Normally, the garlic goes to ground in October. We took a vacation instead. (We will host 6 additional ducks over winter for the same reason.) I worked at clearing the garden of dead plants/weeds for several days. Okay, so I’m old and slow and my knees can only take so much digging. I finally got enough space turned over and raked to plant our usual 200 cloves yesterday. We should still have enough warmth to sprout them before they go into a deep sleep.

I used a broken shovel handle to poke holes for the cloves. Four varieties. 50 cloves each. We’ve kept these strains going for about 20 years and three cross-country moves. Two hard-neck and two soft-neck varieties. The hard-necks have larger cloves that are easier to peel. The soft-necks save longer. They are the garlic we eat until the new harvest comes in July.

I used a hoe handle to keep my rows straight(er). It makes them easier to weed! Given our experience from this past year, we will have a lot of weeding to do. The purslane may be edible, but it’s not my favorite. It steals nutrients and light from whatever I’m trying to grow.

I used the back of a rake to smooth dirt over my planted cloves. The planting process, including separating the cloves from bulbs, took about 4 hours of work. I’ll cover the garlic with straw before brutal cold comes.

Michael joined me after a while and cleared out the popcorn stalks. That lovely green stuff in the foreground is collards. They are frost hardy, as are the last of my leeks. Leek and cabbage gratin…a fall delight! I hope to experiment with stuffed collard leaves. A good source of iron and calcium, and tasty!

I espied a stand of shaggy manes while running errands in town. I screeched to a stop, gathered them in one of paper bags we keep in our car for just such an occasion, and sped off. They made lovely omelettes.