And so it was decided we would raise some garlic and see if it does well for us. We talked to several friends and two area Homesteaders and they all recommended Garlic for this area, and a hard neck variety. One of those Farms had harvested and were actually drying their garlic so they offered me a tour. We met sometime during the first of October, I checked it all out, was excited about the process, decided I can do this and the Deed was Done. 8 pounds of garlic later and I am on my way home stocked, armed with instructions and ready.
First week of November came and we worked up two nice rows on the end of where our garden will be next year.
I separated all the cloves and ended up with right at 300. The Farm I visited told me they had tested out taking all the skins off verses leaving them on when planting and they could not tell any difference in the size of the garlic when they harvested. I decided to leave that outer skin on too, then.
We planted 3 inches deep and 5 inches apart. Once they were all in the ground, we covered back with dirt and layered a nice thick blanket of straw to help keep the moisture in this winter. Those big sticks are my attempt at keeping that straw where it should be. The wind gets a little wild up here on top of the hill.
I would say it was end of December before I saw any green popping up, and it grew just a few inches and pretty much stayed like that all winter. Just recently, the garlic has grown a bit more. This picture was taken on February 20, 2018.
We are expecting to be cutting scapes sometime in April. Scapes are the curled, unopened flowers of the Garlic. Once the scape grows up and curls like a Pigs Tail you trim that off about 2 inches up. These are completely edible and I hear they taste delicious. Cutting the Scape off forces the energy back to the bulb so it will be larger. The expected maturity date is usually the first of July in our area (Zone 6A). Looking forward to reporting a success and more info on our harvesting and drying experience. Wish us Luck!