OT: Garlic who whas talking about it?

Thanks!

An organic grower warned me about some virus which affects the roots of garlic: it manifests itself as a brownish ring in the skin around the root part of the clove. These cloves are fine to eat but not to plant.

When it came time to plant our new garlic crop last week into a cover crop of oats, I used an old auger mounted in a cordless drill to make the holes, then pushed the cloves in with a finger. I wish I had used a larger bit. 3/4" made me favour the smaller cloves, pushing them deeper into the earth.

250' of planting makes for an interesting set of sore muscles and joints for a few days afterwards.

You can also plant garlic in the fall for harvest the next year. Here in Michigan it is a risky proposition. Sometimes the garlic does not make it through the winter. To have garlic make it through the winter it is necessary to plant it deep, 4", sometime in the fall. You may find it advantageous to spread out your fall plantings. Maybe a week apeart for a whole month. Keep track of what works and do it that way again the next year. Mulching with leaves or hay will help to protect the cloves.

As soon as the tops of the garlic stalks start to turn brown you know it's time to consider digging them up. IF the garlic shoot starts to flower, you'll want to break the stem so the plant DOES NOT produce flowers. Carefully dig them up, knock the dirt off and then either dry them, give them away, or EAT THEM. It is now July and I am still eating last years garlic.