ok i am one happy camper today.. ordered my onions this morning - i'm late with that but they aren't delivered till mid april..so it's ok..in the northern part of the country where i am we grow the long day onions
and
planted some more garlic cause some of what i planted last fall failed..boo hoo
but it was an experiment to see if two and three year old stuff would grow..the answer is no
unbelievably the ones i am planting now and the ones from last fall will all harvest at the same time..for me it has always been late july / early august..so figure on about 140 days - approx.
the old timers believe that the ones that winter over have more flavor
so i thought maybe a how to for anyone who hasn't tried planting ...it's not hard
and since a photos is worth so much i took some of them too
what my current patch looks like after the snow..pretty awful but you can see it doesn't take up much space..there are 60 plants that are growing now
the patch you are looking at is 17 feet across and the rows are 12 inches apart
with the garlic approx. a hand apart and one knuckle deep
the boards i use to walk thur the patch because after the many wonderful years of
gardening here the earth is nicely friable...you can put your hand into it up to your elbow
what you will need
garlic, string line with 2 sticks, some type of measure for spacing the row, finger hoe
the string line goes from one side to the other and you can make a small trench under the line
use the measureing piece to move the string line to the next row and make another trench
this is so the rows are straight and the distance between them the same
just lay the garlic in the row..that way you can easily respace them in the room that you have
after you have them placed.. go back and press into the soil - leaving a tiny bit of them
out of the ground...then pull the dirt back over them from the trentch
and then write down what you have done..believe me.. it makes it soooooo much easier from year to year....i use a spiral notebook and deaw pictures.. i will also come back and make a note
for what and when i harvested..
and yes i know i am anal retentive..
..i'm cool with it
good luck and i will surely answer any questions