OH, MY ACHIN’ BACK!

I planted next year’s garlic crop today. Like tomatoes and onions, garlic is one of those things I can’t get along without. We have raised garlic every year since 1978. Why should this year be any different? It was a bit more trouble than usual and took a bit longer. I couldn’t get the tiller started! Why am I surprised at that? It hasn’t been started in over a year! Rather than tinker with it, I decided to prepare the soil the low tech way—spading fork and rake. So the first part of the process involved spreading manure on the plot of ground. Thankfully we were never particularly good about cleaning out the barn so I have a barn full of well composted goat manure. We closed the dairy and got rid of the goats in 1994 and still have a lifetime supply of manure! So, I spread about 6 buckets of manure on the bed. Then turned the soil and broke it up with the spading fork.

Breaking up the rest of the clods and smoothing the surface with a rake is the next step.

Finally, commit the seed to the ground.

Next spring, I’ll top-dress with more manure. Then, I’ll dig the crop the first week of July.