Category Archives: garlic

Peak Color and the Garlic is Planted

Chickens, Fall, garlic, Planting Garlic, Reflections

It was Thursday, October 16, in the afternoon that we headed to the farm to plant the garlic. This was our best chance to get it planted since there was rain in the forecast for Friday and the weekend.

Despite having some frosty mornings this week our roses were still flowering.

This one had me confused as it was growing up through one of the hibiscus bushes. I had to take a close look to see what kind of blossoms they were. It is indeed a rose pretending to be a hibiscus. LOL!

Our pond is very low – the lowest we have seen it since it filled up in 2013.

Any rain that we get is very much needed and will be greatly appreciated.

I suspect that the fall colors were at peak, since the rain will likely bring down many of the leaves.

Some trees had already lost many of their leaves.

While others were putting on a grand display.

I spotted this apple that had dropped into the crotch in the tree and was being eaten by several types of bugs – yellow jackets, hornets, beetles, and flies all sharing the same fruit.

The sky was deep blue with fluffy clouds as my husband worked the soil where we would plant the garlic.

Rex (our rooster) and company showed up to help.

We set out our planting grid and it seemed in no time we had the garlic planted. 2 2/3 rows this size (338 bulbs). Less than last year but still enough for us and to share with family and friends. Our 2026 gardening season has begun.

Thanks for visiting.

Are you experiencing fall colors in part of the world?

Tuesday Morning at the Farm

Bees, garlic, Reflections, Ruby, Sunflowers, The Farm

It was a cool, crisp, fall-like morning despite being late August.

I visited the gardens and took a few pictures before getting started on my task for the morning.

The bees were all over the sunflowers.

This bird was perched on a goldenrod in the back field.

The above picture was my workstation for the morning.

These are the tools I used.

Cleaning the garlic was my task.

The sights, the sounds, the whole atmosphere was beautiful.

The sky was deep blue with fluffy clouds drifting by.

I couldn’t have asked for better working conditions.

Ruby stopped by to remind me to take time out to play.

It took about 75 minutes to clean that bucket full of garlic, including tossing the ball a couple times for Ruby. (I neglected to take a picture of the clean bulbs.) Conditions were equally as pleasant this afternoon when I finished cleaning the second bucket full of garlic. What a relief it is to have that job finished.

I am still canning tomatoes (31 quarts so far), dehydrating eggplant and freezing peppers. We have been so blessed with a bountiful harvest this year.

Thanks for visiting.

Garden Goodness

Apple Trees, Apples, Bees, Fermenting, Flowers, garden, garlic, Hibiscus, Peach Tree, Pollinators, Reflections, Sauerkraut, Sunflowers, The Farm, Tomatoes, , , ,

Hello and welcome. Despite having very dry weather, and doing our best to keep things watered, our gardens have flourished.

Blooming Beauties

Right now our hibiscus bushes are the star of the show.

Their large, showy flowers are stunning.

I don’t like to play favorites, but if I had to pick a favorite flower, it would probably be the hibiscus.

This hibiscus that I planted three years ago on my mom’s birthday was just beginning to open on Sunday, August 10, which would have been my mom’s 80th birthday.

Today it was in full bloom. 🙂

Several weeks ago we decided that we needed to rework the memorial garden the we planted this spring. This garden memorializes our parents who have all passed away. The beautiful lupine plants that were planted on either side of the rock were struggling, apparently not getting enough sun. My husband dug them up and planted them in the very sunny prayer garden and they have since developed new growth.

On Saturday, August 9, I visited my sister who wanted to thin her flower beds. My husband and I decided the shade loving hostas would do well in the memorial garden. My sister had just what we were looking for. She was very generous, selecting the large beautiful plants, instead of the ones the deer had eaten. The two light green hostas were one that my husband split before planting. I also brought home a lungwort plant that my husband split and planted (the dark green wilted plants). It looks sad after being transplanted but I read that it will develop new growth and should be fine.

Veggies

Our garden situation is changing daily and some of these photos are about two weeks old. I’ve just fallen behind in my blogging.

The honeybees that moved into our empty hive seem to be doing well.

Bees love squash and pumpkin blossoms.

And this is what can happen when a pumpkin or squash blossom is pollinated. 🙂

A basket of fresh garden goodness. My husband has been bringing home this basket full of veggies every day.

Eggplant, sweet corn, beets, green beans, tomatoes, banana peppers and cucumber were the haul on that day. Many of these vegetables are being eaten fresh. Others are being canned or frozen.

I made four pints of dill relish last week.

On Wednesday my husband and I made a trip to the orchard so I could can some peaches. On Thursday I canned 23 pints of peaches and had a dozen left over for eating fresh. Sunday, I made peach cobbler with five of the fresh ones.

One of our peach trees produced two peaches.

One for my husband and one for me. They were perfectly ripe when I picked them yesterday and so delicious. The orchard peaches, that were picked before they were ripe, were not as sweet as these.

They are not ready yet, but it looks like we will have a great apple crop.

The other thing the bees are enjoying right now are the sunflowers.

But who doesn’t love sunflowers.

This week’s projects include canning tomato juice (I did 6 quarts yesterday), making sauerkraut (I started it fermenting today), and cleaning garlic (tomorrow or Thursday).

Thanks for visiting.

Our Garden Dinner

garden, garlic, Green Beans, potatoes, Reflections, Swiss Chard

Thursday we decided to grill up a steak for dinner. It would be delicious with some fresh-from-the-garden veggies.

So we dug up some potatoes.

We picked some Swiss chard. (We like to pick it when it is young and tender.)

And we picked green beans.

I sauteed the Swiss chard in olive oil with minced (freshly dug) garlic. I boiled the potatoes and steamed the green beans, and both were topped with garlic butter.

It was a delicious meal. Such a blessing!

Do you have a favorite fresh-from-the -garden dish?

Thanks for visiting.

As May Comes to a Close

Chives, Forsythia, garden, garlic, Lilacs, Peach Tree, Reflections, Strawberries, The Farm

Hello and welcome.

As May comes to a close,

the garden is planted,

the garlic is doing well,

as is the strawberry patch. There are a lot of blossoms, some beginning to turn into berries. We should have strawberries in a week or two. YUM!

The salvia is blossoming,

as is the thyme,

and the chives. Did you know chive blossoms are edible? Learn more here.

The peach trees have many small peaches. too many for this young tree to support. I read that the fruit should be thinned, leaving only one peach every 6 to 8 inches. This will be done soon.

I spent some time over the last two days pruning some of our forsythia and lilac bushes. When we planted the peach trees we put them on the berm where the lilacs and forsythia are. We wanted them on higher ground since the last few years had been extremely wet and we didn’t want them to drown.

I pruned down the lilacs and forsythia that are near the peach trees so the trees will have enough air flow and sunlight.

With hot weather in the forecast early this week we will need to get the pump in the pond so that we are ready to water to gardens if we don’t get enough rain. My husband claims it is my turn to put the pump in the pond so I’ll be sure to take some pictures so I can show you how we use pond water to irrigate our crops.

Thanks for visiting and Happy June. 😀