After hanging in the rafters since late July, it was time to cut them down and break open the bulbs to get the official tally.
The bulbs cannot be broken up until the day of planting to ensure good germination. The first step is to cut-off the dried stalks from the bulbs.
It's always a good idea to do this work outside where it is easy to sweep-up afterward.
So after planting 46 cloves last fall, 100% grew into 46 bulbs which average 4 cloves each. A few had 5 cloves and one ended up with only 3. The grand total of cloves this time was 174!
I waited a full month later than previous years to plant because of the warmer weather. These were planted on November 7, 2010. I ended-up doing two rows and planted 162 cloves. The extras were saved for the kitchen!
I am amazed when I think back only 3 years ago when I started with 10 little cloves of this German Extra Hearty variety. With 162 planted, I should be able to sell some bulbs next season as well as save a year's supply to eat.
Looks like I got the garlic in the ground just in time! It snowed a bit the next morning...
No problem though, the snow was melted by noon and I was able to place straw over the two rows for the long winter.
I can't figure how the straw stays in place with all of the howling winter winds before the snow cover, but it stays-put!
I can relax now that the garlic is tucked-in for the winter under that protective straw blanket. I won't have anything else to do (besides occasional watering) until the first week of July when it's time to cut-off the scapes. Garlic is the easiest thing to grow!
This is a rare squash called Pipian from Tuxpan known for its unusual-looking gray & white seeds. The squash grows 4 to 6 lbs and the seeds are great for roasting.
The squash can be cut like butternut winter squash and prepared in the same way.
There's something about the sky in November that makes for great photos.
This photo looks great on my desktop! Yup, looks like winter is very near. Time to enjoy the winter squash at Thanksgiving and eagerly wait for the first seed catalogs to come in the mail.:)
