What's Growin' On: 5/24/06

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Garlic At Rest (Sounds Like The Name Of A Painting)

Realization Of The Day:
I guess I waited too long to weed out the garlic bed. The weeds were easy to pull, and I used a gentle hand, but they were tall, and apparently the garlic was used to leaning against them because the day after I weeded the bed it all laid down. It has now been several days, and as you can see, the garlic shows no signs of standing back up. Never had this happen before.

5/25/06 Realization Update:
I've been thinking about this (because I've never know garlic to "lean" against other plants for support), and I've come up with a more logical explanation--the damage was done underground. The weeds were so big and healthy (growing in all that nice sheep manure) that their root systems were intertwined with those of the garlic. Even though I did it gently, when I pulled up the weeds, the shallow and delicate garlic roots were disturbed, and the plants were literally knocked down. That makes more sense. It's still a bummer, but it was a good lesson. (And so far the garlic hasn't died--just keeled over.)

Minding The Moonsigns:
Still frantically transplanting seedlings into the garden? Tomorrow and Friday, May 25th and 26th, are fertile days in the fourth quarter. Absolutely great days to plant according to some people, not so great according to others--but not the worst by far. At this point (at least in my climate, which goes from spring to summer overnight), the most important thing is simply to get those plants into the ground--no matter when you have to do it.

Miscellaneous:
--Temperatures predicted in the upper 80s and low 90s with high humidity for the next five days. Time to harvest all the lettuce and stick it in a cooler with ice! (This happens every year.) It'll last a few days, and it's better than having it all turn inedibly bitter. That is just sad. All in all, I've had a really good run with the lettuce this year and am very happy. And to tell you the truth, I'm starting to get just the tiniest bit tired of enormous salads every night. But that is what seasonal eating is all about--you gorge yourself on each ripe thing until you've had so much you don't even want to think about eating it again until next year. Works for me!

Note: I know I have several recent questions to answer (about my raised beds, tomato cages, etc.), but a loud thunderstorm is heading right this way, and the power is already flicking on and off. Think I may have to shut things down on the computer for the night. Need to go tuck in the sheep before they get soaked. Thanks for your patience.