Daily Improvisations

  • Inside the Homestead
    • Sewing
    • crochet and knit
    • Playing House
    • In the Workshop
    • Cooking and Food
    • Helpless Female
  • Out in the Garden
    • In My Greenhouse
    • Gardening in Southwest Idaho
    • Straw Bale Garden Project
  • Out with Animals
    • Chickens
    • Goats
    • Horses
  • Around the Globe
    • Adventures with Wild Greg
    • Chocolate Shops Around the World
    • Life in Taipei
    • About Town
      • My Blogs
  • The DI Store
    • Custom designs
    • My Books
  • DI Memberships
    • Log In
    • Sign up to be a DI Sewing Room Insider
    • Dream House Members Area
      • Dream House Eyewitness Login
      • Your Account
      • Dream House Project
    • Become a Dream House Eyewitness!

Tales of Tenacious Garlic in the Garden

November 3, 2012 by Laura Blodgett 2 Comments

this year, the garlic is strewn with old watermelon vines and dead lettuce stalks
this year, the garlic is strewn with old watermelon vines and dead lettuce stalks

One year, I had to leave my garlic and move to Taiwan for a while.  It was not just my garlic that I left behind, but a whole garden approaching full harvest in early August of 2008.  With a lump in my chest, but an eye on adventure, I left, hoping the harvest would be enjoyed by others.

For some reason, among all the vegetables, the garlic was neglected.  It was left to multiply, resulting in crowding bulbs that got smaller and smaller.  After almost a year, when I returned home in late March of 2009, it looked like thick clumps of grass above the dirt.  When I dug, I only found tiny cloves, not even formed into bulbs anymore.  Since my daily schedule still involved a lot of adjustments from global galavanting, I decided to let them grow until fall garlic planting time.

Unwilling to give up on my garlic, I transplanted it for three years without good results.  It seemed to be having a hard time recovering from the shock of over crowding.  It stayed small and didn’t form nice looking bulbs.  I’m not all about looks, but it is frustrating to have to cut up several miniature cloves to replace one in a recipe.  Plus, the flavor seemed to be suffering, too.

Then this year, after it escaped from the lettuce, the garlic blades began to look robust again.  I dug some up and found that some of the cloves were larger.  Call me stubborn, but I decided to transplant it one more time!  Besides, the garlic that I had purchased for next year’s crop hadn’t divided as far as I had estimated.  There was plenty of room in the bed still.

I extended the new garlic rows by digging a trench about 4 inches deep.  The tenacious garlic came out of the ground with not too much effort, as I tried to leave the roots unmolested.  I would have left dirt on, but I did want to divide the cloves and the dirt wasn’t sticking much anyway.  Planting depth was easy to judge with the  green already growing.

transplanting garlic in the garden even though it already has fall growth
transplanting garlic in the garden even though it already has fall growth
hopefuls for next year's garden's garlic is in the trench
hopefuls for next year’s garden’s garlic is in the trench

Once the newest transplants were completely in place, all the plants looked the same.  The bamboo stakes near the middle of the raised bed are markers.  The newly purchased garlic was planted at the top of the photo.  The garlic that I haven’t yet given up on is in the bottom half of the photo.  It will be interesting to see if I can tell the difference next summer, when I harvest garlic again.

garlic from the garden nursery versus garlic that was previously neglected
garlic from the garden nursery versus garlic that was previously neglected

Filed Under: Gardening in Southwest Idaho, Inside the Homestead Tagged With: southwest Idaho gardening

If you want to read a heartwarming story about how a mother deals with a daughter's death, read this book.

If you have ever wanted to cook pizza in a brick oven in your own backyard, this book is for you!

Basic Facts Guides to Gardening in Southwest Idaho

a list of blog articles covering the basics to help you with your garden in southwest Idaho

My Other Blogs

  • Fun Fitness After 50
  • Fun Learning Chinese
  • LauraBlodgett.com
  • The Happy Homeschool

Blogroll

  • Anemone Flynn
  • Fine Gardening
  • Gourmet In The Field
  • Sew 4 Home

About me

 

 

Daily Improvisations is a project by Laura Blodgett

If you want to know more about what I’m up to and where to read about it, here is a summary!

Making sure you know that:

Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, including affiliate links to amazon.com. See disclosures here.

Contact Me

Contact Me
First

All pictures and content including the name and logo “Daily Improvisations” are Copyright (c) 2019 by Laura Blodgett, unless otherwise noted. Please contact the author with any questions or comments.

Tags

animals Backyard Oven backyard weeds book reviews Chef Betharoni chickens Cori Lou Costa Rica crochet and knit decorating even I can do dehydrating fabric stores around the world flowers flowers from seed Gardens Around the Globe helpless female homestead injuries insects interview Maui music organizing poems PVC Pipe Projects questioning the establishment recipes restaurant reviews sew sewing southwest Idaho gardening sprinklers stock market diaries Taipei Taiwan technology know-how The Best Little Chocolate Shops tools and equipment underground house unimpeded parenting Wild Greg Adventure

Copyright © 2023 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in