Growing Garlic

I've been anxiously watching, and the garlic is finally poking up.  Planting garlic is best done in the fall.  These plants actually do much better when they experience the harsh winter months, tucked deep under the soil's surface (about 3 inches).  Now like onions, which are also of the Allium genus, it's easier to plant a pre-developed bulb or clove.  Of course you can plant from seed but the bulb plantings come up much sooner and grow much more vigorously (although I've heard transplanted onions grow larger).

This medicinal and culinary herb has been cultivated
for thousands of years.  

It is thought to have originated from central and
southwestern Asia, and has since traveled the world
with the help of humans.

I'll not get into all the health benefits of garlic, but I did find this snippet over at tonicfoodclub.com:  

"Garlic is one of the most powerful foods.  The list of benefits and uses is impressive.  Here are just a few:

• lowers cholesterol
• prevent blood clots
• reduce blood pressure
• prevents cancer in 3 ways:
• helps the immune system fight cancer cells, inhibits tumor cell metabolism and reproduction of cancer cells
• protects against bacterial and fungal infections."

So when fall is approaching and you're thinking of putting the garden to rest for the year, go ahead and buy a bulb of good seed garlic and find a few nice spots to grow this amazing plant.