Garlic scapes

Seemingly overnight scapes appeared on the garlic plants.  Scapes are the would-be flowers, but we want the focus of the plant to remain on producing a bulb of garlic, not flowers.  Once the scapes are long enough that they  curl, cut them off, but don't toss 'em into your compost bin.  Save them and cook with them.

The stem of each scape contains loads of flavor and can be used in a myriad of ways.  In the past, I've thinly sliced the stems and have used them in soups, stir-frys, marinara sauce, and pesto in lieu of garlic cloves.  Where you would use garlic, the scapes make an excellent substitute.  This year, I plan to use them to make a compound butter.  In fact, the scapes will be ground to a paste in our new molcajete!  The compound butter can then be rolled and frozen in wax paper so we'll have a supply of garlic butter on hand.  Hmm, this gives me an idea.  Perhaps I should maintain a tandem food blog that includes recipes for foodstuff such as this?  In the meantime, back to Wright Gardens...

Four collard green plants are growing in the patch of straw.
The 2' square beds are home to a (L to R) Minnesota Midget Melon (muskmelon) plant and a Golden Midget Watermelon plant.

Tomato flower

Potato flower (Yep, those delicious starchy tubers)
My Bonus-Mom planted a couple potato eyes last year but nothing much happened.  One plant returned this year and is thriving!

The appearance of garlic scapes signifies that the garlic is approximately two weeks away from being harvested.  Shortly, the leaves will begin to brown one-by-one from the bottom working toward the top of the plant.  When there are only 4-5 green leaves remaining, it's time to harvest the garlic.  Seed Savers Exchange provides an excellent Garlic Growing Guide at their web site.

To keep critters from munching on our strawberries, as if the bed is a sweet buffet, netting was added around the bed and secured with stakes.  I don't mind loosing some fruits and veggies to wildlife but every time a berry is a day away from being ripe, I anticipate picking and eating it.  The following day, when I reach the strawberry bed, the berry is gone or has been half eaten!  Hopefully, the netting works to keep birds and animals out.  It would really be a drag if an animal made it's way underneath one end of the net and then couldn't manage to easily get back out after they've had a snack.  They'd likely make a mess of the bed and plants trying to get out. We'll see how this turns out.

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