We have planted 3 different varieties:1) Purple softneck (Allium sativum) from westcoastseeds.com
2) Another softneck that we bought from a farmer's market in North Saanich at the end of the summer. I believe it is Red Russian, but I'm not entirely certain.
3) A hardneck (Allium ophioscorodon) variety from a family run farm store in Central Saanich. I don't have the variety name, but they have a bit of purple on them and there were 6 big beautiful cloves per bulb.
All in all we ended up with two and a half 8-foot rows of garlic cloves planted 10 cm (4 inches) apart and about 5 cm (2 inches) deep, pointy side up. The papery skin ripped off a few cloves when I separated the bulbs. These cloves are going straight to the kitchen as they can't be planted. We'll collect and shred some fallen maple leaves to use as a mulch over the garlic. Mulching maintains moisture and moderates temperature. I'll have to keep and eye on them though, as we can have very wet winters here! If all goes well, the bulbs will be harvested next July/August!
This is the 8' x 4' raised garden bed we selected to plant the garlic. This box also contains a mixed planting of beets and at the end, sugar snaps are growing on the trellis. For interest's sake, the other beds have lettuce (under the row cover) and peppers (in the hoop house).
Garlic cloves placed every 4 inches at 2 inches deep. All there is to do now is cover them with soil and mulch and wait!
I love garlic. It is such a wonderful addition to so many dishes. Plus... it has some interesting health benefits - heart protection, inflammation reduction, infectious disease-fighting, among others.
Here are a few more pictures I took a few days ago of part of the vegetable garden. It's somewhat more empty than it was during the summer, but now it is time for the brassicas to shine! Enjoy!
These 2 images are of the same set of raised garden beds, but taken from different ends. These beds contain cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, shelling peas, broccoli, celery, kohlrabi, more cabbage (these were started from seed in the spring) and rhubarb. We also planted marigolds for pest control.
Colorful brussels sprouts plants.
Shelling peas direct sown in August.
