Garlic Harvest 2008

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Garlic fresh from the ground, 6/22/08

The squeak of the pantry door as I reach for the bowl. The rustle of nature-made paper surrendering to hungry hands. The sound of steel knife in a quick, crushing blow to clove on wood. Thwack! Another meal begins with garlic.

This past weekend we harvested the garlic we planted last fall. It's not the best crop of garlic we've grown -- not by any means -- but it's our own garlic. And it beats store-bought any day.

"Small is better than none at all" is turning out to be the theme of our gardening experience this year. Given that we really need to improve our soil, we're keeping our expectations in check. Puny little garlic heads they are, but they are better than none at all.

This fall, some of our first compost should be ready to put in, and we're planning to grow winter cover crops as well. That should help with the soil situation. Feed the soil and it will feed us loads more garlic - next year. For now, small is bliss. Garlic is one of my all-time favorite things to grow.

Pea-tiful

Monday, June 16, 2008

Michael and I have been talking already about our next year's crop of peas. We want to grow more of them -- a lot more. Forget about "A few pods here, a token handful there." Sure, it's been nice to have small amounts of peas to taste and to feel the accomplishment of having grown our own, but now we want to scale it up.

I plan to devote one half to two-thirds of a garden bed just for peas next spring. They're good for the soil, we like to eat them, and they'll be out of the ground just in time for me to put in the summer and winter squash seeds.

This year's crop of peas (well, it's a stretch to call it a "crop" -- that's the extent of them in the photo above) was not so good. I left the pods on the plant too long. Worse, they suffered through the recent late spring heat wave. Code Red Days = No Pea Days. The peas got too big and starchy and we all but choked them down just to say we ate our own homegrown peas. Pitiful they were. Not even butter could save them.

Note to self: Never leave peas on the plant in that kind of heat. Never.

Better luck next year.

Salad Greens

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Accompanying our dinner tonight was this mix of lettuces, beet greens, endive, chives, and radishes (tiny as they were) pulled fresh from the soil. The lettuces are starting to go bitter now in the summer heat, so we need to use them up fast. These were delicious with a simple vinaigrette of olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and a little lemon juice.

Give and take in the garden

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Black-Eyed Susans received from Debbie, 4/22/08.

A fish tank. A smashed hula hoop. And one ovulation prediction kit. What do all these items have in common? They're all among the recent offerings on my local Freecycle list. (And I suppose I could get creative here and write a fictitious story about how a fish tank, a smashed hula hoop, and an ovulation prediction kit relate in some way to gardening, but I will leave that to your imagination.)

If you have something you want to get rid of, chances are someone on your local Freecycle list will take it. Conversely, if you're looking for a specific item, you might consider posting a "Wanted" notice to the list. I wanted Black-Eyed Susan plants for my new front yard garden. Within a short time after posting my plant request, I had a response from a fellow Freecycler named Debbie, who offered to give me a few from her garden. Free plants, just for asking.

While it's nice to receive, it also feels great to be in a position to give. We had two crape myrtles in the backyard that didn't fit into our long-term plans for the garden. I like crape myrtles, I do, but they grow enormous around here, and we decided to get rid of them while they were still small and (somewhat) easy to dig out.

On the DC Urban Gardeners List, Gwen from Annapolis, Maryland, was looking for shrubs and perennials for her new garden. I was happy to find a taker for my crape myrtles, and it turns out they were among the plants on Gwen's wish list.

One of two crape myrtles moved out to Gwen's place in Annapolis.
Phase One of Blueberry Lane begins, 6/8/08.

This weekend, Gwen and her friend Maria came by and helped us dig them out, and now I have room to start the next phase of the garden. I want to put in fruit bushes - blueberries and currants, specifically - and I plan to start working on the soil for them soon.

Roses with black spot disease

Monday, June 02, 2008

My rose bushes are exploding with their brilliant red blooms. Deep, satiny, sumptuous flowers they are. I enjoy going out in the mornings and taking a deep breath of their deliciously sweet scent. How lucky I am to have moved into a house with a row of established roses. They're a real treat. I only did a little bit of pruning earlier this year and -- bam! -- we have a flood of roses.

How easy it was, or so I thought.

When I went out a few days ago to get my daily fill of rosy goodness, I noticed that some of the leaves on the undersides of the plants had dark spots and were turning yellow. Those sickly looking leaves would fall from the plant at the slightest touch.

"Is my rose honeymoon over already?" I thought.

Black Spot Disease on Roses

A few clicks around the Internet would introduce me to something called Black Spot Disease, an apparently fairly common problem with roses. According to this source, it's a fungal disease that can take hold of roses in "warm, damp conditions, especially when leaves have been wet." During the month of May we had, oh, about 9 inches of rain -- ideal conditions for Black Spot. Left unchecked, the disease can weaken an entire rose plant.

With my once-effortless roses suddenly calling for attention, I cut back all of the infected leaves and canes and put all the debris in the trash. I read that one organic method for controlling the spread of Black Spot is to mix a teaspoon of baking soda with a quart of water and spray it on the plants in the morning. If things get worse, I might try that.

On another note, while I was trimming away the sickly leaves, I noticed only 2 bees buzzing along the entire row of roses. ONLY 2 BEES! Where are all the bees?! I know I am not the first gardener to question this. Many garden bloggers, in fact, have been commenting on the bee situation for a while now. But this is the first time I've really noticed so few bees in my own garden.