Plant Your GARLIC Now

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This hale and hardy,fall-planted crop will bethe first to greet younext spring

By Lynn Keiley

Before you put your garden to bed for the winter, remember to plant some garlic. Tuck a handful of cloves into the soil this fall, cover them with a blanket of shredded leaves and forget about them. Early next spring, lively green tufts will emerge through the mulch, bearing the promise of warm, sunny days and rich flavors soon to come. By midsummer, your savory garlic bulbs will be ready to harvest.

Vigorous German Extra-Hardy' garlic stores well.

READY TO ROOT

Columbus Day, Oct. 12, is the optimum time to plant garlic in most regions of the country. In hotter zones, November and December are the best times for planting. Garlic prefers loose, fertile soils with good drainage. Work in a one-half-inch layer of compost or fresh grass clippings to provide a wellbalanced diet for the cloves, since you want them to root well before the really cold weather sets in. Cloves should be planted 1.5 to two inches deep. Space cloves five to six inches apart in rows spaced nine to 10 inches apart.

Once the cloves are planted, cover with a blanket of mulch (unless you have reliable snow cover) to protect them during freeze-and-thaw cycles. Grass clippings make excellent mulch, releasing nitrogen and other nutrients while they insulate and deter weeds. Shredded leaves and straw are both good second choices. Early in spring, when you notice little tufts of green trying to make their way through the mulch, Huff it lightly with a fork or your hands to help the shoots break through. Unless your spring is very wet, leave the mulch in place to help maintain soil moisture. If you didn't use a nitrogen-rich grass mulch in the fall, apply a light dressing of organic fertilizer, such as alfalfa or soybean meal, in early spring to help increase bulb size.

Hardneck varieties will send up a flower scape, or stalk, in late May or in June (see photo ). The stalks add a touch of whimsy to the garden, hut if you leave them on, the plants will use up energy that could be spent to grow larger bulbs. So, if you're after big bulbs, cut off the scapes shortly after they appear and use them to garnish your stir-fry dishes.