Garlic Harvest & Creating Support

It's been a while since I gave you an update on the state of our garden. So here is where the garden was exactly one week ago. Honestly, at this point I had done little besides water it a few times and harvest some greens. But it was starting to get unruly and I was feeling bad about all the neglect.

First up: staked the tomato plants, which were starting to creep along the floor of the bed. Clearly this was an over due task, but better late than never! I bought a package of 6 stakes for $6.99 at the local hardware store - since I happen to have 6 tomato plants I took this as a sign from the universe that I was making the right choice in my method of support. I took advice from the University of Maine on this method and I'm excited to see how it goes.

Last year I caged the plants but  eventually they out grew the cages and the weight of the plants made them topple over. Husband built an ad-hoc support/brace for the cages to deal with the problem but that eventually required the support gardening tape to tie them off. Basically it was a mess.

Next up, I caged the bell peppers and the jalapenos. I am happy to report that I actually managed to get cages around the peppers before they were too big to actually cage. This is the definition of success I'm working with. 

Next up, havest the garlic! Garlic is ready to be harvested when the tips go yellow. I recommend heading over to A Way To Garden for all sorts of helpful information about caring for your veggies. I love her site!!

 This was the best smelling chore I've ever had!

After I pulled out all of the heads of garlic, I hung them in garage where they will dry for the next several weeks. In total, we have 13 heads of garlic drying out in the garage. 

Last but not least I awkwardly added last years cucumber trellis back to the bed. Again, I should have done this earlier in the year but too bad so sad, I didn't. They will figure out how to climb up it eventually. 

I wish I could say the neglect our yard has suffered has all been brought back to pace with this recent work, but there is always more to be done. I'd like to figure out a way to grow the squash vertically, I never planted the cantelope. (Next Year?) The yard hasn't been mowed in weeks, weeds have taken over every bed in the yard and as you can tell from the photo below white clover has taken over our lawn. Ah, well! It's summer! I'll take any reason I can to be out doors.