by Greg Draiss

Created on: November 10, 2008   Last Updated: July 25, 2011

Growing Garlic and Vampire Control

A sure sign of impending cool weather and the real end of summer is the annual Garlic Festivals held nationwide. Everything sold at many garlic festival must have garlic in the recipe. Originally a one day events some now span the entire weekend attracting as many 50,000 people in search bad breath, vampire repellents and strangely flavored ice cream.

As a maturing society, America discovered itself as a vast land of foodies in the mid-1980s. There were many food fads that have come and gone. Gourmet abandoned its place on mid-day PBS cooking shows and became synonymous with any food cooked by some one who liked to tell others how they cooked it. Nouveau cuisine became the new gourmet as high flying restaurants began serving small portions of artfully placed food stacked high and a high price to match. Food presentation was more important than taste.

Now with the health consciousness ones there is all of a sudden too much food on the plate.

But one trend in food that has endured is America's love of herbs and spices an especially garlic. No food ingredient adds as much to a dish as herbs and garlic is the king of herbs.

No longer are gardeners and cooks stuck with one variety to choose from. There are dozens of garlic varieties available for the home gardener as well as the home gourmet.

Garlic planting in our climate begins six weeks before the last frost date. That makes mid September a good starting point. The newly-planted cloves need enough time to set roots and even begin some leaf growth before the ground freezes solid.

Garlic is a very long crop taking almost a full year to complete its cycle. Soil preparation is vital. A rich deep soil with lots of organic matter is what the bulb like best. If, like me, you have clay soil, consider building raised beds and adding lots of compost, rotted manure or anything to achieve loose non compacted soil.

To plant, break apart the bulb into individual clove and plant one inch deep. In raided beds or colder areas, plant as deep as 4 inches to protect from freezing. Even then, add an inch of mulch to the top of the bed for further protection. Garlic will easily push its way through the mulch when temperatures rise in spring.

For the largest bulb possible, spacing is critical. I planted my Racombole too close last year and ended up with small bulbs. Space the cloves 6 inches apart in rows 12 inches apart for best results.

Always be watchful when cultivating weeds in the garlic bed.

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