Growing New Things and A Garden Craft

This has been a year of all kinds of gardening firsts.  I planted carrots and leeks.  As you can see, the carrots turned out well and I'm still waiting on the leeks.

I also added a new variety of potatoes

and am patiently waiting to see how these sweet potatoes turn out.

In addition to my beloved Cherokee Purples, I'm trying some new heirloom tomatoes this year too.  And how about this squash?  I have no idea what a Hubbard squash is going to taste like, but I'm excited to find out.  Each year I get more and more adventurous with my gardening and have a hard time passing up new and interesting plants.  As soon as I harvest one thing, I'm already thinking about what I can put in it's place.

But of all the "newbies", the one  I'm most excited about is my garlic.  I use lots of fresh garlic when I cook, so it was natural for me to begin thinking about growing some myself.  I had read articles about how easy it is to grow, but didn't know anyone who had actually tried it out. With a "what's the worst thing that could happen?" attitude, I just stuck some in the ground in the fall and lo and behold, it grew!  I just love food experiments, don't you?  

I bought a big head of garlic last October and separated all the cloves.  I planted them in a raised bed about 4" deep and 8" apart, with the pointed ends up.  Then I pretty much just forgot about them.  They grew through the winter and although I was dying to see what was going on under the ground, I waited until the end of June to start digging around to see if they were ready.  When the tops of the leaves started turning yellow, I figured it was time to dig them up.  What a fun surprise it was each time I pulled a head out of the ground.

Some of the heads were larger than others and I had a few that weren't shaped quite like what you would see in the grocery store, but it all tastes like garlic.

After harvesting, I spread them out to dry in my garage, and left them there for about a week and a half.   I bet I had the best smelling garage in the neighborhood(well, if you like the smell of garlic, that is).Once they were cured, I was ready to try a little craft project I had seen in a magazine.  Actually, I was ready to have someone else do this little craft project for me, because anything with the word "craft" in it, tends to send me into a panic attack.  I'm just not good with crafts, although I would like to be.  But Kenzie got some "arts and crafts" genes from somewhere in the family line and I knew she would be the perfect person to help out.  With a little coaxing from me about how fun it would be to have a mother-daughter activity, she relented and braided my garlic.

After brushing as much dirt off as I could ( my contribution to the craft project), I handed them to her and she cut off the roots.

We chose the prettiest heads to braid and started with three tied together with a twist tie.

Then she began braiding, adding new heads in as she went.  It looked a lot like French braiding to me. 

My job was to offer plenty of moral support, help her place the heads just right and of course take the pictures. After suggesting that she might take one off and move it over so it would look prettier, I began to sense some bad vibes coming my way, and decided to just be quiet and take pictures. 

Oh, but she did such a good job, don't you think?  When it was all finished, I was so pleased, I grabbed her and we did a little happy dance right there in the kitchen.  Too bad I don't have a picture of that!  

I love the way it looks hanging by my stove.  I'm not sure I'm going to want to cut into it though.

I think it turned out to be a great mother- daughter activity.  I grew the garlic, and she braided it.  And  we'll both enjoy tasting it this winter in soups and pasta.  Thanks, Kenzie girl.  You're the best!