Garden Friday

Vampires beware!
It's Garden Friday and time is up for the garlic.

Last weekend I was able to harvest the garlic and shallots 

from one of the 4 X 4 raised beds.

The outer leaves had turned brown,

which indicates that its 9-month incubation period was over.

I have to say,

this is the nicest garlic crop I've ever grown.

The heads were huge and firm with roots galore!

I got the starts from Sow True Seed in Asheville,

and I'm very pleased with the results.

Garlic is so easy to grow.
(Here's our post on planting.)

You place the cloves in the hole,

water once in a while (usually rainfall is enough),

and fertilize once or twice during the growing time.

The hardest part is waiting the 9 months to harvest. 
The best of the heads will be saved
for planting this coming fall.

Shallots are pretty much the same,

with a hands-off approach.

The shallots come as bulbs and grow into 

long-stalked beauties and lend a mild onion flavor

to most anything they share a pan with.

I'm fairly impressed with these as well.

In the fall, when they are planted again,

 ample space will be created for them

so that I can get more at harvest time.

I never seem to grow enough!

It worked out well growing them in the two 4 X 4 raised beds.

Now that these have been picked,

I can use the bed for sweet potatoes,

which will be ready  to harvest in time to put in more garlic and shallots.

One of the shallot plants didn't fare so well.

It was one of the plants that I decided to cut off the flower.

I'm not sure if water got into the plant that way or what,

but the shallot was mushy and waterlogged.

Into the compost pile it went.

I think I will leave the flowers intact next go 'round.

These crops need curing,
so they are lying in the garage
where the skin will become papery.
It takes from two to four weeks.
At that time, the stalks can be cut off
and the bounty stored in the house.
No need to buy garlic for a while.
That gives this gardener a feeling of overwhelming satisfaction.