Spring Garlic

The first harvest of the season, spring (aka baby) garlic is one of my favorites. 

Use it like you would green onions - it adds a garlic flavor to your cooking that's much more mellow and mild than mature garlic cloves.

Garlic is one of the easiest herbs to grow in your garden. I skip the expensive stuff you'll find at the garden center and buy some good organic garlic heads at my local supermarket or farmers market. 

Not only is garlic delicious, but it makes a great companion plant to the rest of your garden. Its aroma is thought to repel would-be garden pests, like bunnies. I use it along the edge of my beds along with other natural repellents, like nasturtium and marigolds. 

Plant each clove 4-6" apart in the fall.  (Plant them closer together if you want spring/baby garlic, then in the spring you can thin them to enjoy this culinary treat.)

As a general rule:

Plant your garlic on Columbus Day (mid-October). 

Thin to harvest spring/baby garlic mid-April. 

Cut flowers off on Memorial Day (end of May). 

Harvest mature heads on Independence Day (early July). 

Happy gardening!