at least until we get more rain or i have
more energy for digging.

the easy garlic is in (200 cloves planted
in the one sandy loam garden i do have). most
if is moderate to large sized heads. acceptable
results considering how poor the soil was to
begin with and how little time i spent weeding
or watering. we had a fairly good spring with
rain and early summer was fairly wet too. i
was getting a bit worried as too much rain at
the end isn't the best, but the past few weeks
have dried up.

the garlic i put along one flower edge is also
harvested (planted two years ago from bulbules
off scapes - a few hundred...). this garden gets
little to no extra irrigation and hasn't had green
manure of any kind added to it in eons. needs
green cover now. some beans in there growing, but
could use some peas or some soybeans (too late to
expect a crop, but as a green manure it would be
good thing to try as i do have plenty of seeds).
that all said i didn't have expectations of large
heads of garlic from this garden. it was more an
attempt to see if the deer and bunnies would be
fended off by the garlic from eating the tulips
(mostly they were). not sure i'll replant garlic
again. bulb sizes were mostly small to medium.

the garlic out in the spiral garden (growing
in amongst birdsfoot trefoil and alfalfa) i am
still trying to clear out of there. i got about
another 20% of that done today too. not enough
rain though, that clay was hard going and i was
already tired. but persistent i am. most of
the garlic in there is small to medium too. simply
because it is packed tight together or growing in
very hard clay.

the good news is that as i was digging, even as
dry as it was i was still finding worms. they wrap
themselves up into little balls waiting for the
rains. also they seemed to like congregating
around the garlic roots (moisture and nutrients).

then i had to take a break, so i shelled some
dry soup peas and then went out and finished what
i wanted to get done. too tired, but decided i
should get more soup peas picked before the rain
(maybe tonight or tomorrow). started shelling
those, but my back needed a break.


songbird