The end of October is special for a couple of reasons: Halloween, of course. Although this year I doubt we’ll see any kids at the door. More importantly, the last week of October is when we plant the garlic that we’ll end up harvesting next July.
Garlic is our go-to crop. Dead easy to grow and ignored by the deer and rabbits and groundhogs that eat everything else. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, and we grow between 150 and 200 plants a year.
We’ve been growing the same type—a heirloom Russian variety—for about ten years. Each plant produces a bulb about the size of a small plum with 3-4 huge cloves.
By replanting the cloves from the biggest bulbs, we’re basically cloning the plants and ensuring a good crop the next year (assuming the weather cooperates).
The garlic we harvest in the summer, stays edible until early spring the next year, and if we push it, we can keep eating it until the next year’s batch is ready.
If you’ve got space (or even a large pot) and like garlic, do yourself a favour and order bulbs or cloves from an online seed supplier and get growing.
It really is dead easy.