Here's why you should plant it-
First, it's delicious. Second, it's easy to plant. Third, it's delicious. Fourth, it's renowned for it's healing properties. According to Growing Vegetables by Kim Rowney, garlic was used in World War II to dress soldiers wounds and it was said that Roman soldiers ate it to keep their strength up. Today it is considered a disinfectant because of its high sulfur content. Fifth, it's renewable- you can save some of the heads every year to planted the next year. Sixth, garlic is just downright delicious in all kinds of recipes.
You'll want to plant garlic after the first frost when the soil has cooled down. We had early spring peas planted in this bed, planted buckwheat in it as a cover crop over the summer, and then hand-tilled it to get it ready for the garlic this fall.
Last year we bought cheap heads of garlic from the garden section of the supermarket that didn't do very well. This year we bit the bullet and bought quality garlic from a garden catalog. There was a vast difference in the cloves. They were huge and plump, instead of like the itty-bitty dried out supermarket variety that looked like it had been sitting in an attic collecting dust for several years. Because we'll be able to save heads of garlic every year after our initial investment, we definitely thought it was worth it!
However, life experience has brought this wonderful garlic tip to you-
Garlic Tip: Check at your local farmer's market for garlic heads from local farmers before you buy them online.
Right after we had received the other garlic in the mail, I was wandering around the farmer's market when I stumbled upon a local Amish family selling none other than these big, beautiful, purple striped heads of garlic. They said they were a German variety called Music that grows heavy bulbs and stores well. Not only were they cheaper, but because they were grown locally, I knew that they would grow well in our Indiana climate.
Aren't the cloves pretty? (It doesn't hurt that it was sooo much cheaper than the garden catalog variety too!)
Plant your garlic cloves in rows spaced eight inches apart. In each row your cloves should also be spaced eight inches between one another. (As you can see the garlic cloves in the actual rows are spaced more like ten inches apart- we like to bend the rules.)
You'll want to cover your cloves with two inches of dirt, that's why we have ours tucked into these trenches
After you cover your cloves with dirt, you need to cover them with six inches of mulch to keep them protected over the winter. We applied a nice thick layer of shredded leaves because we had a plethora of them sitting in our yard, they add nutrients to the soil, and you can't beat the lovely fall color!
Small green shoots will come up in the spring, and you'll be able to harvest your garlic early to mid summer depending on the variety.
