thank you Earth

I have harvested my garlic. When the bottommost pair of leaves gets dry and yellow, it's time.
   On Monday morning I sat outside with the eastern sun toasting my back. I was wearing R's old "Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem" t-shirt. I peeled the dirty, spotty top layers off of the garlic. I set each shucked, bulbous pearl down on the deck. It was so beautiful: the tall withered stalks, pale gold; the shiny bottoms.

I haven't been this deeply proud over any other garden harvest. I'm highly happy with the whole process. It was "in-system", start to finish. Propagation? Check. No buying starts or seed. Watering? Check: It took no city water!
   I put it in the ground at the right time, got out of its way, minded the soil, and nature did the rest.

(Oh, I also cut the scapes. That puts more energy into the bulbs. And it doubles the yield. :)

no ado about much

Actually there is a big to-do brewing.
   In February Bjorn asked me to read this book. I read it, OFCOURSE. I love having books recommended 'specially to me!

It changed my life. My life changes a lot. Here's a book for that.
   I don't think that someone else reading the same book would have the same life change. This book introduced me to a new concept, which I followed, researched, and further followed and researched for 100 more hours —

my research took the time of a part-time job, some weeks.

I'm planning on turning our yard into an Edible Forest Garden. I am not sure why I haven't blogged about it a lot. I do feel like I've talked to some people a lot about it and they still exhibit cluelessness about what it is. That kind of takes the hot air out of my sails.
   What's with the deaf ears?
   Maybe my message is wrapped in an impenetrable tortilla of zealotry. Perhaps my elevator pitch is snore boring. Maybe these concepts are so counter-cultural that people can't grok it. Perchance people lack only visual aids.

I am very interested in talking about it — I'm more interested in doing it.

eScape

My garlic scaped! Woohoo!

On 10 June while I was out watering ... at 5:50 am ... I noticed the scapes. They were not a bit there on 3 June when I took my visiting niece and nephew out to the garden.
   I planted hardneck garlic because I wanted scapes. I like hardneck garlic better for its bulbs, too. I wondered, with hardneck's scapes and better bulbs, why would anyone plant softneck garlic?!

My most recent library-gotten Cook's Illustrated gave me an answer.

"Of the two main garlic varieties, your best bet at the supermarket is softneck, since it stores well and is heat tolerant."
     ...     
"Distinguished by a stiff center staff surrounded by large, uniform cloves, hardneck garlic yhas a more intense, complex flavor. But since it's easily damanged and doesn't store as well, wait to buy it at the farmers' market."

(It also occurred to me that some people might like garlic braids so much that they'll pick an otherwise lesser garlic just to be able to braid it.)

I am growing

My garlic and my tulips have come up! They live! I planted them roundabout Thanksgivukkah. (Thank goodness for En, or I would not have known that garlic is supposed to get in before first frost.) The tulips were a housewarming gift; the garlic — I selected from our CSA box one varietal (we get several) that I hope is hardneck, so as to produce scapes. (Softneck varietals don't scape. Scapes are the whole point of our growing garlic. We don't need more bulbs than our CSA provides. We need more scapes!) I separated the cloves and stuck them into the ground.
   Minutes after I planted my garlic I found little mystery sprouts elsewhere in the garden. I dug one up ... they'd planted garlic already! Ha ha! If their planting was hardneck, we'll have scapes aplenty. I doubt it is.

I was newly pregnant then. I didn't work in the garden again until after the miscarriage.

On the first good day in February, I ventured to survey the garden. Not too daunted, I cleared the raised beds, preparing them to be turned. Most of the beds were already emptied when we moved in (in October, remember), but I didn't plant cover crops, and I didn't cover the beds (with burlap, e.g.). I didn't know to. Blessedly very few weeds took purchase and clearing the beds was a work without dread.
   On George Washington's birthday, a traditional pea-planting day, I planted peas (securing a trellis!) after I turned over two of the beds. I learned from a book last year that one is to turn one's beds. It was a mystery to me until I did it. Here's how. I took our garden shovel (a Hannukah gift) and upheaved the dirt — upturned clods happy with worms. Then with another gifted tool I raked until the clods were clods no more. You might say I rotated and fluffed the dirt. In analogy, the dirt in the garden bed is like the pillow or the mattress in the sleeping bed. Now it is a known mystery; I have been through that door of the universe. Or it has been through me.
   Last Friday, I planted lettuce from seed in the greenhouse. My lettuce is a little late, but the way I figure it, if I fuss over dates overmuch I won't have fun and I won't garden. I'll learn what's worth a fuss as I go.

So far, everything I've planted has been from seed or bulb. It's unusual; I am used to the starts mentality, not the seed mentality. It is pleasant for me to work from seed. Maybe as I get used to having a greenhouse it will become the new usual. The holy grail is using seeds I've saved myself. Imagine gardening without needing to be at someone else's mercy or mercantile for seeds!

When we moved, I was concerned about how much it would co$t me to garden. So far, it's about $3. The only co$t to me has been buying the peas and lettuce seeds. Tools = borrowed or gifted. Da (Bjorn's dad) bought us a Costco set of his favorite gardening gloves. Bjorn found overalls and a flannel work shirt for me at the Free Store.
   I need a hat. I discovered this happily on Friday. I was two+ hours working in the sun and my eyes felt it a little. A hat — and more plants. Co$ts will rise, but I am not concerned about them any more. What shall I plant next!?