Garlic Time

Because I am a bit of a cheap skate, I don't like to pay the prices that seed suppliers charge for planting garlic so this year I have bought organic garlic from anywhere that sells it - Food Connect, organic vege shops etc. Today I hit pay dirt at the French's Forest Farmers Market. There was a man selling his own homegrown organic garlic for a fraction of what it costs online from Diggers, Green Harvest etc. , $1 a bulb for white softneck garlic and $2 for purple hardneck. And no postage costs. He didn't tell me exactly what kinds they were but I don't really need to know that. Last time I bought garlic for planting I completely forgot which was which anyway.

I'll use the smallest cloves in the kitchen and then will plant the decent sized ones when it is planting time. I'll probably put some in at Easter and then have a go at another lot on the shortest day to harvest on the longest day. I'm going big scale with the garlic this year so I'm hoping it will be the last time I have to buy any - ever!

Here is a link to Stewart's Vege Garden with a very good explanation of how to grow garlic. It's actually much easier than you would think and then you just have to pray that it doesn't rain too much at the end so they don't rot. All mine will be raised beds this year, last year I planted them too close to the lawn and they fell foul of Hubby's strimmer!