the field is planted!

It's been a fantastic autumn season for me out in the garlic field! The blue skies, warm October days, and friendly help of family kept me company for three weeks as I planted 30 varieties by hand. I don't know who did an anti-raindance, but the days were gorgeous. 

The process on any given day included some or all of these steps, roughly in this order: soaks today's cloves for planting in organic fish emulsion, unload compost and distribute by wheelbarrow onto the beds, rake the beds, set the dibble to mark out spacing, make holes for planting, tuck the cloves into the ground, rake over, mark variety on the map, mulch row with rye straw, and spend the evening breaking apart bulbs into cloves for tomorrow's planting.

Next time I'll share more about which garlic varieties we've chosen!