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garden happenings

I pulled my garlic this past week.  I knew it was time, although it seems a bit earlier than last year.  I had pulled a couple heads already, mainly because I wanted to use them, and they were huge, so I figured I might as well pull them and start curing them.




Last year I put the garlic in my entryway to cure, but this year, they seemed to be exceptionally pungent, and I decided to put them in my mom’s shed instead.  So it is looking like a regular old farm barn down at my mom’s now!  


I ended up with 74 heads of garlic this year, which I think will be enough to last us until next summer.  Unfortunately, I know that I won’t be able to plant garlic this year – unless my wonderful husband decides to plant it while I am in the hospital having a baby…




The rest of the garden is looking really great as well.  I have tons of kale and cucumbers.  The kids did a round of picking from the jalapeno plants, and we got a ton of those.  They will be going in the freezer, and also into some peach salsa that I plan to can this week.  




I have a few more weeks before my tomatoes start turning red I think, and then I will be canning tomatoes as well.  All the important things that need to be done before winter sets in.  It is an exciting time to be in the garden though, lots of fresh food every day!


How is your garden growing?  Are you planning on preserving a lot?

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4 Comments

  1. That garlic! Wow! My garden is doing ok. I'm hoping to get to my farmer's market produce auction soon so that I can preserve a lot, even if I didn't grow it myself.

  2. Oh, those peaches look dee-lish! And your garlic is fantastic! Our garlic was a bust this year.
    Glad your garden is doing so well. We don't grow much here in summer, but are looking forward to putting a few fall crops in very soon. Enjoy your bounty!

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garden happenings



Last week was kind of a crazy week weather wise.  It started out as being hotter than anything, and then the end of the week held torrential downpours and a lot of wind, all courtesy of the hurricane.  Luckily it had already gone off to sea, so we only had the remnant winds and rain.



I was able to pick our garlic scapes last week.  They are absolutely delicious.  I sometimes think I like them better than the garlic itself.  They seem mild to me, and are delicious mixed in dressings, or sauteed with other veggies.  Last week I made a quick and fresh tomato sauce for pasta, which is one of my favorites.  I also like to make garlic scape pesto, which is delicious on pasta, or sandwiches, or as a dip with cut up veggies.



I picked my first pepper last week as well.  I am going to have to look back at my notes from the past few years and see what the first fruit of the garden was.  I am pretty sure it was never a pepper.  But, my green peppers seem to be thriving in the weather we are having.



The rest of the garden is full of weeds.  I haven’t been able to get outside in about five days of steady rain to weed, so there you have it, a weed field.  But, the pests seem to be staying away for the most part, and that is good with me.



Well, I say they have been staying away, but actually they have mainly just moved locations.  Instead of attacking the cucumbers and zucchini in the garden, they have been attacking my bush cucumber plant that is in a pot in our driveway.  My main line of defense has been a jar of soapy water and drowning the stink bugs, while just squishing the cucumber beetles with my fingers – gross but effective.



I have a lot of little tomatoes growing, so I hope that in the next several weeks we will start to see fruit large enough (and colorful enough!) to pick and eat.

I’m happy to report that the farmers’ market is in full swing, so we are able to get what we need from them.  I’m not sure why they are able to produce so much food so early, I think maybe cold frames and green houses could have something to do with it, but I am thankful it is there.


How is your garden growing?  Are you harvesting a lot right now, or counting the days like us?

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3 Comments

  1. My garden is just weeds, I'm hoping to plan everything this weekend. Yea, I'm only two months behind, ha! I'm doing it more for the experience and for the kids this year it seems. I really just want some beautiful sunflowers, food would be nice though! I buy a lot of spinach & kale.

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garden happenings

What an interesting week I have had in the garden!  Perhaps not interesting as much as irritating in some ways.  My week started out squishing cucumber beetles, and ended with trapping woodchucks.



There were a couple days in there that I thought I was finally winning the fight against pests!  The cucumber beetles were pretty much non-existent, and stink bugs were not visible to me.  I knew the woodchucks that were living under the chicken house would need to be removed, but I wasn’t in a rush.  We have a fence around our garden for that specific reason.  

made a quick getaway through my peonies



Unfortunately, it seems like the fence was not as woodchuck proof as I had thought.  There had been a spot that was not attached to the stake well, and those woodchucks just walked right into the fence and knocked a spot down.  They were able to eat just about all of the lettuce that I had planted.  I was not a happy camper.  


Luckily I know just who to call when we have a woodchuck problem.  Woodchucks are something my mom (who lives on the same street as me) dealt with for many years in her garden.  There was one summer where we got rid of about 18 woodchucks…that was quite the summer.  



So we got a couple havahart traps, and got to it.  We have caught three so far.  I know there are more, but they haven’t been in the yard the past 24 hours.  We will most likely move the traps down to my mom’s house next, since we are pretty sure they have a tunnel that goes all the way down the street and comes up under her shed…


The damage was significant, most of the lettuce and some of the broccoli.  Luckily I can still plant more lettuce, and hopefully this time it will stay and grow!


How is your garden growing this year? 

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6 Comments

  1. Sorry about the damage those groundhogs caused. My Poppaw deals with raccoons in his garden. uggg. I found you at SouleMama's. Hope you come visit our garden!

  2. Sorry about the woodchucks! :/ Maybe cover the lettuce as it grows? I battle moles or voles. Not sure which but they eat my radishes and peas and leave hollow spots all over the garden!

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