The piles of fallen leaves and cool crisp air make autumn our dog’s favorite time in the garden. CJ is a Shiba Inu with a thick under coat of fur and a fluffy curly tail. Summer growing season is too hot for him, but the fall is perfect. These days he is full of extra energy when we are outside. He will stand alert with head down and eyes at my feet, waiting for me to kick the leaves up into the air so he can catch one in his mouth.
We got him in an animal shelter almost 8 years ago. He is now 10 years old and still smiling.
A couple week ago I pulled out the last of the pepper plants in our community garden plot. I collected several pounds of small to medium-sized, but crisp and tasty bell, banana and cubanelle peppers. It took a little creativity to use all these peppers. I made pepper and cheese casserole, Italian turkey sausage with sauted peppers and onions, tortilla chicken soup with peppers, and roasted peppers marinated in garlic and extra virgin olive oil. I blanched, then froze about eight cups of chopped peppers. Finally, I took a grocery bagful of peppers to our local food bank. I am happy to say that we did not waste our last crop of peppers!
Here is my peppery Thanksgiving Day thought….just like my peppers, I do not want to waste the gifts, big or small that God gives to me. In God’s economy a grateful heart grows and produces more fruit.
May we all give thanks and celebrate the blessings in our lives this Thanksgiving holiday. Have a safe and joyful Thanksgiving Day! (and enjoy the leftovers!)
Many of the recipes I cook begin with garlic. I pound, peel, and crush garlic then let it sizzle in hot oil to start a soup, stew, tomato sauce, chili, and more. We grew garlic for the first time in our garden plot this summer. We planted the garlic last fall and harvested it in July. Now, in November we only have one garlic bulb left from that harvest. According to the Grow It Eat It Network garlic harvested in the summer can last until December. One of my husband’s garden goals is to be self-sufficient in garlic production. He purchased four California Select garlic bulbs and three Elephant garlic cloves for planting this fall. We hope next summer our garden plot will produce enough garlic to last until December with extra bulbs for next fall’s planting. Oh, simple garden pleasures….never needing to buy garlic bulbs for fall planting again!
CJ helps in our garden
A few days ago our Shiba Inu dog, CJ and I planted the garlic cloves. While I shoveled and raked the dirt to prepare it for planting, CJ dug in the dirt to follow a scent and a fuzzy brown caterpillar. He helped loosen the dirt a tiny bit. I planted 5 rows of 9 garlic cloves (3 inches apart and 1 inch deep) and 3 Elephant garlic cloves (6 inches apart and 6 inches deep) for a total of 48 garlic cloves.
garlic bulb next to an elephant garlic clove
The Elephant garlic is huge. It is almost the same size as a garlic bulb. We never planted this type of garlic before. I wonder how large it will be as a garlic bulb! We may have lots of extra garlic for next fall’s planting.
Do you plant garlic cloves in the fall from your garlic bulbs harvested in summer?
Our Garden Plot 