Admiral butterfly in my garden this morning.

Welcome to the weekend coffee share! How are you? How is your week? Can I get you a cup of coffee, or tea, to enjoy while we chat about the week?

The weather is so nice, a pleasant 68F/20C, my kind of weather! If I had to choose one temperature to have all year round, this would be it. I do love my seasons, and I wouldn’t want the same temperature all the time, but if I had to choose..

Columbine, poppy, and marigold seeds.

This week I started to harvest some flower seeds. They are only just started to be ready for harvest. I will harvest more seeds the next coming weeks. I will also invite friends to harvest seeds at my allotment. Seeds = free flowers next year, or whenever you plant them. Seeds properly stored have a long shelf life. I still use seeds I saved from 10+ years ago.

The garlic I harvested in July is cured, and ready to be stored at room temperature. This is the amount of garlic we usually eat in a year. I simply place these plates at a high shelf, and take one as needed. Hopefully they will last us until the garlic harvest 2027.

For the past five years I’ve been focusing on growing two varieties of organic garlic, Therador and Otakar. These two varieties are by far (in my humble opinion) the most suitable for climates like ours that vary a lot throughout the winter. These past years we’ve had really cold weather, followed by warm weather, followed by cold weather, wet weather, warm weather, cold weather and so on..these varieties don’t seem to care much about that. They also store really well. I pick out the biggest ones every year and plant those before the first frost. Here it’s usually around the first week of November. I fertilize when I plant them in November, and fertilize again at the beginning of April, Mid-May, and around Midsummer. This year I will be planting my garlic in large planters at my balcony. For various reasons that I’m not going to go into at the moment I’ve decided to not renew the lease of the plot where I have been gardening next year. Of course I’ll still be gardening, it is in my DNA.

Do you need a refill on your beverage? Now I am most curious to hear what you’ve been up to. How is your week?

Thank you Natalie for hosting the weekend coffee share. The art in her post this week is extraordinary!

Maria

10 responses to “Weekend Coffee Share – August”

  1. The photo of the garlic on the plates makes them look happy to me! 😂 68F sounds fantastic, Maria, its still scorching here in the triple digits… Uhg.

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    1. Thank you! I hope you’re able to be decently comfortable. I understand that it has to be hard to not be able to ride your new bike.

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      1. It sucks to be honest. 😂

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          1. Biking is one of my happy places, the other is just being at home. 😍

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  2. I’m shocked about your leaving the garden plot you have put so much sweat equity into. Something terrible must have happened, and I am so sorry it did. 🙏🏼 😢 You will land on your feet, no doubt, you always do! 👍🏼

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    1. Nothing terrible happened, all is well, change is coming.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Looks like a successful garlic harvest. Thanks for the virtual coffee, Maria.

    Stopping in from Weekend Coffee Share: https://brewingcoffeetwistingwordsbreakingpencils.ca/2026/08/07/notes-beside-the-coffee-cup/

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  4. What beautiful garlic and so wonderful it will last throughout the year to the next season. I can’t wait to hear about the changes coming and I know you always make wise and invested decisions. I love all the seeds you are gathering. I wish we lived closer to learn all these things. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and week ahead! ❤️

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  5. What beautiful garlic! Must admit I am so curious about the changes that are coming. Like Eliza, I was worried and was glad to read nothing terrible has happened.

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