I found the article here, but I'm copying the text over here in case it disappears.

It's true - home grown garlic is amazingly tasty, and so easy to grow!

Grow Your Own Garlic

Once you taste home-grown garlic, you won't be satisfied with supermarket varieties

by Ruth Lively

Garlic isn’t hard to grow. In fact, growing garlic plants is almost ridiculously easy. It has a few important requirements that are easily met: decent soil, adequate moisture, and, of course, planting and harvesting at the right time.

When is the right time for planting garlic? Plant garlic four to six weeks before the ground freezes in your area. You can fudge the planting time a little. I have planted as early as September (by mistake) and as late as Thanksgiving (to experiment) and have had decent crops. Roots will start to grow soon after you plant. Your aim is to get good root development before the plants go dormant. Green shoots may appear in the fall, which is fine.

 

6 easy steps for a bumper crop of garlic

 

1. Prepare the soil

To grow nice, big heads of garlic, you need loose, fertile soil. Loosen the soil with a digging fork, spread a 2- to 3-inch-deep layer of organic matter over the area, and dig it in. For organic matter, I use a well-aged mixture of compost, leaf mold, and aged rabbit manure. To avoid disease problems, don’t plant garlic in the same spot two years running. Prepare several shallow furrows in the soil that are 6 inches apart.

 

 

2. Choose your varieties

There are two main types of garlic: hardneck and softneck. Hardnecks have cloves growing around a hard central stalk. This stalk forms a curling scape (or flower stem) on top, which many growers cut off to redirect energy to the bulb. Softneck garlics form more cloves, with big ones around the outside of the head and numerous small ones at the center. Softnecks also tend to keep longer once harvested than hardnecks. Break apart a large head of garlic, and plant only the biggest cloves. The bigger the clove, the greater the likelihood it will yield a nice, big head of garlic. Save the smaller cloves to use in the kitchen.

 

Hardneck garlic Photo/Illustration: Ruth Lively

Softneck garlic Photo/Illustration: Ruth Lively

 

 

 

3. Plant a clove, get a head

To plant, place the cloves 4 inches apart in a furrow. Hold each clove pointed end up, and push it into the soil about 2 inches deep. After all the cloves are in the ground, smooth the soil surface using your fingers or a rake to fill in the holes, and water well. If you’re planting more than one variety, be sure to label each one clearly. I also make a map of my planting, in case the labels go astray. I wait to mulch for a month or more after planting to give the soil a chance to cool down. When it’s leaf-raking season, I put several inches of chopped leaves over the bed.

 

Photo/Illustration: Melissa Lucas

4. Fertilize and water

Top growth starts in earnest in spring, when the weather warms and the days lengthen. I fertilize twice with a solution of liquid kelp and fish emulsion: once, when the garlic has started growing strongly—about mid-April in my area—and, again, a month later. Garlic isn’t greedy for water, but it doesn’t like to dry out, either. When the soil feels dry an inch below the surface, it’s time to water. In mid- to late June, I stop watering. By that time, the garlic has sized up and the heads are starting to form cloves.

 

Photo/Illustration: Michelle Gervais

5. Time the harvest carefully

Harvest in late spring or early summer when the plants have five or six green leaves, with no more than one or two beginning to turn brown. Each green leaf represents a wrapper layer surrounding the head. During harvest, you’re liable to damage the outer layer. Later, while cleaning the heads, you’re apt to lose another one or two layers. Your goal is to end up with two or three tight, papery layers enclosing each bulb. To harvest, drive a garden fork beneath the plants (be careful not to damage the bulbs), gently pry them loose, and then pull them out. Shake off any excess soil, and lay the plants in a pile. As soon as you’ve finished harvesting, move the plants to an airy location that is protected from sun and rain. If you’re growing more than one variety, keep each variety separate and well labeled so that you know what’s what.

 

Photo/Illustration: Michelle Gervais

6. Cure, clean, and store the heads

To cure garlic in preparation for storage, hang the bare bulbs with their foliage in bundles or spread them out on a table or rack. You can begin eating them right away, but bulbs intended for storage must be cured.

After a few weeks of curing, it’s bulb-cleaning time. Trim the stalks to 12 inch above the bulb, and trim the roots close to the bulb. Rub off the outer layer of skin around the bulb, and use a nailbrush or toothbrush to gently remove any soil clinging to the base. Try not to remove more wrapper layers than you have to. Store the bulbs in a well-ventilated, dark spot. If you want, set aside the biggest bulbs for planting in the fall.

