We’ve been in a heat spell for a while now, with temperatures well into the 90s and rainfall irregular and reduced.  This has speeded up some things and stressed others.  I was concerned that my two beds of garlic were showing signs of drying up, but then (fortunately) received an email newsletter from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange noting that their garlic had matured early this year.  So I went ahead and harvested the four types of garlic I’d planted: Brown Tempest and Music (both hardneck garlics) and Inchelium Red and S&H Silverskin (both softneck garlics), as well as white onions.   I let them dry off in the sun for a day or two, and then moved them on screens into the garage to cure.

Today, Nic and Alison and two friends joined Monika and me in a garlic tasting exercise.  The unanimous sentiment was that while mild differences could be detected, it was hard to describe them and all were excellent.  (However, from the point of view of easy peeling, I much prefer the hardneck garlics.)  The 100 garlic bulbs harvested should get us through the next year, we hope!

Tomato season has happily begun, with Paul Robesons, Brandywines, and determinate yellow and orange tomatoes being the first to mature.  But the Eden-like quality of last year’s garden has not been replicated this year.  We’re having significant pest problems, especially with cucumber beetles and squash bugs, which have pretty much done in my first plantings of zucchini and other summer squash.  Tomatoes have been taking a hit from crows, various insects, and the (amazingly large and voracious) tomato hornworm caterpillar, and my pole beans by Mexican bean beetles.  One must learn to share, I guess….  BTW, for anyone pondering the complicated relationship between gardening and nature, I highly recommend Michael Pollan’s Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education.  It’s funny, informative, and deeply smart.