[TomNJ]

My garlic is looking fine so far this year. I have 4 x 50' rows, the rows 12" apart with 6" in-row spacing, and planted (left to right) with Music, Russian Red, Estonian Red, and Killarney Red. This is one row less than last year's bumper crop, which I am still eating fresh but just have too much for my wife and me, plus I have plenty of garlic powder and frozen garlic. Music always produces the largest plants and bulbs for me, and the Estonian Red always has paler leaves. This is my first year for Killarney Red.


Note that the leaf plane is oriented perpendicular to the rows to maximize sunlight and minimize the plant-to-plant shading that would occur if the leaf plane were in line with the rows (i.e. 12" of room to spread vs 6"). Garlic leaves form a fan shape within a single plane, and this plane grows in line (parallel) with the back of the cloves, so orienting the cloves at planting allows you to control the orientation of the leaf plane. Since I mulch heavily with grass clippings and chopped leaves, and leave it on all season, I don't have to weed or cultivate between the rows and therefore the leaves don't interfere.

I fed my garlic about three weeks ago with bloodmeal sprinkled on top of the mulch. I'll do one more application in early May, then stop.