Planting Garlic

The last few days were ideal - weather-wise - to do some planting in the vegetable garden. Usually I plant my garlic in March, but the weather (and time) just did not permit this. As I am located in the Adelaide Hills where it gets cold a bit sooner than in the Plains, I try to plant as much as possible in March. The soil is still warm then and the plants get a good start. Anyway, we were lucky, as April has been a fantastic month so far. Mild, with some rain.

I had just finished planting my leeks, when I discovered that there was still room left in the bed for some garlic.

Quickly I went and got my Purple Monaro garlic that I had planted last year. I had set aside the biggest heads for replanting. This is a hardneck variety and does, unfortunately, not keep as long as the soft-neck variety. They are still delicious, though!

So, I poked a few holes with the dipper. Just deep enough so that the cloves slide in easily. Then they are covered with soil so that the pointy end is just below the surface.

I planted them 10cm apart and the rows possibly only 20cm. I might regret that, as it states everywhere to have the rows 40cm apart. Oh well. I am allowed to do whatever I want in my own garden. :)

In a few weeks, the first shoots should be visible. And in about 8 months, you can harvest your own delicious garlic!
(The garlic cloves in this picture are waiting to be covered with soil.)

Note: Soil preparation is pretty important. Garlic likes it sweet, so I added some gypsum to our acidic soil. Before that I had already added some good compost, composted manure and some bio-char.