All In

This is the last of our five named garlic varieties to be planted.  Several years ago it was discovered at a new plant and vegetable stand near Canadarago Lake.  Richfield Springs is an easier name and that is the one we use.  The garlic epidemic was raging at the time and this otherwise desirable variety has long been a problem.  Once again the cloves separated from the bulbs were impressively sized and firm.  Green tips are new to us but so many of the cloves displayed them that they had to be planted.  The golden tip in the picture  appeared on this single bulb.  We chose not to plant this one.  Twenty of the cloves showing green were planted in the last two rows of the bed.  With this written record we can make an informed decision about this variety at harvest time.  The green may just be the result of a strong desire to get growing.

Quack grass is our other unsolvable problem.  It is widespread in our former pastures that we mow for lawns.  Hours are spent trying to remove it from the planting beds but it always returns.  Our neighbor had established a beautiful garden that included a raised water feature.  He made a considerable effort to remove this invasive weeds return from his garden.  Not all of the long horizontal root pieces were pulled out so the new green leaf tips quickly returned.  His water pond liner wound up roadside and the garden was flattened and made lawn.  We haven't quit yet but planting beds have been lost to this pest.

A Cobra Head hand cultivator is our primary garden tool.  Even old arms can pull it through the soil removing weeds in the process.  Still hidden roots sometimes remain with new growth quickly reappearing.  These two impressively long pieces were today removed from ground that we had just recently weeded. A smaller piece was also removed from the new garlic bed where we had been persistent and diligent in our attempts to remove this pest.

 This closeup shows the return power of this plant.  I falsely believe that even the scent from a broken root can regrow.  Further attempts to remove this pest from the now planted garlic bed will likely disturb the cloves so we will simply break off any green leaves that push their way out of the ground.  Yesterday the peeled but unplanted cloves were an ingredient in  Garlic chicken for dinner.  It was fantastic and the leftovers will be even better.  Is their a better way to spend these clear October days?