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.