Time To Plant the Garlic

When I went on the bus trip to Sandusky in July, I purchased two heads of Hard Neck Garlic at Mulberry Creek Herb Farm for planting this fall. Since I'd never grown garlic before, I had to look up how to plant it. After spending needed curing time in our basement, Friday was the day. Still enough warm weather left for it to get rooted in for winter, yet not take off and grow outright.


I had to break each head apart, which yielded a total of 15 individual cloves. It is recommended not to do this more than 48 hours prior to planting for best results. One of the cloves looked as though it had started to shrivel or rot or something, but I planted it anyway, just in case it was good to grow.


I dug a trench deep enough to plant each clove - roots down and tips up - so that the tip would be about two inches below the surface when I covered them up with soil. I placed them about 4-6 inches apart and folded the soil over them.









I watered them in, then marked the row so we wouldn't forget they were there next spring when we work up the soil for planting.

Hard neck garlic is especially suited for growing in colder climates like ours and when they put up their uniquely curly scapes next spring, I can cut them and make some of those yummy-looking recipes I saw other bloggers fixing this year.

Another new adventure in gardening has begun!