Sometimes garden orphans become the best garden surprises. Last year, Robyn gave me some of her extra bulbs. Knowing nothing about garlic, I followed her planting instructions, covered the bed with an extra thick layer of mulch and waited for spring.

Bright green and vigorous, they were one of the first plants to sprout. I only expected one to two to survive, but by the beginning of June, I had two vigorous rows of mysterious and delicious scapes. Around the 4th of July, the garlic started to brown and wilt around the edges.

Robyn suggested I wait until the end of the month to harvest, but this weekend, I simply ran out of patience and ran to the back yard, spade in hand. Here are some of the beauties once buried beneath the soil.

Saturday night, we threw a couple bulbs right on the grill. The aroma was heavenly and the taste… um… if I were cartoon character, little hearts would be floating out of my head.

Garlic, my delicious and smelly friend, how could I ever garden without you?

My garlic harvest had only one teeny tiny drawback. It shared a bed with my greens, carrots and cilantro. With only a few carrots, kale and some bolted cilantro, this part of the garden is now embarrassingly bare. Should I let the land rest or can I still plant something this late in the season? Beets? More carrots? Do you have any fun ideas for these empty spaces?

This entry was posted on Monday, July 16th, 2007 at 11:22 am and is filed under Garlic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.