Garlic

The longest awaited reward yet has finally paid us a visit. That's right- the hardneck garlic I planted last October is done. I may sound like an amateur, but I guess I didn't expect it to work. Plant a clove, get a bulb- how freakin' marvelous is that?

I believe the official count was 32 bulbs- a fair amount to consume and at least enough to continue the cycle this October.

We think the plants feature above aren't done yet, so we're gonna let them grow. We loosened the (wet) soil with the digging fork and pulled them out. Next time we will give the ground more time to dry after the rain. The test will be weather the bulbs keep until the fall or not.

Now our coat closet has garlic curing in it for two weeks- we'll just have to tell the guests that wer're expecting vampires.

The Rewards

Gardening is beginning to have its rewards. I haven't become completely self sustainable yet, but i have learned so much this year that I feel that that goal is attainable. Today we will go to my sister Tiffany's house and help her get a garden (of hot weather crops) going, assuming the weather dries up outside.

June 12th was a big harvest day at The Hilltop Plot. Refer to the last post for my love of Beets. Bull's Blood and Chioggia- the golden ones didn't fare well yet...


We are proud of our carrots. We're gonna plant 10 times as many in the fall though?



The garlic plants all had scapes, so we cut em off and now wait impatiently for the bulbs!


Yesterday we went strawberry picking! We got enough to make 112 oz. of jam and ricemilk icecream, and we froze about four quarts!

This is what 21 lbs. of strawberrys looks like:


I hulled almost all of them:

MMM...The results:


Listening to:

"The Beet Is The Most Intense of vegetables. the radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.....The beet is the melancholy vegetable, the one most willing to suffer. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip... The beet is the murderer returned to the scene of the crime. The beet is what happens when the cherry finishes with the carrot. The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized; the dark green sails of the grounded moon-boat stitched with veins of primordial plasma; the king string that once connected the moon to the Earth now a muddy whisker drilling desperately for rubies. The beet was Rasputin's favorite vegetable. You could see it in his eyes."
from "Jitterbug Perfume" by Tom Robbins

I hope this quote expresses my love of beets to you people because simply saying I grew them cannot. They are simply the most marvelous vegetable ever. And I was finally able to grow a decent one:
Chioggia Beet



The Garlic Scapes are coming on! Soon I will hack them all off so they don't steal the energy from the bulbs. Plus they are pretty damned tasty too.



The Spacemaster Bush Cucumber plants that I stuck in a pot on our back porch are doing better than the ones in the garden it seems (although there I put in 25 plants!): just take a look at the two of them growing up metal thingy I stuck in there. And today I noticed the first of what looks to be many more flowers! C'mon Bees!



The ding dang peas I planted around Valentines day are really pumpin out the pods if you knowhamsayin. I don't know how many I picked today but about a stuffed sandwich bag of sugar snaps and a half stuffed sandwich bag of shellings. Whoo Hoo!
Pea Flower


I have success as far as tomato seed germination goes, now we'll see if these late started Hillbilly's will strengthen up.


I know the bounty is going to begin to be overwhelming but I must focus on the real important stuff this season: Preserving and Weeding. Sounds sweaty to me....

Listening to: