Borage
Rainy Day
Borage
Category: Summer
Borage
Garlic Harvest
Today I pulled all of my garlic. I had a bunch of softnecks but the heads seem smaller than last year. I had planted about 30 cloves in the fall and maybe harvested about 20 heads, so I will plant seed garlic again this fall and not seed from my own garlic stock. I got some very nice big hardneck volunteers from three heads that I had left in the ground by accident last year. They are currently spread to dry and I will gently brush off the dirt after a day or so and hang them to ventilate for a couple of weeks. For the hardnecks, I will cut off the stem and store them in an open ceramic crock or basket in the pantry. For the softnecks I will attempt a braid again.
Today, I also harvested carrots and Swiss chard and pulled the last of my lettuce, cleaned and weeded the plot and sowed more kale, golden beets and bok choy.
Nice big hardnecks right after harvest (Red Russian).
Softnecks right after harvest (Transylvania)
Mid-Summer Harvest
Some of the last lettuce from the garden. It will go in a side salad tonight with radishes, cucumbers and carrots and a creamy cilantro dressing.
Garden Pizza
Pizza last night with all toppings form the garden (except the cheese of course). I made a garlic scape pesto (with scapes and basil from my garden) and topped it with fresh kale from the garden (chopped and briefly massaged with a bit of olive oil and salt), fresh mozzarella slices and shredded cheese. Yum!
I only have a limited amount of scapes this year as I primarily planted soft-necks. In fact, all the scapes are from hard-neck volunteers that I left in the ground last year.
Garlic scapes right before harvesting about two weeks ago (I kept them in the fridge until now and they were fine).
Garlic scape pesto.
Just before going in the oven.
Stock-Taking
This morning, after I watered my garden and locked the garden gate, I ran into a neighbor who asked me what I was growing in my plot. He also has a community plot nearby and mainly grows tomatoes and flowers. Time to take stock. Currently growing in my garden are: garlic, potatoes, leeks, carrots, beets, tomatoes, basil, cucumber, eggplant, butternut squash (I saw a tiny plant poking its first leaves out this morning, yeah!), Brussels sprouts, hot peppers, Swiss Chard, lettuce, kale (tiny seedlings are appearing), mixed greens (freshly sowed and just sprouting), radishes (just sprouting), pole beans, bush beans, peas, parsley, sage. Also dahlias, nasturtiums and borage. And mint and lemon balm, which keep creeping up in some spots. This morning I harvested garlic scapes, two big heads of lettuce and a lot of peas. I am done harvesting the first round of radishes and the rhubarb. When I looked at my plot while watering, not all that much seemed to be going on in my plot, but going through that list of plants makes me think otherwise.
Volunteers
Volunteer fingerling potatoes
I must have left some potatoes in the ground last year and I found three potato plants that came up this spring. Those were super early, earlier than the ones I planted intentionally, which still have green foliage. I usually pull volunteer crops but left these and harvested some super delicious fingerlings yesterday.
Late August Mini Garden Bouquet
Today’s mini garden bouquet: dahlia, Thai basil and asparagus
I usually have one Thai basil plant in the garden plot. I love the fragrance of it. It will be used to garnish a Pad Thai I plan to make in a couple of days. I also harvested a few more cucumbers, kale and parsley.
Mid-August
Garden plot “bouquet”: dahlia, mint, asparagus and yarrow.Last night while watering my garden, I took stock of what is going on right now. I have a couple of tomato plants that are not producing as heavily as I would want them to and one cucumber plant which has given and is giving me plenty of delicious cucumbers. I also harvested a bunch of beets, kale and parsley, and a small bouquet of flowers and herbs.
The radishes, carrots, lettuce and bok choi I planted a few weeks ago are coming along nicely. I had also planted pole beans earlier (my second batch and a little late this season because the first batch of seeds went right to the birds apparently) and they are looking alright. The leeks are looking good as well and the potato foliage is starting to yellow.
Garlic
Two weeks ago, I harvested most of my garlic. I had planted a ton of softneck garlic last fall, but I realized in the course of the spring and summer, that I had a few hardneck volunteers popping up in clusters all over my garden. Those came from plants that I had forgotten to harvest last year or where the stalk had broken off and I had not dug up the bulbs. They produced several small heads very close to each other as they all came from the same garlic head. 
Garlic right after harvest
For curing, I normally spread the garlic in a single layer in the sun for a couple of hours, just to dry off the dirt. I then gently rub off the dirt, leaving the skin intact and hang the garlic to dry in a ventilated place. A cool place would be ideal, but that is really an illusion for the humid, hot summers here in the Northeast.
Dried and cleaned
I found that our back hallway is a fine place, especially in the cool summer mornings and evenings. The hallway connects the kitchen with the back porch and we usually leave it open, even during the night. I leave the garlic there to dry until the leaves and stalks are very papery, about two to three weeks. Then, for hardnecks, I cut off the stalks and store them in a basket in the pantry. This is my first year growing softnecks and my first attempt at braiding garlic (see above).
Space-saving drying places -1
Space-saving drying places -2
Late July
I spent several hours on this cool cloudy summer day weeding, harvesting and planting. I pulled all remaining carrots (a total of 2.5 pounds), a couple of large cucumbers and some beets. Also parsley. The plan is to turn the carrots and parsley into a Moroccan carrot salad (I always cook the carrots). The beets will be roasted and either go in a salad or will top some fresh bread with goat cheese. I also pulled the last garlic and sowed radishes, carrots, bok choi and lettuces.