TIME TO PLANT THE GARLIC!!
Garlic is one of the easiest and most reliable crops that you can plant!! It doesn’t need any special conditions, just good fertile soil, some organic fertilizer when planting and during the growth stage. Try it! It’s easy.
Below are photos of the stages of garlic planting. Right now, I’ve separated the cloves, leaving the paper on. They will go into furrows tomorrow (with some granular fertilizer) about 6 inches spacing, and the furrows about 10 inches apart.
I plan to plant about 32 cloves so that I have enough to use for planting next fall. I really like (love) cooking with garlic. As you can see in the second picture below, that’s what they look like in early spring. The next pictures are taken when I dug them up very carefully in July, shook off the soil, and laid them out on newspaper for a month to dry. Then, once the leaves turn brown and dry up, I cut off the top leaves, trim the roots, brush off the dirt, and place in garage in a cardboard box lined with newspaper. At that point, I just take what I need when I need it for cooking.
Last year, I planted 20 cloves (which grew to 20 bulbs), and I needed to save about 3 bulbs for planting this fall in order to get the 30 cloves I need, so I only had 17 heads of garlic left for the entire year for cooking. I decided I needed more; therefore, I’ll plant 30 bulbs tomorrow. Normally, I plant on October 15, but I saw a forecast for rain on Monday and Tuesday, so I’m going to get that garlic in a little early this year.
GARLIC TO PLANT
EARLY SPRING GARLIC
GARLIC JUST HARVESTED
GARLIC DRYING IN GARAGE
GARLIC DRYING
ORIGINAL GARLIC ARTWORK BY AMELIA
Nancy's Nature 