Garlic

In mid-October the garlic cloves went in the ground. They are planted 9 per square foot about 2 inches deep. That spacing worked great last year, so why mess with what works. I have 54 cloves in the ground. Last season I had a terrible time keeping the cloves buried. Squirrels were constantly digging them up for months. Somehow, after being replanted several times, almost all survived. Garlic is pretty tough I guess. As you can see they are covered in chopped leaves from my leaf blower/mulcher. As soon as planted the cloves and watered them in I covered them up. Not once have the squirrels dug into this raised bed. I can't say the same for the other beds. They are full of squirrel holes. The two or three inches of leaves doesn't appear to be having an adverse effect on the garlic. I would have waited to mulch, despite the squirrels, if these beds weren't so well drained. I wouldn't want them to rot, but that isn't an issue with these well-draining beds.

Next year I will have to watch how much I cook with, so I have more to share with friends. It goes pretty quickly, and I had just barely enough for planting stock by mid-October. I planted 81 cloves this past season. I don't have the room for that much anymore, so I'll just have to enjoy and appreciate what I can fit in the garden.