesn't seem as winter-hardy or generally prolific.

More behinder

The traditional planting weekend for this area is over, and the tomatoes still aren't in the ground.

On the plus side, the peppers are all planted -- 6 hot, 6 banana and 23 (there were 24, but one seedling croaked) Ace. And the alliums (onions and garlic) got some serious weeding, thanks to my co-gardener.

The new-to-us variety of garlic that ripens in June is, in fact, showing signs of being almost ready for harvest. The green tops stopped growing a couple weeks ago, and now they're sending up scapes.

The green beans are being eaten by the bunnies as soon as the seeds sprout (and my co-gardener, not a green-bean eater, rejoices). Unfortunately, the critters are also nibbling on the sugar snap peas.

Investment

Here's this year's investment (rounded to whole dollars):

• $25 for new variety of garlic
• $78 for onions, asparagus and assorted seeds
• $22 for plants below

Total so far: $125

The plants we purchased were:

• 24: Ace peppers
• 6: banana peppers
• 6: hot peppers (not sure of variety)
• 6: San Marzano tomatoes
• 6: grape tomatoes (not sure of variety)
• 1: peppermint
• 1: lemon balm
• 1: thyme

The weather is still iffy, so we're waiting to plant the peppers and tomatoes until this weekend. Mint and lemon balm are in a whiskey barrel. Can't figure out where to put the thyme. I have some issues with bending, and I'd like the thyme to be raised off the ground for easy harvesting, but most of the raised areas are too shady.

So far, we've planted seeds for: cucumbers, swiss chard, spaghetti squash, yellow summer squash, butternut squash and green beans.

We're still trying to figure out where to plant the basil (seedlings growing on a windowsill now, but too tiny to plant outside), sunflowers and carrots. And I'm not sure the space allotted to the tomatoes is big enough.

Purple asparagus!

We're trying a new variety of asparagus -- purple passion. The first sprouts are just coming up.

We had a hard freeze two nights ago. I brought in one semi-hardy plant from my deck but forgot I'd put the rosemary out in the garden. Fortunately, it survived. So did the sugar-snap peas (not so surprising) and radishes and dill and onions and garlic. The tatsoi is almost ready for harvest and is absolutely loving the cool, wet weather. (That may be our new shorthand for cool and wet: "Will the tatsoi weather ever improve?")

The new (to us) variety of garlic isn't looking all that great. They're tremendously uneven, with a few really pitiful patches in the row. Normally, I'd attribute it to an area of less fertile soil, but the old (to us) variety is growing more uniformly in a parallel row just a few inches away, which makes me wonder if the patches of anemic plants all grew from the cloves of a single head, and the variety just has more than typically uneven vigor from plant to plant, head to head. If that's true, I wouldn't recommend the variety for the basic crop, but it does offer extra-early harvest, so it may be worth putting up with the uneven growth in a crop that's only intended to provide for a short period when the prior year's harvest is completely gone and it's too early for the current year's main crop.

Behinder

There's a saying attributed to the Amish: "the faster I work, the behinder I get."

I haven't been working particularly fast, but I'm definitely getting behinder fast. We lost most of March and April to rains and floods, and we're still mired in what seems to be a perpetual rainy season. The garlic, which I thought might drown, seems to be thriving. The red onions -- all 200 or so of them -- were planted a few weeks ago. The peas have sprouted, and so have butternut squash from the compost pile. The asparagus is growing faster than we can eat it.

I just noticed yesterday that we have a few billion self-seeded dill plants. They've overflowed the whiskey barrel where we grew them last year, and have sprouted all around that barrel and in an adjoining one too.

I'm really late with the early crops and the indoor-seeded crops. I just started basil plants a couple days ago, and I still haven't started any lettuce. We had temperatures nearing 90 degrees the other day, which made me fear that I'd missed any conceivable window of opportunity for the cool-weather crops. I half expected the tatsoi to start bolting. Today, however, is barely into the 50s, if that, so if the thunderstorms ever stop, I'll get some lettuce seeds into the deck planters in the next couple days.

The lilacs have bloomed already, and the peonies are about to. The tree pollen is overwhelming.

Next week, we'll be getting nightshade-family plants from the local nursery. It's too early to plant the tomatoes and peppers, but I don't want to risk finding that the preferred varieties are sold out. I'm behinder enough without that happening!