santa barbara country n news-last of the winter harvest

SANTA BARBARA COUNTRY N NEWS-LAST OF THE WINTER HARVEST
yesterday i went to my garden only for a few minutes to water in some of my newest plantings plus i had bought a purple basil to go with my greek basil and sweet basil
as i looked around my garden i looked closely at my garlic
last years crop had done poorly
then
this year i planted three different varieties
for some reason the ones i planted at one edge of the garden looks real good like the garlic i grew in texas
i cant tell if its because of the particular garlic i planted
or
if its because it gets partially shaded by the nearby fence during the day so it doesnt get sun all day
maybe it doesnt dry out as much
i also added a dripper system for my garlic and my onions to help maintain a uniform moisture level

as i looked at my garlic i realized it was ready to be harvested since a lot of it leaves had yellowed and it had developed secondary growth on a few of the garlic bulbs

so
as you can see in the picture i harvested close to 50 garlics
most were ready some were not


i have them in my garage on cardboard on the garage floor to dry out for a few weeks
then
i will hang them up by braiding them then i will snip off the bulbs when we need it

i also will pick out a few of the best ones to save for planting this winter
especially since these did the best

then
i glanced over and there was another ripe early girl tomato
so
i harvested it early hoping to leave it on the kitchen counter to finishing the ripening before some varmint eats it in the garden

as i looked around for it at lunchtime i asked my smiling my wife she have you seen my tomato
she just grinned
its in your sandwich
not the fate i planned for my tomato
but
i ate it anyway

then
i looked over at my final crop of sweet peas
if you have kids you need to grow these guys
my granddaughter ms b said yuck i dont like them and wouldnt pick them or eat them
then
the other day i caught her munching on a bunch of them right out of the garden

i must say most of the ones i grow dont ever make it out of the garden

the only thing i really have left in the garden from my winter planting are the onions who are starting to bulb up now
hopefully soon i can harvest them when the green stalks fall over
when they are harvested ill let them sit outside in the sun until they dry some then i will place them in my onion chimes like i did in texas
if i have a good harvest of them

last years were sketchy
ive noticed that the bulbs dont get as big here as in texas

we have been eating a lot of green onions lately

we have growing tomatoes several peppers kales cukes squash several pole beans and bush beans okra egg plant malibar spinach and swiss chard

my garden is full

the organicgreen doctor