This blog submission comes from Mary Schons who decided to participate in the blog-a-thon by sharing her experience with planting garlic. Below is a glimpse at her photo gallery; to view her submission in full please follow this link.
My garden space is about 10′ x 15′– enough to grow as many tomatoes,
kale and chard as I want. There is a grapevine on the left, a new
experiment. Anyway, this year’s row of tomatoes will be the space for
next year’s garlic crop.
Lots
of chard, tomatoes and some wild oregano can be seen in the
end-of-the-party my garden has become. It was wet season with a late
start, so I still have tomatoes here and there ripening.
Munster,
Indiana is a good place to grow garlic. According to the Encyclopedia
of Chicago, “Dutch immigrants arrived in 1855, and by 1900 had
established a tidy farm community. Jabaays, Kooys, Schoons, Jansens, and
Bakkers raised potatoes, cabbages, beans, and flowers along the ridge
for local families and regional wholesalers, and onion sets for the
national market.”
Incidentally, Munster used to be called Monster. I weep for the Chamber of Commerce opportunities lost.
in kitchen scraps, stuff from hairbrushes, dryer lint, lawn clippings,
etc. We’re vegetarians, so no meat scraps.
What you need to grow a garden: Garlic bulbs and a trowel. Usually I save a few bulbs from the season,
but this year I underestimated my garlic needs and had to order online. I
ordered from Grey Duck Garlic this year, my first time ordering from
them.
Plant the clove of garlic (unpeeled) tip up in a hole a few inches deep.
If you’re not sure which end is up, plant the clove on its side,
they’ll figure it out.
Cover the garlic clove with dirt and a gentle pat.
Old newspapers do great for controlling weeds. A public library at the
end of every month is a good place to get lots of newspapers for your
garden. Most libraries have space for only so many months and recycle
the oldest ones then.
spring, when the green tops start to show. I’ll break off the curly
tops (called scapes) of the garlic in early summer to make the bulbs
grow a little bigger.
Mary Schons
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