The Garlic That Almost Wasn't

2013 Bird Garlic Crop

The picture to your immediate right will indeed confirm that the 2013 garlic crop is indeed planted in the Bird Back 40! Not just planted -- but literally jumping out of raised beds that dot our crazy little cul-de-sac corner dedicated to all things vegetable and fruit. 

So what's the big deal? We grow garlic every year, right? Well, yes, that is true. Except that this year it nearly didn't happen. This year was nearly a complete bust thanks to election limits on my free time and the Ultimate Digging Machine known as Bandi the adorable mutt.

Damaged Planter Bed

As it turns out  -- the mutt is good at not just digging. Seems she can take apart a planter bed with one swift kick of a back leg. And she managed to do just that some weeks back -- destroying a planter bed that was destined to hold the Bird 2013 garlic crop.

I have always wondered how long these cheaply constructed gardening beds were going to last -- and now I know. Profiled here several years ago, it appears these "gardening beds on a budget" have a lifespan of five to six years. After that? It's time to repair, rebuild or in my case, start from square one.

Ultimate Digging Machine at Play

The first hint of trouble came when I spotted fresh dirt on the ground and knew that digging doggy had been up to no darn good. Bandi is clearly past her "puppy stage," but that playful and somewhat destructive side does surface every now and then. That's especially true if she spots a vole (field mouse) duck into one of the beds.

A vole? I must DIG! I must FIND! Do voles taste like BACON? I must find out!

Although the cats that grace the Bird Back 40 get their fair share of "vole treats," these thing reproduce so quickly and in such massive numbers that there's always one or two for Bandi to chase in a futile effort from gardening bed to gardening bed. Keep in mind, she never does catch one. She just leaves her tell-tale sign behind, which is usually a nice little hole in the ground or bed.

Yes Fred, I know. You warned me. You were right.

Gardening Bed Damaged Beyond Repair

When I first noticed that the Ultimate Digging Machine had partially destroyed part of one of my older planter beds, my thoughts first turned to "repair." A few well placed gold screws, I believed, would solve this problem. After all -- the bed had been screwed together once before. It certainly could be repaired in the same fashion, right?

Wrong.

I would come to discover that the Ultimate Digging Machine had finished what Mother Nature started a long time ago. Wood that once those golden screws so securely was now so brittle that it fell apart into tiny pieces at the slightest touch. It was done. It was finished. There would be no repair. There would be no 2013 garlic crop.

Or so I first thought.

Damaged Gardening Bed Logs

But the more I thought about it? I just couldn't let it go. This bed has been the source of so many mouthwatering crops and harvests that I just could not write it off. I grew champion Cherokee Purple tomatoes in this bed! Last summer's crop of green onions and several different types of basil was raided quite often I must say. Lettuce had grown here in the fall. The last harvest had been a fat onion crop.

Let it go? Write it off? Leave a big hole in the ground? Perish the thought. As Oscar Goldman of Six Million Dollar Man fame once intoned: "We Can Rebuild Him." It wouldn't be easy. This was bare, open ground when I built the first bed five years ago. There was nothing to get in the way. The rose bush to the left of the bed was added later. That honeysuckle vine covering up our second beehive was added later. And that nice little sidewalk framing the bed against the fence was added just this spring.

Gardening Bed and Drip Irrigation System Removed

In other words, I didn't have a lot of room to operate. And, to add insult to injury, the old bed would have to be removed piece by piece, along with the drip irrigation system, before I could proceed with new bed building efforts. Removing an old, wooden garden bed is quite the inconvenience to the Black Widow spiders and other creepy-crawlers that had since moved in and long ago called it home.

The first step involved removing numerous layers of gardening soil. It was removed the same way it was added -- with shovel and wheelbarrow. I would come to discover that those golden screws that had held the bed together so securely years ago had since disintegrated and would sometimes just break into two brittle pieces upon removal. Some of these "Lincoln logs" as I call them were so brittle they easily snapped into two or three pieces once they were removed. Years of gardening and usage, plus natural elements of rain, cold and heat can do a lot of damage.

