History of Garlic

Above are photos of a couple garlic cloves from the grocery store, which we planted in a row next to the roses last fall. First, you break the bunches into individual cloves, then plant these a few inches apart in a shallow trench. No additional care was provided other than watering the roses next to them.

Harvest day. I included two planting day photos in this collage, a couple of them growing, and the newly harvested garlic. When the tops start to brown they are ready. Dig them up, wash them off, and let them dry for a couple of weeks before trimming off the tops and roots and then you have garlic. It's essentially free, easy to do, and if you don't want to wait for mature garlic you can harvest some early and use for cooking even before they start to form cloves. We tried pickling some this year as well (because I planted much more garlic than what is shown in these photo collages) and will report on that later. I will say it was a lot of work peeling individual cloves to make 12 cups of garlic for the recipe.

Perfect morning

I took the day off and went into the garden to pick tomatoes this morning. It was perfectly cool, and I heard the loud buzz of that special bee that pollinates tomato flowers. People who sleep in or don't venture outside until 9-10 in the morning miss a wonderful, inspiring time.

Full Garden

The garden is in full swing, and we are enjoying the flower beds planted last fall. One thing about gardens is they teach the law of the harvest - if you don't invest the time and planning in advance there is no harvest or flowers to enjoy. The trellis is new this year and replaces one that had lost the battle of the Arizona sun. It serves as a gateway into the vegetable garden. We also moved the Tangelo tree seen on the right of the photo. This was a major undertaking and only time will tell if it was worth the effort to move such an old tree.

We are enjoying carrots, beans, zucchini, garlic, onions, and tomatoes from the garden. The peas have come and gone already this year. The garlic is mature and I need to learn how to harvest it properly. It requires a couple of weeks to dry them and the apparent rule of thumb is that when the bottom third of the leaves are dry its harvest time. Pull them, shake of the dirt, let them dry in a cool place for about two weeks, trim off the roots and dried tops and you have your own garlic. We've been eating it fresh now for months. The ones we don't pull will divide and grow again in the fall producing next year's crop. It has been so fun and easy growing garlic and onions this way, and now we are spoiled because they are always available and we never buy any at the store.