When I adopted the garden, I dreamed of growing food. I had little illusion, I’d get anything done this year. But I did! I prepared the first bed, and got to planting. For now, I’ve planted some garlic, some onions, and a whole lot of alfalfa.

I left the house way too early in the morning to pick up two bales of straw. I’d gotten them to overwinter some gifted strawberry plants. But then I forgot about those plants (not for the first time, nor the last…), and used the straw to prep beds.

Hopefully, I won’t forget the strawberries again… If you haven’t noticed yet: I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m failing and learning, again and again.

I just put in the alfalfa seeds. It’s just some sprouting ones that I had left over that are probably not even going to sprout but I just threw them on. The bag wasn’t working properly and everything spilled everywhere but there’s alfalfa on one of the patches now.

I also prepared, well, kinda prepared a little, the area where I’ll be planting next time I come here. I added straw all over it. I have no idea if this is going to work.

It’s just the first one I’m doing and some of the straw is going to fly all over. It’s VERY windy. But it’s supposed to rain later, so I hope that will get the straw a little more attached to the soil. Anyway, no idea if any of this is usable.

There are a lot of things I want to get done before it gets really, really cold, but none of them really are urgent or have any kind of deadline.

The only thing that has any kind of deadline right now is planting my garlic and my onions. So, that’s what we are going to do today. Let’s get some things into the ground. Let’s plant some garlic and some onions.

But first, I quickly had to make good on a promise. I’d told my husband I’d bring home a bucket with a hole in the lid. So, I figured out how to saw plastic. I made sure I wouldn’t forget it. Out of sight, out of mind, and all that.

And then it was finally time for planting, or rather: more preparations. My fingers are still one of my weakest parts (working on it), so this was a struggle.

Pepper was kind enough to, once again, share his blanket with me. He got this as a gift from a garden neighbor. We’ve both been using it a lot.

I’m going to be planting two kinds of garlic this year. One is a Messidrome which are these large white cloves. The other one is a Germidour which are slightly pink hued.

I have some where the skin is exposed. I’ve decided to plant most of them anyway.

But if I’ve actually broken a clove, then I put them in the dinner pile, and become part of regular cooking garlic.

“That’s rotten….”

Apparently, there’s a chance, that those will rot because of the exposed skin. That papery skin is supposed to protect them. But it’s still better than no chance, so I’m still going to put most of them in and give them a chance to grow.

“Rotten…”

(loud engine noise in background)

It’s a European variety that’s supposed to be good for overwintering. Indeed, they do need a frost–What’s going on?
(more loud revving in the background)
And people wonder why I wear headphones so much…

First, I planted the Messidrome garlic.

I borrowed Pepper’s blanket because the ground was still very wet from the storms.

I’d seen other use a stick to make holes. It didn’t work very well at all. Planting all those cloves would have taken forever like this. Luckily, I had taken this tiny tool from my balcony. It was small but still so much better.

Shortly after, the former owners of this plot came by to chill in their porch swing. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you more about this second plot soon when it’s fully transition to me.

They watched Pepper while I planted, planted, and planted. Two rows of Messidrome garlic, two rows of onions, and two rows of the Germidour garlic.

The sun was getting lower and lower in the sky. The neighbors left. And I still planted.

“Pepper, move. Move.”

This meant, I had to be the one to watch Pepper again, as this plot only has a fence on three sides. But in the end, everything was planted.

I headed home, and started dinner. Of course, I’d be using the damaged cloves.

With knife skills even worse than usual because my fingers were sore from planting, I chopped the garlic. I cut myself again. I really need to get some calluses. Maybe, I should start rock climbing again…

Dinner was a simple one. I sauteed the garlic, onions, and the last of the season’s tomatoes in some butter.

I added some creamy fresh cheese I’d made the day before. I stirred in some milk until I liked the consistency. I let the cheese melt a bit into the sauce. And then, I just served that with some pasta. Simple and fast but filling.

I can’t wait to cook with the garlic I just planted. It’ll be “my” garlic then, something special.

So long, and thanks for being here.