GARLIC HAS BEEN PLANTED

I got the garlic planted this weekend as well.  We're always excited to grow some garlic but we skipped last season because of the pandemic we missed the ordering deadline.  We didn't miss it this time, ha.

Lorz Italian garlic

We ordered from Great Northern Garlic.  We don't get anything for mentioning them, just putting it out there for anyone who wants to order some quality seed garlic.  It came a few weeks ago so we put them in the fridge to let them get ready for the cooler weather.

Sorting the seed garlic

I sort through them, you break them apart and try to leave the paper skin on each clove.  You are planting them not cooking with them.  I sorted them to get 36 good ones (I look for the plump cloves).

I use the bag they come in to put them so I can get them to the planting bed easier.

Garlic planting tool

Then after getting the soil turned and fluffed up (added some fresh along with a bit of compost), I poked 36 holes in the bed.  A couple years back, someone asked me if this was a special tool.  No, you can use anything to poke a hole, but to save my back for doing 36 holes, I use this.  It used to be another tool that the end broke off of when I was using it to dig the trench for the underground water hose to the garden.  I just put it aside thinking I'd throw it away.  Then when I needed something to make a bunch of holes once, I thought "hmm, this might work" and it did!  It's nice because I can use the handles at the top, stand over the bed to make a hole, wiggle it around etc.  It works great.

Put them in the holes pointy end up, ha.

Cover with soil.

Is this before or after?  Ha.  After the holes are filled with the garlic cloves, I go over it by hand and smooth it all out.  After all the hard work, there's nothing to see for it when you're done, ha.

As in years past, I covered it with a straw mulch and water it well.  Depending on how wet the Winter is, they shouldn't need regular watering (well, by regular we mean daily).  Will water once a week when we're out there but otherwise we just set them and forget them.

Hopefully in a few weeks we'll have some little green sprouts coming up through the mulch and next May or June, we'll harvest 36 heads of garlic and hang to dry.