It seems every year garlic planting time sneaks up on us and we almost miss it. This year we looked in our gardening book and it said garlic planting time in our area is until mid October, so we put in our order right away. We saw all sorts of varieties that sounded amazing, but they were really expensive. So we chose Organic California Early White from Peaceful Valley because it was more affordable, and purchased three pounds. (Also it is a variety that is a very good keeper, which is awesome.) My mom drove to town last week (for Bracken’s birthday haircut) while I sat in the passenger seat and separated each clove from the bulbs, to get them ready for planting.

When we got home, Bracken spread the garlic cloves out in his new wagon.

This is the garlic bed Jeff prepared in the front garden. Until recently there were cucumbers and zucchini planted there. (In the background is a tarp covering some firewood down below, in case you were wondering what that blue thing was.)

After this front bed was planted with garlic, we prepared another bed in the back garden. Bracken and I pulled beets out from that bed and after Jeff got it planted, he covered it with chicken wire to protect it from the chickens, since the chickens are hanging out in the back garden these days. Jeff found a few other places to plant garlic along a bed in the front garden. There’s just a little bit of garlic left (which we’ll probably just eat at this point), but we’ve nearly planted three pounds now.

Then, on a sunny day while I was busy in the kitchen, Jeff and Bracken raked up leaves in the driveway and covered the garlic with them. Jeff said he’ll leave them on as a mulch through the winter and then remove the leaves in the spring. (The next time they raked leaves, they brought them to the chicken yard to help keep it from being too muddy this winter when all the rain comes. We always find plenty of uses for those leaves, not to mention the compost pile likes them.)

I’m so glad we got our garlic planted last week, just in time. With a house full of garlic lovers (well, Jeff and I, that is, it’s a little spicy for Bracken’s taste), we’re pretty pleased.