The time had comes to pull the garlic

And I’m happy to say it’s another decent harvest. At least for the regular garlic. I doesn’t look like any of the Elephant Garlic made it. It’s supposed to be MUCH bigger than the regular garlic

The biggest one I have is only slightly bigger than all the other bulbs, so I’m not 100% sure it’s Elephant garlic. Either way I got 15 bulbs (two were pulled earlier and taken to Mom’s) so it’s right on par with my usual harvest.

While I was out there, I also pulled the shallots.

They technally weren’t “done” (ie greens flopping) but some of the stems were starting to rot so I figured it was best to pull them before the rot spread and I lost too many.

Normally, shallots split into two or three separate bulbs, but this year I didn’t get any triplets, and only ended up with a handful of twins. Most of them stayed single, though they are a good size. I think the cooler spring, and up and down weather had something to do with it. This was the first year I’ve ever had to cut scapes off my shallots. In the end, I only got about 1/3 of what I got last year.

These (and the garlic) are now all laid out on the catio porch to cure for a few weeks. Along with these little guys

I bought a tray of pickling onions back when I bought the bird house gourds etc – I needed to buy 10 trays to get each for $1. Some of you may remember my pickled onion adventure from way back. We can actually by Dad’s pickled onions again, but I figured these would be fun to do up a home made jar for him. Like the shallots and garlic – these are on the porch curing. Because I’m pickling, them, they don’t really need it – but I don’t have the time to pickle them just yet – so it won’t hurt them to hang out for a bit.

And I was so excited about my tiny peppers…. only to discover this…

Three of them had these brown mushy spots. Google tells me it might be sunburn. There’s more flowers on the plants, so there’s still a chance for peppers… but I think I may need to rig up some sort of sun shade.

The hot weather has been hard on my peas too. They are still producing well, but the pods are a bit curly! They taste just fine though and I love my daily garden snack as I make my rounds.

The melons, at least, are enjoying the heat! We’ve already got blooms, so fruit shouldn’t be too far behind (though it takes almost all summer to ripen!)

And last…

It’s bean harvest time! This makes me so happy after the bean debacle of last year. And unlike previous years – I didn’t go crazy and plant up a whole 4×4 bed. These are in a large container and there’s probably five or six plants. If I’ve calculated correctly – it should be just enough to keep us in beans for fresh eating for most of the summer, without too much, if any, overflow!