Under the Weather

I woke up last morning to some stomach bug. I don't get sick all that often, but I had just gotten over a cold that I caught on the trip. Getting sick twice during the summer is so unusual. But I was (and am) tired and didn't feel like working in the garden. So I got in front of my computer to read my favorite blogs. It would be a good thing to catch up on while I was sick.

I used to use Google Reader and had switched to Old Reader in the middle of June. It was slower than Google but it had close to the same format. So I started it up and got a photo of a cat. I'm not a cat person. I don't hate cats, but dogs are my thing not cats. I swear Old Reader is going to make me hate cats though. When their server is down they put up cute cat photos. So now I associate cats with not being able to read my blogs. Old Reader is going through some pretty serious growing pains. Oh well. I had to find something else to amuse me while I was sick. I turned on the TV, but needed something to do with my hands.

First I decided to clean up the garlic. It had been in the bike shed for the last two weeks and with the hot weather it had either been well cured or baked. One of the two. Hopefully the heat didn't damage it. I removed the foliage and cut off the roots. I tried to get all the dirt out of the little root stubs. I hate the dirt in my kitchen when I'm cooking. Garlic is one of those things you don't want to clean with water as it might cause rot.

I had planted 80 cloves last fall. One I pulled as green garlic. Last year I got a lot that had opened up partially, but this year I only got one (above). At my last house they never did this, but here I get bulbs that don't stay closed. I think of bulbs like this as being something you get if you wait too long to harvest. But these were harvested with only one dead leaf at the bottom. Usually I wait until about three die, but maybe I should always do it this early here. I wonder what makes the bulbs open faster here than at my last house. There I could wait until almost all of them died before pulling and the bulbs would still be fine.

It had rained all morning and then I got a break in the rain in the afternoon. I remembered that I had drying pea seeds on the vine. I should have picked them on Monday as I knew it was going to rain. If you let them get too wet they can sprout in the pod. I've had that happen to me. I've also just had them rot on me. So I went out very quickly to get the easiest to pick pods. Then spent a while shelling all the pods. There are more pods out there. Some haven't dried yet. When I'm feeling better I'll do a better job of picking, but I wanted to make sure I had enough seed for next year.

I knew I wasn't going to get outside to dig and plant anytime soon. So I made a tray and a half of soil blocks and planted my fall crops inside. This way I can have all the time I want to clean up their spots in the garden. I'll probably plant them in two weeks. I'd rather they be outside, but under the lights is good for young seedlings as they don't have to worry about temperatures that are too hot or about the slugs, sowbugs, and earwigs that might eat them.