Saturday was a beautiful day, so Hubby and I worked outside for several hours. Hubby cleaned out the garden beds, removing the dead plants and debris and pulling out the supports. He then used a shovel to turn over the soil, and raked the surface smooth. As smooth as the clay-heavy dirt could get, at least.
While he was working, I picked the last of the pole beans. Then I snipped off spent zinnia heads for seed saving. And after doing that, I planted garlic.
After this year's garlic harvest I saved about a dozen of the best, biggest bulbs for planting. Desiring a larger harvest next year, I also ordered a few pounds of seed garlic from Big Stone Garlic. Big Stone County is my old stomping ground, so it felt good to order from them.
Their tag says 'premium garlic', and they're not wrong! Look at the difference between my own bulbs and those from BSG. I ended up planting two-and-a-half beds of garlic, about twice as last year.
Garlic is super easy to grow. Plant in the fall, mulch, and watch for the green shoots to come up in the spring. When you see shoots pull back the mulch for a few weeks to help warm the soil, then put it back for weed control. Harvest in early August. No need to worry about bunnies, deer or insects. No diseases either. Garlic is about as fire-and-forget as a vegetable can get.
I also pulled the last of the onions, except for a dozen or so Red Wethersfield that I'm letting stay in the ground. Assuming they don't die over the winter, next spring they should grow and flower, producing seed in late summer. I added a layer of mulch on the onions as well, as extra insurance.
All the garden beds have now been put to bed. There's still plenty of outdoor work to do this fall, but at least this task is done. The soil can rest under a blanket of snow throughout winter, and wake up fresh and ready in the spring.
In a month or so the first seed catalogs will come in the mail, and the planning process for next year's garden will begin. I can't wait!
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