I have planted the garlic in the garden and I find this Very exciting! Four different varieties and since I have only cooked with store bought garlic in the past, this should be quite the experience. Yes, I will have to wait until July to harvest but that’s ok I can keep busy.
not so straight, but that’s ok
I planted the cloves 6″ apart, 2″ deep and the rows are about a foot apart. The hardneck garlic is a bigger clove and there are less of them to a bulb. The softneck garlics have more cloves per bulb but are smaller and they are the garlic with the longer shelf life….most certainly, the type we buy at the grocery store.
I covered the garlic with soil and a layer of compost and will also layer with 2-6″ of shredded leaves once they fall. I harvested the last of the beets this week and found an excellent recipe. Now I realize not all folks like beets, but I love them and I am the only one in the household who does … so lots of beets for me! The recipe calls for 2 lbs of beets –
Wash the dirt off the beets and cover with boiling water, cook until tender (30-60 mins. depending on the size of the beet). Cool and remove the skin and stems and reserve 1 cup of the beet liquid (the water the beets were cooked in). The recipe calls for 1/2 cup but there wasn’t enough liquid to cover the beets in the jar. Cut up the beets and add to empty quart canning jar. Then boil the following ingredients and pour over the beets – 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 3 tblspns of sugar, 1 garlic clove, 1/2 teas. salt, 3 peppercorns and 1/4 bay leaf and the saved beet liquid. The additional liquid may water down the flavor so more vinegar may be needed as well. Put on the lid, let cool and refrigerate. I figure these will be gone in about a week so no need to can them up for a longer period. For all you beet lovers….they are SO good! My helper Frankie was watching and waiting for one of those beets to bounce to the ground……no such luck Puppy Dog***
If you add horseradish,your beets recipe will taste so good!