Scapes!

So, I was on the phone the other day and was quite rudely interrupted by the sudden appearance of new growth in the garden.

As I spoke, I was looking out my bedroom window towards my favourite view of the front garden.

 "Scapes!  I think I have scapes!  I've gotta go!"  I was pretty excited, although my friend didn't even know what a scape was. 

One of the reasons I grew garlic last year was for the scape harvest.  But the scapes never came.  I'd been reading about the heads that garlic produce and seen recipes for using them.  I really wanted to try them, but they didn't appear last year.  I love the idea of eating from the garlic plants before harvesting the bulbs. 

Unfortunately, there were no scapes the other day.  What I had noticed were seed heads developing on my shallots, the ones I planted and forgot to harvest last year.  Humph.  Disappointing, but I snapped them off and added them to our supper. 

But today I really did find scapes!  On my garlic just where they belong and tasting exactly as I expected them to taste. 

They are firm and smooth and tasty and delicious.  I chopped one into our potato salad and nibbled on another one.  Mmmm, garlic-y.

The other thing I noticed being produced was the awesome smell of peonies.  

I may like the smell of peonies even better than lilacs.  I planted a little peony corner this year to increase the lovely smell, but like the garlic, I may to wait a couple of years before I see any results.