Grow Great Garlic - part 1

This posting was written in 1997 by my friend who died last year. She was a fabulous gardener, the best cook ever, an excellent writer, and a wonderful friend. When I met her when we were 19 and 20, I noticed how she effortlessly and skillfully moved from one task to the next in her kitchen to make delicious meals that she urged me to share whenever I came over. She had learned to cook and care for everyone from her dear Portuguese grandmother. I want to honor her generous spirit and friendship by sharing this informative and down-to-earth piece. - Michelle
Grow Great Garlic
By Kathy Galantine
Purchase your garlic bulbs at a gardening center or at your local grocery store. A half pound of garlic will plant a 100-foot row. Choose large garlic bulbs with firm cloves. Don't plant any of the small cloves. Small cloves beget small-cloved bulbs of garlic.

Plant your garlic in garden soil to which you have added compost or other organic material. Our Central Oregon moon dust won't produce those lovely large cloves of garlic without a little help. Plant each garlic clove root-side down, 1-1 ½ inches deep and two inches apart. Water them well, and then water them whenever the bed dries out.

The garlic cloves that you have planted in the early fall will quickly send up shoots similar to green onions. These edible shoots are milder in flavor than raw garlic cloves. They go well on baked potatoes or in salads or other late fall recipes.

Keep in mind, however, that cutting the young shoots robs the new cloves that are forming so it would be wise to keep a separate group for your main crop of bulbs. Many organic gardeners believe in the value of garlic as a pest repellent and often plant their "extra" garlic around the perimeter of the vegetable garden as a deterrent against bug invasions.