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And then there is this article on common garlic-planting mistakes:

 

How to plant garlic: Three mistakes to avoid

 

Jeri Baker

iStockphoto®/MamaMiaPL

 

October 29, 2013

 

I love garlic. But failed completely the first time I tried to plant garlic.

After attending a garlic festival sponsored by the Pikes Peak Urban Gardens, I stopped at a local nursery, bought garlic bulbs, and without much knowledge at hand, went home and planted my garlic. I was so disappointed the following August when very few of the plants came up and the bulbs themselves were puny.

The next year I had a bumper crop of nice-sized garlic. I was delighted. After all, garlic is not only a healthy addition to any diet, but a key ingredient in many Mediterranean dishes.

Here are three top mistakes to avoid when planting your garlic.

1. Neglecting your soil

Garlic loves loose, loamy soils that are rich in nitrogen. Here's my first mistake, I have clay soil that compacts and restricts root development and bulb growth. Be sure to add compost or manure along with a rich topsoil to prepare your garden bed. Because my soil is clay, I also add some sand to discourage soil compaction during the growing season.

Also, if you intend on planting garlic every year, be sure to rotate your crop. The garlic will soon deplete the nitrogen. During the growing season, use a 10-10-10 fertilizer to help keep your garlic well nourished and growing to it's full potential. Be sure your soil is well drained. If amending your soil is more work than you want to tackle, you can plant your garlic in containers and grow them indoors.

2. Being stingy with your water

Water your garlic frequently, especially after you first plant them. Don't over water, but keep the soil moist. If you live in an arid climate, you will find a good layer of mulch will help retain moisture and protect the bulbs from any severe cold snaps. I use between 4 - 6 inches of mulch depending on the plant's location in my garden.

You will either plant your bulbs in fall (September 15th - October 15), or wait until spring. I always recommend planting in the fall, but you have to be vigilant about monitoring the moisture. If you have not had much snow or rainfall, you will need to do winter watering to ensure the plants get the moisture they need to form a good root system.

You can reduce watering when the weather begins to warm and new sprouts emerge, but you must ensure they do not dry out. Watering is particularly crucial when growing the garlic in containers. It is important to check the soil moisture regularly.

3. Plant garlic in the shade

Garlic loves the sun. The first year I planted garlic, I planted them too close to a large tree. They only got about 4 hours of full sun each day, which produced smaller and slightly deformed garlic. The optimum is 6 - 8 hours of full sun.

As garlic is a southern European native, they love nice sunny locations. Because of my arid location, with frequent water restrictions, I pull the mulch away from the sprout to form a 4 - 6" circle, but leave the mulch on the ground to help keep the root system moist during the heat of the day. In more humid locations you may not find this necessary. Your sun-loving garlic will produce larger and better-formed bulbs to show its appreciation of the sunshine.

Plant each clove in your row approximately 6" apart, and space the rows about a foot apart. Overcrowding your garlic plants can also result in smaller and even deformed bulbs.

For your Fourth of July Celebrations!!

There are quite a few variations on this layered cocktail around. If you don't like the ingredients of this one, I'm sure a quick search would turn up something more to  your taste!

I have had a very strange day, but it has left me feeling mellow nevertheless.

Here's a lovely mellow song to accompany it, full of peace within strangeness and strain:

I'm going to dress up tonight
And I'll look real pretty for I don't know who
I'll find my own way around this great big city
And I'm gonna sit at a bar and I'll have a drink

I'll leave you to revel in your youthful yearnings
I know you like to visit them from time to time
And like a thief I steal the words you write to her
I take them to my heart and I wish them to be mine

But this is nothing new
But it ain't nothing
Well this is nothing new
But it ain't nothing

You long for sweetness
Does mine make you sickly
Or maybe I no longer have the sweetness you require
There's nothing sweet about a heart so embittered
It's ugly and it's cold and tonight it's out for hire

But it ain't nothing new
But this ain't nothing
Well this is nothing new
But it ain't nothing

We live through this day after day
And complacency's a curse
But you just can't escape it
And I've arrived at that place where my tolerance gave way
And I struggle to hold my head up high

But it ain't nothing new
Well this is nothing new
But it ain't nothing

It's funny, I think people see the Tom Sawyer of this song as an admirable character. It certainly catches the charisma of the person of whom they are singing. But the essence of the song is about  psychic vampire: a high energy person who keeps his energy up by sucking it out of other people.

today's Tom Sawyer
He gets high on you
And the energy you trade

I have terrible nutrient-poor clay soil here. I've been amending it for a couple of years now, but it's still pretty bad. I'm actually considering tearing it out of our raised beds and replacing it with new soil. I might try making up some of my own potting mix, following a recipe I found here:

To make your own mix, combine the following in a wheelbarrow:

2 five gallon buckets full of sphagnum peat moss
1 five gallon bucket full of rotted horse manure, compost, or worm castings
1 and 1/2 cup garden lime
1 large coffee can full of perlite
1 handful of Epsom salts

Here's a vid:

Ah, it was nice to revisit this song and revisit the pleasure of not being in love with my ghost. I once thought I would never have that.

