Crud Alert

One hundred eighty garlic cloves were peeled in preparation for planting before we discovered a problem.  In the past, the diseased growth usually appeared on surfaces at the other end of the clove as a brown spot.  This hole at the root end of the clove was easily seen resulting in removal from the to be planted group.  This picture made clear disease issues not detected by the naked eye.  The decision not to plant this one is not to avoid an empty place in the planted group but to keep this poison out of our soil.  Overall, our garlic appeared to be in excellent condition especially when compared to the more common infestation of years past.  We considered discontinuing soaking and peeling but in the end it continued.  It turns out that was a lucky but excellent decision.  This clove is a White Bishop variety.

This White Bishop clove escaped elimination at peeling.  The cataract removed sharp Becky eyes raised concern and removal from the to be planted pile.  Since all root and later leaf growth springs from this area at the base, we cannot be certain that there are disease issues with this clove.  It seems that focusing on unhealthy issues can make one a little crazy.  My aged eyes would have placed this clove in the to plant group and that might have been a sound decision.

Our original planting stock for this variety was purchased from local legend Charlie Bishop.  He planted a large section of river bottom land with garlic and traveled about the area selling his product.  One year we saw him at the Saugerties Garlic Festival.  Many pickup trucks there were parked in a circle with the tailgates facing the center of the group.  Most of the growers were standing around waiting for a prospective customer to examine their garlic.  Charlie was standing on a box loudly speaking like a carnival barker about how he grew his prized garlic in river bottom land directly adjacent to the mighty Susquehanna River.  Needless to say he sold far more product than the others.

 

This Purple Stripe clove was judged to be free of disease and therefore it could have been planted.  It was not planted.  This illustrates the unexpected issues following a sharp focus on disease.  Last year's harvest found empty spaces where Purple Stripe cloves had been planted.  We had no idea the cause of the failed plants.  At this point sixty cloves of this variety are in the ground.  This blog post is intended to provide a record of events available for future inspection.  At this point all have been planted.  Perhaps next year we will need to take a closer look at this variety when selecting planting stock as a result of its condition at harvest.

New Garlic Ground

At first glance this looks like a strange location for a garden.  The forest in the background extends almost to forever.  Heading east one could walk in a straight line for three miles before encountering the first year round hard road.  Traffic noise is nonexistent here.  An occasional airplane is the only outside machine that violates the silence.  It is possible to look in a full circle and see no buildings.  Little imagination is needed to see this as pioneer farming.  I now need the tractor to bring in the tools used to till the soil here but all of them are hand tools.  Long views and solitude make this a delightful place to work.

Disease has made the garden near the house unsuitable for growing garlic.  New ground and new seed were necessary if we were to continue growing garlic.  The remains of squash vines in the right foreground are in the bed that grew garlic last year.  Vines and weeds to the left mark this year's garlic bed.  Two wheelbarrows are in the area being prepared for the next garlic planting.  Brown grass clippings are killing the sod as the first step toward clearing next year's new soil.

Our basic method to open new ground is to first kill the sod.  Then the stones are screened out.  Waste stone builds great looking and fully functional garden paths.  From them the growing beds can be worked without ever stepping onto the planting soil.  The addition of woods soil, pond muck or compost completes the preparation of the planting area.  Here I need to get a move on as the garlic should be planted next week.

Today digging revealed a puzzle.  Under nearly a foot of  brown topsoil, a layer of sticky yellow subsoil is revealed.  Exactly how the glaciers laid down these different materials is not understood by us.  It is possible that the topsoil was deposited long after the subsoil.  Markings of an ancient fire were found under the topsoil.  It could have been a natural burn.  It could have been a prehistoric fire.  It does not seem possible that it is a modern burn.  There has been no disturbance of the soil here that deep.  The circumstances surrounding this burn remain a puzzle.  It seems unlikely that the remains of a fire would persist for a long period of time.  It seems unlikely that the burn is recent since the soil is undisturbed.

In all of the soil sifting that I have done here, no Native American artifacts have ever been found.  Lower ground near the river and the eel weir has yielded countless primitive points.  A flint factory was located nearby opposite a feeder stream.  A summer camp near the eel weir seems likely.  It appears that all of the activity of these early residents here was concentrated near the river.  Our stony hills saw little early activity.  That diminishes the chances that the fire remains mark their presence here.  So I ponder and dig surrounded by natures splendor.