Garlic Galore!
Who knew that this:
would turn into this:
That's a whole lot of garlic!
On Wednesday morning, my brothers-in-law kindly helped me to pull up all of my garlic. I planted it late last October, mulched it with leaves over winter, and it has been steadily growing ever since. I probably could have let it grow even another week or two longer, but I had the manpower (literally!) available to me and wanted the garden space, so up it came!
It's currently sunning out on my deck (lucky garlic!). In an hour or so, I'm going to have to pull it all downstairs to lay it out in the garage to air out for the next few days (since we'll be out of town, I can't risk leaving it on the deck in case of rain). My goal is to dry as much of it as I can so that it can be stored through the fall and winter. Any bulbs that aren't in prime condition or that don't dry out nicely will be peeled, chopped and frozen into little cubes (my friend's idea- clever, isn't it?).
Now look at my barren garden!
Can you believe I planted a row and a half of garlic? Neither can I! But this morning I got in my two Delicata squash seedlings, and I have plans for more of the space that includes a second planting of both carrots and lettuce/greens, and more to be determined.
On other notes, I've been pulling up lovely turnips lately. Since we don't tend to eat a lot of turnips in the summer (we prefer them in hot soups, stews and casseroles), I've been peeling and cubing, and then blanching and freezing them. I did the same with some snap and shelling peas, and it looks like pea season is pretty much over for us now. More re-planting to do, I suppose!
We've also been enjoying broccoli just recently! I'm sad at how small the heads were, but it was exciting and yummy nonetheless. We have beautiful purple cauliflower heads forming, which I absolutely can't wait to eat! My tomatoes have also just begun to flower- hooray!
How are your gardens doing? What have you been harvesting lately?
we have been eating spinach, lettuce, and carrots like crazy. i also picked the shallots that other day. we had strawberries early in the season and the corn, tomatoes, and the beets are working on finishing up. i am so excited. i have some pictures of our garden at my site if you are interested in looking at them.
Love that garlic! I think I will add that to my fall garden! Come on over and check out my garden today at River Rock Cottage and see what I have going. I’m asking my readers to do the same. What do you plan to put in the space where you had the garlic?
Oh, and keep sharing those tips with how you are putting up all that produce. Your ideas are great!
WOW!!
If you don’t want any of it I’ll buy some from you!
If anyone in your household gets ill, you’ll have plenty of garlic for remedies available! (Due to one thing or another, I’ve medicinally gone through a couple large bulbs of garlic in the last week.)
Great! Seems so.. little house on the prairie like.. you’ll need to twist it together and make garlic wreaths for the attic.
Jena, I love that… like Little House on the Prairie! That’s a comparison that makes me really happy. 🙂
On a similar note, a few weeks ago, a guy who was selling cable tv packages came around to our house and was a bit astounded when I told him that we don’t watch tv. He said we must be Amish or something, lol! I don’t mind that comparison either, but I thought it was pretty extreme, considering we do own a car and use electricity! 🙂
Good job on the garden! This is my first garden and I am learning so much. Lately I have harvested 8 green cabbage heads and 2 red cabbage heads, all small but good to eat:) Also garlic, zucchini, yellow squash, and green onions plenty. I am loving this so much. All of my herbs will be dehydrated soon to be used in the upcoming months:)
Yum, I ate some broccoli from our garden this year too. Once you cut off the main head, you’ll get lots of “baby broc” side shoots and can eat those too. On the advice of our community garden directors, we even tried steaming & eating some of the more tender leaves- they are pretty good, a lot like collard greens.
Sounds good, Shannon! Especially for a first year! I haven’t tried cabbage yet… maybe next year.
Samara, I have noticed the baby broccoli side shoots, and so we’ve been eating those as well. I hadn’t heard of eating the leaves, so thanks for that! Might be a good stir fry addition!
I love how you have laid out your garden! I am new to gardening and still learning all the ways that it can be done. I only planted peppers, zucchini, cantaloupe, and tomatoes this year. Nothing has produced anything edible yet, but I do have some green tomatoes on the vine! That garlic looks wonderful!!!
We’ve been eating TONS of lettuce and spinach. The radishes are finishing up and the peas and beans are in flower.
Now if only I could get rid of the earwigs. I’ve tried trapping them all sorts of ways but we are simply overrun by them around here. They even get inside. Gross!
That is A TON of garlic! I want to grow some someday. Haven’t tried yet. I wonder if they would also be attacked like my onions are by maggots.
Oh! I just read the comments and had to comment again, LOL we had the SAME thing happen…a guy came door to door selling cable and I had to tell him we don’t have TV and he thought I was joking and trying to get him to leave by telling him that. LOL