caged vs staked tomato plants

Not much to complain about in the garden. No storms have ruined anything (yet).* We’ve had lots of rain; plenty of sun.

Just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Because: you know it will.

As you might remember, I declared that I would finally harvest the garlic on time this year. And I did. But I also learned something interesting: I’m not so sure that my problems with the garlic in past years was due entirely to my timing. I had assumed, based on the appearance of the bulbs (sort of rotten looking and very wet, despite dry soil) that I simply waited too long. This year, I knew I hadn’t waited too long and the first bulbs I dug looked yellowed and rotten. On about the fourth bulb, I also saw a small brownish-orange worm on the bulb.

This is what an unhealthy bulb looks like. At first you can't really see anything specific, but it's yellowed and sort of rotten looking — This is what an unhealthy bulb looks like. At first you can’t really see anything specific, but it’s yellowed and sort of rotten looking

Hello internet.

Diagnosis: wire worms. They burrow into the bulb and create little holes that create rot. The good news is that there were only a handful of affected bulbs. The rest were all bright white and firm.

I do think that I also waited too long to harvest in prior years. This year, I dug them when only a couple of the lower leaves were yellowed. Each leaf on the stem creates a layer of paper wrapper around the head and cloves. Having enough is what helps the garlic to keep longer.

Only the bottom two leaves are yellow, but this is what I looked like when I harvested and I do believe it was the right time.

I then put them on my wire rack [an old “ground-level” bird feeder — which only ever fed the squirrels and the dogs] and put them in the shade to begin the curing process. I am moving them to the garage when rain is in the forecast, but man are they STRONG! yowza. This will go on for about a week and then they’ll go to the lower garage — hopefully less pungent by then.

Garlic curing in its shady spot under the birch tree

The shallots are way more forgiving.

usually I wait for the shallots to yellow and die back a bit before harvesting, but I wanted to clear the whole bed (these grew with the garlic) and the shallots were already too big, so I dug them all up — Usually I wait for the shallots to yellow and die back a bit before harvesting, but I wanted to clear the whole bed (these grew with the garlic) and the shallots were already too big, so I dug them all up

I dug them up at the same time because… well because they are fricken’ enormous. Where have you ever seen shallots this big? How does that work in a recipe when they say “4 shallots”? Can you imagine what my food would taste like if I used “4” of these shallots?

They will stay here for a day or two (unless it rains) and then move to the lower garage

Shallots you can just pull and leave in the sun for a few days. Then move to the cooler lower garage. Then give away. Because I can’t stand peeling shallots.

Here’s the rest of the garden with captions to explain anything of interest: