Growing Garlic...

...is really easy and satisfying.

You might think, "Hey, why should I grow it ...it's only 39 cents a bulb at the store!" Of course you'd be right that it's not exactly a money-maker, but that's not the point of gardening (except when it comes to tomatoes... no excuse for buying those over-priced flavorless blobs at the store when they'll grow like weeds in your yard or in a container).

But back to garlic... Have you ever been cooking, reached for a bulb of garlic, and found that you were out? Not a problem if you thought ahead, but who always does that?

So, next time you've got a bulb, take out a few cloves and go bury them in some dirt somewhere around your yard. A few inches apart and about an inch or two deep. Then soak the area and forget about them. The ideal time would be in the fall or winter, but I think any time will do. In a few months a bunch of onion-like leaves will have grown and just under the soil that original clove will have swelled and multiplied into an entire bulb (lots of cloves). But the best thing is that you can just ignore it--even let most of the leaves wilt and dry out--and it'll keep just fine. Then when you're cooking and find you forgot the garlic, just go out and pull up a bulb! If you're really on the ball, you'll keep a continual cycle of garlic growing and you can dig up a few ever couple of weeks, let them dry a bit, and you'll always be stocked.

You'll have to determine for yourself whether or not they successfully keep vampires away!