I've never grown garlic in this temperature zone before, so I really don't feel like I know what I'm doing. Heck, I've never grown ANYTHING in this temperature zone before, so it's all new. Anyway, I planted the garlic in late fall in two places in my garden . The main bed is mulched with plastic in rows of four by about eleven. The remaining cloves I tucked in my little rebel bed along the wall. (See last photo.) The wall bed is mulched with leaves not so subtly nipped from the neighbors last fall on burnables day , skeletons of last year's basil, and a small hit of chicken manure. I am not a big fan of plastic mulch, but the dearth of natural materials to be had is daunting. At home I used mulch to keep weeds down and the ground moist, but here I've seen it's value for those reasons and more. The wind as it whips across the farm and over Tokyo is most impressive, and not just in typhoon season. I see great gobs of topsoil flying away sometimes as we
Words about farmers markets, gardening, food and whatever else catches my fancy.