Growing Garlic

In the past I've written about the benefit of growing herbs, the experience of growing horseradish, and the thrill of growing vegetables and savoring that first, amazingly fresh bite, not to mention the various uses such as turning cucumbers into pickles and chilled soups.  Now I want to talk to you about garlic.  My guess is this is something you've never considered.  I hadn't thought about it much in the past either, until one day one of the garlic pods in the kitchen basket sprouted -- a very healthy sprout -- and I just couldn't bear to cut it up or throw it away.  So I marched it outside that fall afternoon and shoved it into the ground.  After that initial shoving, that is seriously all of the time I spent on it, and the last time I thought about it until shoots started coming up in the spring.  The heat killed them off and I thought that was that, until they returned with a vengeance.  Okay, I'll water them, I said to myself, and I did.  The other day the tops died back, so I thought I'd dig them up and see what was underneath. These are pretty small, but the aroma is just intoxicating. Not only that, but when I cut them, juices ran.  Juices! That's when I realized just how desiccated the pods I've been buying in the store really are. I left some pods in the ground for next year when they should gain a bit of size, and the next pod to sprout in the kitchen basket will join them. This was so easy that I just cannot  encourage you enough to give it a try.  A bit of empty space or an empty plant pot is all you need.  You have nothing to lose, and every aromatic thing to gain.

Now to find just the right recipe to do these cloves justice.

An excellent book on growing vegetables in containers (for those of you who don't have a lot of space) is this one:

This post is linked to:

Seasonal Sunday, Metamorphosis Monday, This Week in My Garden, Outdoor Wednesdays and Tuesday Garden Party