Tuesday, August 08, 2006

arthurs garlic

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Some days my chores are centered around the weather.  I have been waiting for a good drying day to yank the garlic.  Good drying days are for many things...bed linens...fleece...dye baths...but today it was for the garlic.
 
I planted this garlic last October.  Arthur gave it to me.  Arthur comes by for eggs, and one time he brought me a bouquet of garlic heads and told me how and when to plant them.  He told me that garlic never likes to be planted in the same spot twice.  Arthur did not know the name of this variety of garlic.  I do know that it is a hard neck variety.
 
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I yanked the garlic on a good drying day because I like to hose my garlic down.  This is contrary to what is recommended, but I found that I have better results if I just hose it off.  Besides, it looks more respectable that way. 
 
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I let it cure with the stalks on it. I let it dry out of the sun...and then it is put in a large open basket that lets the air circulate around the heads.  I keep it near the porch, so I can bring it in the mud room if it looks like rain....this always brings complaints about the odor..."smells like a deli in here!"
 
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I noticed that my columbine plants have a leafminer again.
I have never seen what the fly looks like, but here are the winding tracks that the larvae leave behind...I believe they are of the serpentine variety.  I have read that all leafminers have complete metamorphosis....with their entire life cycle completed within 28 days or sooner.  Some leafminers are host specific.
 
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Anyone know who this little guy could be??  He landed on my hand whilst I was doing another drying day chore.....I'm thinking he may be a yellow midge from the river.  There is still so much to learn about hatches....

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like you got a really nice batch of garlic there. When I get the garden set up for next year, garlic is one of the things I will be planting.

Cute buggie, dont know what kind, but he is pretty.

Judy said...

I went into the garden and found more broccoli, the first peppers and yellow pear tomatoes, more zucchini and yellow squash and we dug the first potatoes. We need to dig them now as the mole is getting into them. Tomorrow we will need to do pickles and pick blackberries to freeze and do later. Seeing your pic reminds me I have garlic in there also...I should check on that tomorrow!

judy said...

Beautiful garlic. My garden has had it's worst year. I didn't even get lettuce. The beans are few, This will be the year we clean out the freezer.

Anonymous said...

What beautiful garlic you've grown. I haven't had a place to grow garlic in a very long time. I remember I braided mine and it was such a big deal. You have an excellent leafminer photo! It's near impossible to keep them away from the columbine--they are the pathmakers.

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