Garlic 101

If I do say so myself, my garlic is far bigger, juicier, and more flavourful than those palid pretenders in the grocery store. It's really easy to grow, and it's the first thing to pop up in the garden next spring.
You can choose to plant garlic in the spring or in the fall. Because it has had more time to grow, fall garlic will get much bigger. It's important to buy garlic that has been grown close to home. Most garlic we eat comes from California, Florida, or China, from climates much milder than ours. That stock will not survive our harsh winters.
The best time to plant is in September or October. First, prepare the soil. Garlic is a heavy feeder, so enrich the soil with well-aged manure or compost. Use a string suspended between two sticks to make a straight row, and with a hoe make a 3-inch deep trench on both sides of the string about 1 foot apart.

Separate the heads of garlic into individual cloves. I found that one pound of garlic yielded 28 cloves, each of which will grow into a new head. Drop the cloves into the trench about 8 inches apart, and press them into the ground root side down, pointy side up. Cover and firm the soil, and you're done! Next spring, even before the snow is all melted, your garlic will sprout. The plants grow about 2.5 feet tall, and at the beginning of July produce a twisted stalk with a seed head called a scape. These should be cut off so that the plant concentrates on making a bigger garlic head. The scapes have a mild garlic flavour, are good in salads or stir-fries, and keep a long time in a bag in the fridge.
Next August, when the leaves are almost totally dry, dig up the plants, brush off the soil, and cure them outside on newspapers. Brush off the rest of the soil, tie together, and hang in a cool place away from direct sun. Presto - beautiful garlic that will put the store-bought stuff to shame!

Yes-what you see in this picture is my garden with weeds and volunteers that have not been cleared out. That is a new columbine smack dab in the middle of the garlic rows, and it will look a bit strange next year in amongst the garlic plants. But an organic farmer I know assures me that he gets a better yield of vegetables when he does not pull out every weed, so I will follow his advice. It has nothing to do with the fact that I may have let the weeds get ahead of me this year!