Ok, I know this isn't gardening related, but I just had to put my big sweet kitty Paco to sleep today. He was just the biggest, prettiest, sweetest cat. He was pushing 19 years old in this photo. First my chicken Einstein last week, now Paco. What a week. They were loved!

Sad to say that my little Einstein is being put to sleep this morning.

We spent the last couple of weeks medicating and hand feeding her everyday. While we were in Arkansas for the past week, she stayed with the vet (A & B in Dallas on Garland Road). They took care of her, changed her meds, fed her, etc. Middle of the week they said she'd improved and was starting to eat on her own. But yesterday they called us to say that she just has too much neurological damage to be able to survive on her own. It's just so crazy how a little thing like getting some string wrapped around her leg could turn into a death sentence. We're still baffled as to how she went downhill the way she did. She went from being the spunkiest of the bunch one day, to the sickest and weakest ONE day later. Well, she's been quite the fun little chicken and we're really sad to see her go. Such is life in livestock I suppose. :(

Now's the Time to Harvest Your Garlic

If you're in Texas, and you planted garlic cloves cloves last October, now is the time to harvest. Typically, you'll want to stop watering garlic two or three weeks before you harvest it. When is the perfect time to harvest garlic? Well, honestly that comes with a bit of experience. One indicator that you can use, but it's not foolproof, is to harvest once the foliage starts to die back. By mid-May (in Texas) you should start pulling some soil away from the base of the plant to inspect the bulbs. You'll want to see fully formed bulbs with a complete tunic/sheath (push your fingers down into the soil to feel the bulb). Bulbs should not be splitting.

My common garlic, which I harvested yesterday, is just perfect. Really nice sized bulbs with fully formed cloves and a nice sheath. I've got quite a haul this year. Once you harvest your garlic, you'll need to let it "cure" for two or three weeks. After you lift the plants from the ground, wash the soil off the bulbs and the roots, but leave both the roots and the foliage on the plant. You'll want to either hang them in a place that is warm with good air circulation to dry, or spread them out in your garden or on some newspaper to dry. The nutrients in the leaves will move down into the bulb and the sheath will become dry and papery. This helps the bulbs store for much longer periods. Here in Texas, with our intense sun, you're best to dry your bulbs out of direct sunlight or they will scald.

I probably let my Elephant garlic go a little too long - I could have harvested it a week ago. It has now gone to flower. A few of the bulbs have started to split just a little, which just means they won't store as long. But most of them look pretty good.

You'll notice the little offsets attached to the bulb. These are basically baby bulbs. You can pop these off the bulbs and replant them right now for your next crop of garlic next spring. For common garlic (and you can do the same with Elephant garlic) you'll want to pick a couple of bulbs that have nicely formed cloves as your "seeds". After curing, you'll store these bulbs in until fall. Then, you'll split the cloves up and replant each one just like you did this past October. Or, you can eat all your garlic and just buy new seed bulbs!

So my little Houdan, Einstein, managed to get some string wrapped around her leg last weekend. I discovered it last Sunday after my husband came in and said she was hiding from the other birds behind the feed bucket. The string must have inhibited her from getting around normally or eating. Because she looked weak, I guess the rest of the girls ganged up on her and pecked at her. I separated her into her own coop this past week to give her a break.

But she still looked sad and wasn't eating much, only drinking. Her buddy Phyllis went in to see for for a little bit. So cute.

Last night I checked her crop, but it felt normal, checked and cleaned her vent..no egg impaction. I gave her a bit of flax oil but this morning she was the same so we went ahead and took her to a vet that specializes in birds. Apparently, the stress of getting ganged up on by the other gals and not eating caused her to have high bacteria levels in her GI tract.

This is her swallowing some of the antibiotics and baby bird food I'll have to feed every day. Poor thing...Hopefully we'll be able to get her healthy again over the next week or so and can then reintegrate her back into the flock.

For the last few days I've found Phyllis squeezed into the laying boxes with the other gals while they are trying to lay. This evening I found her sitting on all the eggs! So, I do believe my lovely Polish has gone broody on me.

So that's where all my darn eggs are!

We used a very simple trim, but I'm already thinking of some funkier alternatives, and sourcing some more deep, detailed carving from our Antique scrap dealers. Now, while these were being completed, the cuttings from Friday were waiting patiently on the drying screens, fully calloused and ready to go:

via terraingarden.typepad.com

I LOVE their succulent boxes!

This has been a bang up year for snakes, at least in Texas. I'm a herp enthusiast so I'm always happy to find reptiles or amphibians in my garden. I've had so many snakes this year it's been crazy! These are Rough Earth snakes. They are usually mature at about a foot to 14", are non-venomous and totally harmless. They love living in gardens with cultivated soil because their primary diet is earthworms.

Unfortunately for the snakes, my biggest (and meanest) chicken Eunicehas quite a talent for rooting out their nests and swallowing themwhole! But, lucky for this little one, he/she was in the front yard andcan go back to rooting around in the flower beds all it likes.