The Garlic Harvest (Lessons Learned . . . I May Have Moles, But No Vampires!)

"I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall drive a stake through her body."

--Bram Stoker's Dracula

So I planted garlic cloves last year. Probably not when I was supposed to. But I know I planted them "somewhere". I pulled several (that I could find) from the ground this morning, and here they are curing in the sun. They won't be ready to use for another week or so. I have to just leave them be until they've dried out.

Note to self: This fall when you plant garlic, try not to be all willy-nilly with your garlic planting spots. Just because you're sort of a shabby chic gardener, and it's mid June, and been hotter than hell, and it's almost summer (Jesus Christ, it's not EVEN summer yet!), and you are so "over" the whole Better Homes And Gardens dream of a perfect yard, and really don't care much for "weeding" and that whole "neatness counts" and such: at least next time, MARK the spot where the garlic is planted! (Lucky for me, the poison ivy rash waits a day or two before appearing.) Imagine my horror when--after finally locating the garlic and prying it from my iris bed--the handful of three-leafed vines clumped together along with the bulbs in my hand! (If it's three, let it be. . . if you CAN, that is.) IF you plant garlic, designate a spot--NOT between the irises on that one part of the raised bed you hate to work on because it's such a mess and you just "let it go" this spring! However, it's still okay to plant the cloves in between the roses, but maybe not fifteen of them in a one foot space! Might I add, I have not seen one single Japanese Beetle on ANY of my roses.