Two years ago I bought a couple bags of garlic seed (cloves) - one bag was a hardneck variety, and one bag was a softneck variety. I use garlic all the time in my cooking, and after hearing how easy it is to grow garlic, I decided it was time for us to start growing our own.
The first year's harvest yielded about 50 bulbs of garlic! I was thrilled. After curing the garlic for a few weeks, I set aside about half of each variety, carefully picking out the largest bulbs to plant for the next year.
Once again, this year had a fantastic yield. After following the same method of setting aside half of the bulbs for planting, and then breaking those down into cloves, this fall we have a total of 262 cloves to plant. Wow!
As long as I continue to set aside half to grow again every year, the garlic yields will continue to grow exponentially, as long as we have the space to grow them! It also stores very well through the winter. Any surplus we have next year will be given to friends and family, sold at the farmstand, and/or preserved with fermentation or the dehydrator.
With 262 cloves to plant this fall, I was left twiddling my thumbs for a while as we had many days of nonstop rain. I was starting to get nervous as you are suppose to get them planted before the first frost.
Then one weekend, when we had plans to go on a day trip to visit friends, we were hit with a windstorm and the power went out. Will started up the generator and we realized we were going to have to cancel our plans until power was restored.
The weather was cold and blustery, but no rain. I was wondering what to do with the day, now that our plans were cancelled. Then I remembered - the garlic! It was time, now or never, because the forecast called for freezing temps and snow the following week. With renewed determination, I bundled up Rowan in the stroller, grabbed my gardening gloves and box of garlic cloves, and got to work.
The process required clearing the beds of weeds, adding compost, and then planting. Not something I planned to do all in one day, but now I was determined, and I got it done faster than expected.
Once the beds are prepped, planting the garlic is the easy part. Each clove is planted about two inches deep, with tapered end up, and six inches apart.
The following week we raked leaves for compost and mulch, so I added that as mulch to the garlic beds as well.
Now we wait to harvest next year! Where we are, Zone 8b, these are generally ready to harvest in August (and planted late October/early November). Garlic is a fantastic crop to grow for beginner gardeners, all it requires is planting and patience. And with so many uses in the kitchen, you simply can't go wrong.