Goodnight Irene

Have you ever heard the song, "Goodnight Irene"? This oldie, but goodie has lyrics that tell of the singer's troubled past with his love, and expresses his sadness and frustration. This basically sums up my 2011 gardening season..


I don't remember an October that I've actually cut back as many perennials as I have this early. My logic is I'd rather see my garden empty than seeing the plants that have caved in to the enormous amount of rain we've gotten this past spring and summer.

If you live in the Northeast you know exactly what I'm writing about...  While we do our best to protect and defend, there's just no way a persistent gardener can protect all our plants against having wet feet. What do you do? I say... just cut it back, kiss it goodnight with a nice layer of mulch or leaves and hope for a better 2012!

My front garden bed looked so pretty up until four weeks ago when even the moist loving ferns had said, "Enough Already!" So we go from 'die back lush" to scratching the surface dirt, except for the few Monkshood that look totally ridiculous now standing so tall with no shorties around it.. Soon they'll bloom and provide a nice 'blue' flower in front of my home. Hmmm.. maybe the last color blooming is blue as that's what I'll be when their done?

The bed of ferns that were waving 'hello spring!' are now fading and saying, 'until another day'.

At least I did have some successes to record however! The Bugbane did fantastic this year and smelled as delicious as popping open a jar of grape jelly! A cute little fern started growing in my bricks as well!

The lobelia apparently got real happy in their new location as there's secondary leaf growth which is definitely a great sign.

For the first time this year I've decided to let my cleome just wither in the wind and die back on their own. Let the seed pods bust open when they want instead of me forcing them to drop. I wonder how many I'll have next year!

What about my vegetable garden you ask? Vegetable garden? What vegetable garden? Unless they grow in standing water I had nothing to report! OK, a few tomatoes here and there, a late showing of string beans, two small butternut squash, and two, yes only two peppers to put in this years diary. Except for the cucumbers my garden was a complete waste of time and energy. That's the first time I've reported such a loss and I'm very sad about it indeed.

The herbs did well in my 'hillbilly raised bed' garden (remember my daughters bunk bed frame)... I do have to admit that I was blessed with a large amount of herbs this year simply because I was able to control the soil. Something I can't do that well in my larger vegetable garden. So what does that mean? That means that next year my vegetable garden will be undergoing a serious transformation and new design of trough planters. I have a few ideas in mind that I'll be planning all winter.

My door garden is closing the door to summer and opening the windows to fall. What is the color? Wine bottles!

I think I'll spend the rest of my fall and winter watching the critters come and go and contemplate next years garden. 

Speaking of critters, what do you think the chances of me ever finding three creatures together like this again are? A salamander, a night crawler worm and a Woolley Bear caterpillar which by the way, is apparently hinting to a mild winter since his brown hairs are far larger than his black hairs (so folklore says).. I dunno know... I'll let you know how well that prediction was next April!

So goodnight my garden called Irene.. I'll see you in my dreams..

For the Love of Garlic

In the past month or two my husband and I have been on the cycle of visiting places we went to 10 years ago. The latest being a trip to the annual Hudson Valley Garlic Festival in Saugerties, New York.

What? A festival revolving garlic? Are you wondering what a garlic festival might be other than a group of people walking around with breath that leaves you weak in the knees? This garlic festival is a two day extravaganza of fun, great food, crafts, music, arts and of course buying garlic to eat and plant and learning how to grow, braid and cook the "stinking rose".

It takes us about two hours to get to the festival so you know we are serious about our garlic. This year my daughter and her boyfriend took the trip with us as we figured it would be a nice time for family bonding. I guess if you consider two sleeping bodies in the back seat of the car on the ride down part of the 'bonding' than we bonded very well!

Nonetheless when we arrived you couldn't help but wake to the smell of garlic!

There was garlic laden food every step of the way at this festival including garlic burgers, dogs, corn on the cob, pork, and ice cream! Yes! Garlic ice cream which sounds a bit gross, but actually it tastes like a rich, vanilla ice cream infused with chopped garlic to confuse your senses! Then, there are these "Garlic Shooters" which I didn't have but 

the "shooter" experience is reportedly followed by an immediate feeling of rejuvenation called the "shooter rush" and is the creation of the onion family. Garlic legend maintains that garlic is a stimulant which gives strength and protection. Modern research has begun to identify the ingredients in garlic which help prevent disease.

Ingredients

1 clove garlic per person
1 - 2 slices lemon

Directions

Chop garlic and scoop into a cup. Squeeze lemon juice into the garlic. Add 1 - 2 tablespoons of water. Swirl cup to achieve a circling motion and drink in one gulp.

I don't know... I just couldn't take my daughter up on her dare to try it..

Then there were the crafters, artists, music and fun!

For example this farmer who was teaching the art of garlic braiding!

Maybe one day I'll learn to braid garlic like this, but first I have to grow my garlic to the point where I can harvest garlic to braid!

Late last year I planted over 100 cloves of garlic and watched them slowly rot in my garden this year with all the rain we had all summer.

Next year I'm changing my entire garden to raised beds so the possibility of a good show of garlic is promising. Although, I do have to plant the cloves this year, I'll be coming up with a plan to make the most of the large amount of garlic I brought home this year.

For the serious garlic grower, what best to take a rest on than a garlic bench!

Did you know that some garlic even have legs?

Get back to your roots with this cool blue grass band!

Or, maybe you're into watching these dancers who practice old style dancing which was done in the fields way back when to chase away demons in the garlic fields! I'm wondering if that dance would have any effect on stink bugs?

Now for the main reason I enjoy this festival so much..

For the enormous amount of garlic one can buy for both cooking and growing! With over 60 varieties of garlic to chose from one can get easily overwhelmed with what type to buy! It's the only time I ever eat raw garlic as you really need to taste the different varieties before making your purchases. Some are mild, some are strong and some are just right. You can easily buy armfuls of garlic at every turn at this festival which is exactly what we did! We bought bag fulls of garlic for friends, for cooking and for planting! How can one resist?

The Hudson Valley Garlic Festival is presented by Kiwanis Club of Saugerties. This was their 23rd anniversary of holding this garlic lovers event. Every year they have a contest of who's artwork will bless the t-shirt sold at the festival. This years shirt was a painting of the founder of the festival, Pat Reppert.

Otherwise known as the "Queen of Garlic"!

If you've never been to a garlic festival you must go as it's a day of garlicky fun!