Garlic Harvest

The garlic crop told me it was ready yesterday. It did so by standing up straight (the seed heads, that is). Brian took a picture of me yanking them up out of the ground.From stem to stern, the plants were about as tall as I am (5'4"). We composted the leaves and most of the seed heads, but I have two seed heads in a vase in the kitchen; maybe they will mature. I'm a scientist, so I must experiment!I like to give the garlic a week to "rest" before diving in and adding its deliciousness to, well, everything I can! The outer skin is a bit moist from being in the ground, and this helps it dry.When they are ready, I'll give the roots a trim, rub off the remaining soil, and cut down the stalks. Some of the garlic will go to good homes, like my parents'. The third one from the left is the perfect size for a pot of marinara!

The lettuce is still pick-as-you-go, and the bean plants have tiny little beans on them. There are green cherry tomatoes popping up, wee little zucchini and cucumbers, and beets poking up above the dirt. Sometimes I turn over a leaf and find a lightning bug escaping the noontime sun; other times there is an industrious column of ants, or a spider patiently biding its time until a Japanese beetle stumbles into its web (no sympathy for the Japanese beetles here!). Sparrows disappear underneath the bean plants looking for snacks, and the mockingbird flies overhead on its way to scold a stray cat too near its nest. Who said the suburbs are devoid of activity?

The Cadillac of Flower Pots

First, please let me remind you that I am a meteorologist, not an artist, so my serious lack of skills in Microsoft Paint should be grudgingly accepted by all who view this post.

I just finished watching the NHL awards to bid my favorite sport goodbye until the preseason next fall. When Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara, of the championship winning Boston Bruins, brought out the Stanley Cup, I had an instant mental image. This is the closest I could get to putting it down on "paper:"
Imagine planting this year's petunias in the Holy Grail of hockey! I mean no disrespect to this greatest of trophies...if you've read or heard any of the myriad stories of debauchery that have gone on around the Cup, even a bowl full of dirt would be cleaner than some of that stuff.

On second thought, this is the Stanley Cup. Petunias might be too common. Maybe some rare heirloom tomatoes instead...

Let the Farming Begin!

It is super hot out today - 101 Fahrenheit at last count - and our blue potatoes don't look nearly as perky as they do in this photo. Every plant will get a long, cold drink today!
The lettuces, grown from seed from Johnny's, are delicious today. All of them have a delicate taste, and the mesclun mix (the mixed green and red lettuces on the right side) was well designed. I planted extra red sails red-leaf lettuce this year (on the left side) because the marauding groundhog in my parents' yard has eaten theirs right to the ground again.One of my favorite things to grow is garlic. I buy a head of garlic from the place where we go apple picking in the fall (Ochs' Orchard in Warwick, NY) to use as seed, because it is untreated and will germinate well. Each clove in that head gets planted in the fall, and by July, each clove has become a whole new head! When the seed heads (the swirly, smooth green things in the picture) become upright, they are ready to pick.My grandpa's peonies were full of blooms this year, their second blooming season in our yard. Their smell is intoxicatingly beautiful and so alive. My dad even called the white ones prizewinners...
...like this one!