The longest day means harvesting the garlic

My gardening eye had been on the garlic in the past couple of weeks. The tops were beginning to dry indicating that the best growth has happened below ground.
Ironically garlic is meant to help keep aphids off over plants but I had discovered numerous colonies of black aphids on my garlic stems. They were not welcome.

Time to harvest was hastened by weather news that we are to experience the dregs of Cyclone Evan here over the next few days. That will mean damp, humid, sweaty weather which is not helpful to garlic…..or lots of other plants……and humans.

After the heavy mists and rain of yesterday morning had been burnt off by the sun I headed out and harvested 41 head of garlic and 5 elephant garlic.

Can you see the small bulbils on the elephant garlic?

These heads are Year 2 heads and can be eaten (yum!) and I will plant the bulbils back in the ground to produce next year’s elephants. Ideally elephant garlic grows best in a roughish patch of ground where it can cycle through the years and regenerate as well as offering pickings for consumption.

I lack such a piece of ground and use a black tub instead so bit more intervention and organization is required.

The garlic is drying off in the garage, which will now smell very pungent for a while. No vampires in our garage.

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Summer solstice

It is the time of the longest day here and light abounds, shining through the house in unexpected ways, keeping the evenings long and the mornings very early.

What makes you shine? What fills you with light?

Flag Day, shortest day

It is winter solstice here today, the shortest day and the weather is cold and wet with a brisk breeze blowing. The clouds are heavy and the light is low. My mother would have described the day as “dour.” All rather fitting for the shortest day. So we are hunkered down, keeping warm and spending a lot of time indoors.

However it is also Summer solstice and Flag Day in the Shetland Islands. The Shetland Islanders proudly fly their very own flag on this day.

We have a neighbour whose origins rest in the Shetland Islands and this year he has erected a light-weight flag pole and is proudly flying his nation’s flag. The white cross on the blue background is slightly off-set although that cannot be seen clearly in my photo.

Here is a little more about this celebration. Source: http://visit.shetland.org/its-shetland-flag-day

Shetland Flag Day – 21st June

Da Hjalt: Nordic and Scottish heritage mingle in the Shetland flag

The blue flag with the white cross, which proudly flies over Shetland, tells the history of the transformation of nationality of these islands in the northernmost part of the United Kingdom. Had the Danish king paid a wedding dowry to the Scottish king in 1469, the history and the flag of the islands would have been somewhat different. The Shetland ensign, which combines the Danish and Scottish emblems and colours, is the sign of the self esteem and autonomy of the twenty two thousand people living in the North Sea.
Fishing as an industry is synonymous with the Shetland Islands, as oil and gas have become since the 1970’s. These natural resources gave the islanders their self esteem. Many islanders fly their own blue and white flag to express their unique character. They show allegiance to Scotland, as well as to their ancestors from Norway and Denmark. Officially Shetland is part of the United Kingdom. The official language is English and the people British but they feel strong connections with Scandinavia.