Description
As long as the ground is not frozen, you can still plant garlic this time of year. One head of garlic will give you 4-6 cloves. You will receive 4-5 heads for each pound of garlic. When you are ready to plant, break open the head, and separate the cloves, keeping the paper wrapping intact on each clove. Plant garlic root end down, pointed end up 2-4 inches deep into the soil. Cover the hole with soil. Space the garlic 4-6 inches apart in rows 12-18 inches apart. Cover with 4-6 inches of shredded leaves, hay or straw. The garlic will start to emerge in late March/early April.
We only grow this hard neck Music variety of garlic. Hard neck grows scapes that can be harvested in mid-June about 3 weeks before the heads are harvested. Removing the scapes or flower bloom of the plant when it curls in a circle enables more energy to go to the bulb to make it bigger, it must be removed, but they are delicious to eat. Chop and saute as garlic or make a pesto. Harvest the entire garlic plant when 1/2 of the leaves are brown and half are still green. Leave to dry for about 2 weeks, brush the dirt off, remove the first paper layer if you want them to be nice and clean, trim roots, and store in a cool spot. These will last through March/April or longer depending upon your storage conditions. If you refrigerate your garlic, it will sprout when you remove it from the refrigerator, so this is not recommended.
The only difference between this garlic and the garlic we sell for eating is that they are cleaned from soil and roots AND the heads and cloves in each head are larger. This variety has been grown on Long Life Farm for the last 10 years.
