More on Garlic

I finally got out to harvest the rest of my garlic. I lied when I said I'd harvested a third before. It was about a quarter maybe. They were nicely dry by the time I got there so I cut the roots off with a pair of scissors and then rubbed them a bit to get the dirty outer layer of parchment like covering.

The ones I harvested today, the rest, were still of mismatched sizes. I am curious as to why in a single bed the size of the bulbs would vary so much. And it wasn't like this spot of there produced small bulbs and that spot produced large ones. I'd be going down a row, loosening the soil with my pitchfork and pulling up the bulbs. I'd get a big one, a small one, a medium one, a tiny one, a huge one. I've never had so much variance before. We did get a huge amount of rain this year all through spring, which is unusual. (So much in fact that I had a total of maybe thirty cherries on my cherry tree. So disappointing!) Perhaps the extra wet weather and late spring that suddenly rushed into summer is at the root of it.

Garlic is interesting though and a great "cheap crop" to grow. You can store the biggest of your bulbs for replanting in the fall (October is prime time where I live in California but I've done it as late as November.) If you plant every year, you'll never need to buy a seed crop again. And I've read that the garlic will adapt over time to your own specific soil and climate, which I think is pretty neat. Perhaps because I bought this garlic from a grower a few hours from here, in the mountains where the climate differs quite a bit, I'll be happier with the results next year since my garlic will have had a chance to adapt to my climate here.

I was looking for some information about the variance in my bulb size and found a few neat resources in growing garlic, including:

• Gourmet Garlic Gardens - a nice complete write-up about organic garlic growing
  
• Growing Garlic in Minnesota - about the opposite conditions than I have!
• Ohio State University Extension on garlic
• Growing Garlic in California - a PDF from UC Davis but commercially oriented
  

Harvesting Garlic

My garlic is about ready. Well, it is ready. The tops starting to brown and fall over. I pulled up about 1/3 of them and laid them dry on a screen I sometimes use to sift compost. That way they get air all around them. I've already cooked with some. Yum! Nice and hot and spicy. My only disappointment is the size of the bulbs. Most are quite small and I am not sure why. I will, of course, save the biggest ones for planting next year. The others I'll braid and hang somewhere. The garage gets too hot. If I hang them in the kitchen, the whole house reeks of garlic. I don't really mind but I do catch strange looks from visitors sometimes.

Garden Decor

Garden decor can be fun, practical, or whimsical. Keep your eyes open for items in unusual places. Garage sales and thrift shops can yield unusual items. A few tasteful statues in a garden can provide nice focal points for the eyes. You can go with something fun, like animals, or more formal. A pretty birdbath can combine function (for the birds!) with design.

Wind chimes and fountains add the dimension of sound to your garden. You can use sound to cover up distracting neighborhood or traffic noises or just as a soothing relief from the stress of the day.

Change Something Old to Something New

If you're on a budget, here are a few ideas for remaking items into garden decor.

• Decorate old bowling balls with a mosaic technique, as shown here on The DIY Network.
• About.Com has a nice article on building your own small fountain
• Birdhouses and bird feeders can be made at home or purchased inexpensively