Tomatoes, Peas, Beans, and Garlic

I'm impressed with the way you folks are taking care of the tomatoes.  They are growing much better in the heat.  I also increased the irrigation time and it seems to have made a difference.  I think the tomatoes might have been a bit dry :(    The irrigation is now set for 25 minutes, 3 times per week.  I think in a couple of weeks we should stop the tomato plants from growing any more by cutting off the top growing ends.  The reason for this is to encourage the tomato plants to put energy into the existing tomatoes.  If we don't do this, we will end up with a whole bunch of barely edible green tomatoes when October comes around.

The other thing that really really needs doing is to remove the snow pea plants.  They are getting in the way of the beans, and are beginning to dry out in the heat.  Snow peas don't grow in the heat because they can't draw enough moisture from the soil.  If you look at them now, they are beginning to die.  We need to harvest all the peas ASAP and remove the plants and netting.  Some of the peas may a bit tough now because we have left it so long, but that's ok.  The beans are the dominant crop now and we need to give them room to grow.  

The compost is starting to look ready to use now, so another thing we can do after the peas are removed is to gently put some compost around the base of the beans (but NOT the potatoes).  I wouldn't work it into the soil too much around the beans because they are fragile.  We can also do this around the tomato plants, gently working in some of the compost into the soil around the tomatoes being careful not to damage the roots.  Be careful to not fully empty the compost bin, since we need the existing compost to help the new material rot once we start adding new material in September.

The garlic is almost ready to harvest I think.  The main thing is to dry the soil out first, which has been happening.  I've read that garlic is ready to harvest when the individual cloves are visible in the bulb.  When we harvest the garlic, we will simply pull it out, and bring it into the school, and hang it in a dark warm place (the science prep room should work).  We won't cut off the stems or the roots either.  We will also have to be very careful not to bruise the garlic, as it can be fragile.  I think I need to be there for the garlic harvest, as I will be able to get into the science prep room to hang up the garlic to dry.  The bulbs I have checked look healthy and large.   If we treat the garlic right by drying and curing it, it will last for months.  If we don't, it will rot and be inedible.