That spring everything grew wild
and the rain came down like punishment.
You sat on the fire escape until
the ashtrays were snow drifts.
Change came ugly then.
Showed up alone with moldy suitcases
and too many demands, speaking the language
of hard looks and wine headaches.

The memories are hazy now.
Something about a girl
like a light at the end of the tunnel.
Something about panic in your chest
and a new scar on your thigh.
Something about an tearful phone call
on the overnight train back home.
What no one ever talks about
is how dangerous hope can be.
Call it forgiveness
with teeth.

All my love songs for her are very strange.

I met her in the Museum of Paleontology
And I make no bones about it
I said: "If you wish to study dinosaurs,
I know a specimen whose interest is undoubted"

Trapped in a body that is failing me
Well, please allow me to be succinct:
I wanna love you whilst we both still have flesh upon our bones
Before we both become extinct

That's what I told her:
"I wanna be your lover"
And then I told her twice:
"I wanna be your lover"

Well, he says he loves you like a sister
Well I guess, I guess that's relative
He says that he wants to make love to you
Well instead of 'to', shouldn't that be 'with'?

Oh, I told you once:
"I wanna be your lover"
And now I've told you twice, Homes:
"I wanna be your lover"

And so I come to you filled with guilt and self-loathing
And I am praying that you could make me good
And so I fall upon your neck just like a vampire
Yeah, like a vampire who faints at the sight of blood, yeah

And I told you once:
"I wanna be your lover"
I'm gonna say it again
And then I told you twice:
"I wanna be your lover"

Well this is my CV and I've got no-one else to blame
So I will state, state my case, yeah, I will state it again

Come and help yourself to leftovers
Got a little surplus love and affection
And getting cuddly, so won't you cuddle me?
I could be your teddy bear, oh yeah

I know I ain't no eligible bachelor
This is no mouth-watering proposition
Make no mistake, you're in big trouble, little lady
If we start a-huggin' and a-kissin'
And a-kissin', are you listening?

'Cause I told you once
And then I told you twice
And now I told you three times
And at the risk of repeating myself
I'm gonna say it again

Yeah
I wanna be your lover
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
I wanna be your lover
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
I wanna be your lover
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
I wanna be your lover
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
I wanna be your lover

I stopped going to therapy
because I knew my therapist was right
and I wanted to keep being wrong.
I wanted to keep my bad habits
like charms on a bracelet.
I did not want to be brave.
I think I like my brain best
in a bar fight with my heart.
I think I like myself a little broken.
I’m ok if that makes me less loved.
I like poetry better than therapy anyway.
The poems never judge me
for healing wrong.

I just found this beautiful haunting song. Fortunately the sentiments within haven't applied to me for many years now. But there's still a beauty in a certain sadness.

Nevermind me 'cause I've been dead
Out of my body been out of my head
Nevermind the songs they hum
Don't want to sing along
There's nothin' that I said
That'll bring you happiness happiness
Is hard to come by I confess
I'm bad at this thing happiness
If you find it share it with the rest of us
Nevermind the words that came
Out of my mouth when all that I could feel was pain
The difference in the two of us
Comes down to the way
You wrestle with things I just put down
That'll bring you happiness happiness
Is hard to come by I confess
I'm bad at this thing happiness
If you find it share it with the rest of us
Rest of us
Ooh ooh ooh

I don't know how I hadn't discovered this one before:

2 AM and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake,
"Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?,
I don't love him. Winter just wasn't my season"
Yeah we walk through the doors, so accusing their eyes
Like they have any right at all to criticize,
Hypocrites. You're all here for the very same reason

'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl.
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe... just breathe,
Oh breathe, just breathe

May he turned 21 on the base at Fort Bliss
"Just a day" he said down to the flask in his fist,
"Ain't been sober, since maybe October of last year."
Here in town you can tell he's been down for a while,
But, my God, it's so beautiful when the boy smiles,
Wanna hold him. Maybe I'll just sing about it.

Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable,
And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table.
No one can find the rewind button, boys,
So cradle your head in your hands,
And breathe... just breathe,
Oh breathe, just breathe

There's a light at each end of this tunnel,
You shout 'cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out
And these mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again
If you'd only try turning around.

2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me,
Threatening the life it belongs to
And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
Cause these words are my diary, screaming out loud
And I know that you'll use them, however you want to

But you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable,
And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button now
Sing it if you understand.
and breathe, just breathe
woah breathe, just breathe,
Oh breathe, just breathe,
Oh breathe, just breathe.

"I'm no heroine
at least, not last time I checked
I'm too easy to roll over
I'm too easy to wreck
I just write about
what I should have done
I just sing
what I wish I could say
and hope somewhere
some woman hears my music
and it helps her through her day"

you think I wouldn't have him
unless I could have him by the balls
you think I just dish it out
you don't think I take it at all
you think I am stronger
you think I walk taller than the rest
you think I'm usually wearing the pants
just 'cause I rarely wear a dress

well...

when you look at me
you see my purpose,
see my pride
you think I just saddle up my anger
and ride and ride and ride
you think I stand so firm
you think I sit so high on my trusty steed
let me tell you
I'm usually face down on the ground
when there's a stampede

I'm no heroine
at least, not last time I checked
I'm too easy to roll over
I'm too easy to wreck
I just write about
what I should have done
I just sing
what I wish I could say
and hope somewhere
some woman hears my music
and it helps her through her day

'cause some guy designed
these shoes I use to walk around
some big man's business turns a profit
every time I lay my money down
some guy designed the room I'm standing in
another built it with his own tools
who says I like right angles?
these are not my laws
there are not my rules

I'm no heroine
I still answer to the other half of the race
I don't fool myself
like I fool you
I don't have the power
we just don't run this place

I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Companion planting is the practice of combining plants together which help each other in some way. Some plants make other plants taste better (such as basil, which makes tomatoes more flavorful) or repel insects (onions with insects that prey on cabbage) or attract insects (nasturtiums, which are more attractive to predatory insects than most plants, so attract away harmful pests).

Companion planting also includes which plants to not plant together. Basil may kill rosemary, for example.

There are a ton of useful sites online. This is one of my favorites, because it spends more time explaining why to plant certain things together.

I want to try this for our next game night:

Yields: 4 servings | Calories: 99

1 (large) zucchini, cut into 1/8" - 1/4" slices
1/3 cup whole grain breadcrumbs, optional Panko
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese, reduced fat
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Kosher or sea salt to taste
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons low-fat milk

Directions thinly slice the zucchini with a mandolin slicer. Mix all dry ingredients together, except zucchini. Dip slices in the milk then dump them into a gallon size bag filled with the dry seasoning, shake to coat, dump onto a cookie sheet, bake at 425F until crispy brown

I don't want to strive for nothing anymore,
I just want to lie here with you,
Keep the wolves outside the door,
There is nothing in this world you could ever show me that could ever matter more.

Little baby
In the next room dreaming,
Is just icing on the cake,
There is nothing like dancing,
A dance of give and take,
One step forward,
One step sideways,
A helpless feeling,
When the earth shakes.

I will always be your lover,
Even after our atoms are dispersed,
We'll be pushing up daisies,
And my crush will just be getting worse,
I will follow you into the next life,
Like a dog chasing after a hearse.

I just don't want to strive for nothing anymore,
I just want to lie here with you,
Keep the wolves outside the door,
There is nothing in this world you could ever show me that could ever matter more...

I've been having a bit of an emotionally tough week. I'm doing a lot of very valuable internal work. Today  it's left me with a sense of simple peace, and with this oldie-but-goodie earworm:

There's no way out of here
When you come in
You're in for good
There was no promise made
The part you played
The chance you took

There are no boundaries set
The time and yet
You waste it still
So it slips through your hands
Like grains of sand
You watch it go

There's no time to be lost
You'll pay the cost
So get it right
There's no way out of here
When you come in
You're in for good

There never was there an answer
There an answer
Not without listening
Without seeing

There are no answers here
When you look out
You don't see in
There was no promise made
The part you played
The chance you took

There's no way out of here
When you come in
You're in for good

There never was there an answer
There an answer
Not without listening
Without seeing

There's no way out of here
When you come in
You're in for good
There was no promise made
The part you played
The chance you took

There's no way out of here
When you come in
You're in for good
There's no way out of here
When you come in
You're in for good
There are no answers here
When you look out
You don't see in
There's no way out of here
When you come in
You're in for good