We Can Rebuild Him

Yet -- up and out the old bed came -- piece by piece -- leaving surprised spiders and insects to bolt and scramble away. I was left with a bare spot in the ground and started over with the same system I had employed so many years ago: Assemble the new bed in layers, stack, align, screw and reinforce. The re-installation of the drip irrigation system allowed me to make several improvements that will serve to save precious water supplies, yet ensure that the irrigation reaches every last corner.

By the end of the day? The new bed, which looks a lot like the old bed (minus the black widow spiders), had been installed. Old, tired soil was mixed in with some new planter mix and compost, and what was once old and tired was new again. Venus planted the garlic varieties of Lokalen, Bogatyr and California Late White in short order. The cloves have since sprouted, and everything looks just dandy.

Goodbye Old Bed: Hello Potash!

As for the remains from the old bed? I have quite the growing pile of lumber scraps from previous bed building efforts and other "around-the-house" projects. I wasn't interested in growing the size of that scrap pile, which is why I was happy to have a handy-dandy fire pit installed this previous spring.

Old wood burns fast and hot and leaves behind a helpful gardening supplement: potash or potassium, which is an essential ingredient for any gardening project.

And, as for the Ultimate Digging Machine? She most definitely approves of the new addition. Here's hoping that next "urge" to dig strikes in places where I want to add additional fruit trees next spring.

The Life of a Potato Farmer

All Blue Potato Flower

It's been said -- by those who are much smarter than me -- that once you grow potatoes, you will always grow potatoes.

This also includes the caveat of: Whether you want them or not.

I'm here to tell you that the old saying is indeed truth. Potato plants are literally popping up in different raised beds around the Bird Back 40, even though I'd swear that I didn't plant seed potatoes there.

Ultimate Digging Machine & Cohort at Rest

Of course I didn't. They are springing up from what remains from last year's crop. OR -- they got moved by some critter from one bed to another. This I can believe, especially upon watching the Ultimate Digging Machine derive great pleasure from flipping plums and other produce she finds on the ground straight into the air.

It's not a plum or a potato. It's a dog play toy. Sometimes those leftover potatoes wind up in the strangest places, which begs the question of, "how did THAT get THERE?"

Lush, Green Potato Plants in Raised Bed

I'll admit -- the wife that is Venus really went to town on potato planting efforts this year. Seed potatoes were procured from a variety of places -- including the standby Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. But we also found a nice selection of reds and fingerlings at our nearby Big Box Lowes in West Sacramento.

Venus planted all varieties in early March, while the weather was somewhat cold and rainy, but the less-than-stellar weather conditions didn't hurt growth conditions much. The reds and fingerlings were the first to break the soil line, but have also been the last to flower.

Fingerling Potato Flower

The "All Blue" and "Colorado Rose" varieties purchased at Peaceful Valley got off to a somewhat later start, but the All Blue is putting on quite the show at the moment with a bevy of blue flower clusters in the garden.

I have discovered -- not completely by accident mind you -- that raised beds are perfect for growing a large, healthy and lush potato crop. The loose soil conditions that exist in these beds are perfect for root crops like potatoes, carrots, even radishes. When you begin to notice that the soil line begins to crack in numerous places and also appears to rise by an inch or more -- it's good news.

That's a LOT of French Fries!

Something very good is taking place underneath that soil line. One begins to dare to dream of home-grown french fries -- which are like none other.

While the honeybees that grace our backyard mostly ignore the potato flowers of white, blue and purple -- the same can't be said of the native pollinators. I've come to discover that carpenter bees -- those giant black and yellow bees that one can hear coming from 100-yards away -- have particular liking for these flowers. And they always make sure to pollinate the nearby flowers hanging from tomato plants after they've drilled into the potatoes.

This isn't a bad thing, people.

Potato Flowers: Signs of Spring

If all goes according to plan? In the next week or two, the plants themselves will begin to die back slowly. The flowers will wither and drop. Spuds will literally be forced above the soil line by potato monsters that lurk and continue to grow below.

Red, White and Blue potato salad for the 4th of July? Sounds good to me! A serving or two of french fries is almost certainly on the menu. Roasted red potatoes with garlic? Bring it on!

But -- I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. For now -- let's enjoy that annual potato flower show.