Planting garlic

I have planted my garlic at last. I have been trying to get it in for a few weeks but it kept raining. During my five week break I only had a few days when i could get out into the vegetable garden. I concentrated on weeding.

I have been back at work two weeks already! Last Saturday was warm and sunny and I could - should - have gardened. But it was such a nice day!  I voted for a last kayak as I knew we'd have to put the boats away for winter after that.

So today was the day for the garlic.

First I emptied my two compost bins.  All that lovely goodness that used to be kitty litter (rice bran), wood ash, food scraps, chicken and horse poo, leaves and more had turned into lovely dark soil.   I sprinkled the beds with a handful or two of blood and bone then every garden bed got at least half a wheelbarrow of compost. The beds with a lower soil level got a little more. The everything got a layer of lucerne mulch.

 The garlic I ordered from the Diggers Club has taken up two beds - no problem as there isn't that much to grow over winter anyway.

I got all new varieties this year. In fact its probably three years since I planted any garlic.

I am growing the following:

Fino de Chincko (harvest Oct - Nov)
Argentine Purple Stripe (harvest Oct - Nov)
Russian (harvest Oct - Nov)
Rose du Var organic (harvest Nov-Dec)

 I need to thin out some kale that has self seeded and plant brassicas and greens. Then there's a wild and wooly area of the veg garden where there aren't any beds - I need to weed (de-grass) and mulch to lay dormant until spring when planting season goes mad again.

I am going to leave you with an image of my neighbour's cows who I upset very much when I spread the lucerne over my garden beds. I was tempted but I didn't give them any.