Garlic

Welcome to the Clay Pot Gardener.  My gardening is truly a clay pot adventure.  Often times the clay pot cracks.  This is not for those looking for polished experts, but for a fellow earthy planner.  Journey with me, my friend, and see if we can beat the weeds while enjoying the fruits of our labor.

Last year this garden was an abandoned horse coral.  Weeds thrived for years.  I rototilled the ground last fall convinced the wild was tame-able. We added old horse manure from the horse barn and compost from our local land fill.  (We call it black gold)  We dug the walk ways and raised the beds.  Finally we decided to plant garlic. My husband is Italian and chaos would have ensued without the herb.
 In northern Iowa (our home) we plant garlic in the fall.  It was not a good idea to wait until the fall to order the seed garlic.  By the time I was ordering most companies online were already sold out.  Order early!  I finally found some online line and some from the local farmer's market.   We planted German Porcelain , German Red, Kilaney Red, and Susanville. They are actually thriving.

The fall planted bulbs were covered with straw about 4 inches deep.  Most of the straw survived the winter, but not the windy spring.  We're down to about half that depth now.  Straw keeps the soil moist and the weeds down (but unfortunately not out).  No scapes (curling center stalk that is the "flower") yet, but we are keeping a look-out.  They should be removed for good bulb production.  Scapes can also be eaten, so we'll report on the flavor after they appear.