at least until we get more rain or i have more energy for digging.
the easy garlic is in (200 cloves planted in the one sandy loam garden i do have). most if is moderate to large sized heads. acceptable results considering how poor the soil was to begin with and how little time i spent weeding or watering. we had a fairly good spring with rain and early summer was fairly wet too. i was getting a bit worried as too much rain at the end isn't the best, but the past few weeks have dried up.
the garlic i put along one flower edge is also harvested (planted two years ago from bulbules off scapes - a few hundred...). this garden gets little to no extra irrigation and hasn't had green manure of any kind added to it in eons. needs green cover now. some beans in there growing, but could use some peas or some soybeans (too late to expect a crop, but as a green manure it would be good thing to try as i do have plenty of seeds). that all said i didn't have expectations of large heads of garlic from this garden. it was more an attempt to see if the deer and bunnies would be fended off by the garlic from eating the tulips (mostly they were). not sure i'll replant garlic again. bulb sizes were mostly small to medium.
the garlic out in the spiral garden (growing in amongst birdsfoot trefoil and alfalfa) i am still trying to clear out of there. i got about another 20% of that done today too. not enough rain though, that clay was hard going and i was already tired. but persistent i am. most of the garlic in there is small to medium too. simply because it is packed tight together or growing in very hard clay.
the good news is that as i was digging, even as dry as it was i was still finding worms. they wrap themselves up into little balls waiting for the rains. also they seemed to like congregating around the garlic roots (moisture and nutrients).
then i had to take a break, so i shelled some dry soup peas and then went out and finished what i wanted to get done. too tired, but decided i should get more soup peas picked before the rain (maybe tonight or tomorrow). started shelling those, but my back needed a break.
songbird