garlic

parker! and friend met me in the garden this morning to continue with fall planting...we turned some compost into a couple of beds and then planted some red inchelium garlic...we used compost because the garlic beds will have to be thoroughly mulched for winter which precludes using green manures in those beds...the garlic bulbs were fairly large and the cloves ( fifth photo ) ranged from "normal" to absolutely huge...in all we planted sixty cloves...last season we had about three quarters of what we planted produce so we are counting on at least forty-five producing plants next spring...and while we're talking production, the sixth photo is of a nascent cauliflower...one of three we found today and the seventh neatly captures some happy second season asparagus "ferning" and parker! in mid-stride...most of the alfalfa i planted over, i believe, labor day weekend has developed its first true leaf...well on the way to being winter hardy...so i added more alfalfa seed to bare areas of the beds and tossed in some winter rye to act as a soil binding agent and a reservoir for excess nitrogen...the season is definitely winding down along with september...the cauliflower and brussels sprouts are in a race with frost...the beans and cukes are done...there are a few spuds left chugging away and next month sees the jerusalem artichoke harvest...november will see the garlic and asparagus mulch and then the season move indoors for seed potato production...we slow down...we don't stop.