Notes for planting garlic:
1. Garlic takes 9 months to mature. Sow now for a jul-aug harvest.
2. Garlic sends out roots in the winter and stays out until spring. As weather warms it sends out shoots. The bulb forms later.
3. Order seed garlic online. Don’t use store bought garlic. They are bleached and chlorinated and won’t root well. You may get lucky with a few, however.
4. Prepare the ground well. There is no top feeding the garlic. Add compost, bone meal, wood ash, so there is enough nutrition. Poke a stick in and you should get 12 inches of pliable soil.
5. Separate the individual pods from the bulb a day earlier. Sow root side down and pointed tip up, tip exposed at top soil line.
6. Cover with 6 inches of straw mulch. This will protect the roots and gradually decompose over winter.
7. Full moon to half moon is a great time to sow root vegetables. Order your seeds and go for it.
8. Choose soft necked garlic as hard necks need colder temps than what we get in Atlanta.
9. Choose a sunny spot. The plant won’t form bulbs if it get less than 8 hours of sun.
10. Garlic grows great in pots. Sow some to keep on the patio and enjoy watching it grow.