Planting Garlic

It's been raining for past 4 days and for a change it's a very good thing - ground has been overly dry and many lakes in the area much lower than I ever seen them in the past. But once it stopped, we went to work - got about 60 cubic feet (2.5 yards) of manure delivered on Saturday. So we spread them out in our large garden, my hubby tilled it all with old soil and then we raked it all smooth. Very tiring job spreading it all as it's very dense. But the mix came out pretty good. Hopefully it will improve production for next year once we start planting in spring. For now I redirected one of my long beds - 22 feet long, that I usually use for tomatoes and onions, to another use. I planted over 120 cloves of garlic planted, including:

  • Inchelium Red, 
  • Chesnock Red, 
  • German Porcelain, 
  • Ozark, 
  • Spanish Rojas, 
  • Vietnamese Red
  • New York White. 

I still have few heads of Music and Spanish Roja to put somewhere but not sure if I want it in  my garden. I might put some into the Community Garden for next spring. And yes, it's a lot of garlic, but my bed really needs a break from nightshade varieties. Maybe I'll add some squash later in June once I pull some of the earlier varieties out.

On not such a happy side, while we were preparing out garden for spring, our neighbor decided she didn't want to see our home from her window so she brought a landscaper with an excavator and planted two huge pine trees - they are expected to grow 40-60 feet tall easily. Right smack in front of our garden on the property line.  Effectively blocking all afternoon sun from my garden. I knew she hated to see my garden from the moment we build it (she never hid that opinion) but never would have thought her to be this hateful. Her ideas of "pretty" is combination of rocks, metal constructions and pines.  Really wish she'd move somewhere to the city where there is plenty of each to satisfy her taste, because clearly anything fresh like fruit trees and pretty flowers are not tolerated by her at all. Pity.

9 comments:

  1. Wonderful that you are getting your garlic planted. I am sorry that you had to get a neighbor like that. She doesn't know what she is missing! Nancy

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    1. You'd think being a vegetarian she'd be more open toward gardening.

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  2. Oh no, how mean, how close is your garden to the property line? More and more of my garden is getting shadier and shadier from my neighbors' trees not to mention the roots robbing my plants of nutrients but the trees are growing bigger and faster, a losing battle.

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    1. The small garden is facing them, and it's about 15 feet from property line. We planted 2 cherry trees in front of it about 8 feet from line to make it pretty in spring/summer but apparently that didn't help. I was going to add pawpaw and almond tree on the corner of the house as part of landscaping but now not so sure as I lost all afternoon sun those trees will require.

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  3. You planted a nice selection of garlic, hope they do well for you. Too bad about the trees. Maybe they will cast less shade during summer months when the sun is higher in the sky.

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    1. Thank you, I hope so too. Can't wait to try some of these new varieties and see how they adapt to my soil.

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  4. That is a LOT of garlic! So many varieties - I'm looking forward to seeing how each f them compares to the others. I just planted my garlic yesterday and have to get around to doing a post about it too.

    I'm sorry about your neighbor - from the sounds of it, she most likely lacks a green thumb. Normally I would keep my fingers crossed that new plantings will take well to being transplanted but in this case, I think I'll be keeping them crossed for the opposite.

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    1. I'm sure I will have far more than I need and will be giving it away come July or maybe will dry it and spread around plants to keep animals away :)

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  5. I'm so sorry to hear about the pines. I guess I'm lucky. My neighbors seem to love my garden. Thank goodness since it is right up to one of my neighbor's driveway. If he planted something along the edge (though he only has about 18" there, I'd be screwed. A tall fence would get me too. Of course I give him sweet corn every summer. Yes I bribe my neighbors.

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