Planting the Garlic

After some rain showers moved through the area yesterday, today's cloudy but dry weather sent me outside to get the garlic planted. I had promised myself I would find the time, somehow, to get the garlic planted on time this year. I am still a couple weeks later than I would have liked but so much earlier than last year's January 10th planting. I pulled out of storage the largest two bulbs of each variety. 

As the name implies, the "Chesnook Red" cloves are covered in such pretty layers of red papery skin.

The "Music" cloves were larger and covered in a soft purple skin. You can only imagine how pungent and "garlicky" my hands smelled after dividing the bulbs into individual cloves!

In the Kitchen Garden, I first built up a 20'+ long raised bed. Then I laid out the individual cloves on top of the bed, trying to fit in as many as I could while still allowing enough room for each new bulb to reach maximum size. Then it was time to get planting. After I dug each hole, I dropped in a tablespoon of bone meal and mixed it into the soil at the bottom. Then I set in each clove and covered it well. I ended up planting 17 "Music" cloves and 15 "Chesnook Red" cloves. I am hoping, since I was able to plant this year's garlic crop over 3 months earlier than last year, that the garlic plants will be happier and the bulbs will reach a larger final size than they did this year.