The Garlic Cycle

Growing garlic on a scale larger than a small raised bed was something I'd never done but had talked about for a few years. Last year I decided to take a stab at it. One thing's for sure, it's a slow process. The bottom pictures are from our September 13 planting date. Garlic has to be hand planted, and as you can see I had the best help (Wren). In total we planted over 800 row feet. The top pics are from the harvest date, this past Saturday May 23. Yes, 36 weeks in the ground. This crop spent 2/3 of a year in the field. It is now on drying racks in the barn "curing" (top right pic). It should be ready to sell in a couple of weeks. As a general rule I think its usually a good thing to try something new. We learned a lot. Some things we did well, and some things we will change next time. Ultimately, we'll all be enjoying fresh garlic soon. So I'll call that a success.