Garlic

Yesterday I planted the garlic bed. First frost is expected tonight.

I bought about 15 heads of German Red (hardneck) at the farmers market for $10. There were about 10 cloves per head, so that was a lot of garlic. I also planted the saved cloves of 10 heads of my unknown variety which has 4-5 enormous cloves per head.

I found the best garlic growing advice at this page: http://www.garlicfarm.ca/growing-garlic.htm. They point out that if you leave a few scapes uncut, you can both multiply the cultivar by planting the bulbils and know when to stop watering in the summer (when the scapes straighten up, stop watering.)

I used a slightly wider spacing this year, probably about 6 inches. They say this will allow larger heads. I fear they may not all be deep enough, but I'll mulch it and hope that will compensate.