This October, Pasture Prime Acres officially became home to 2,096 garlic cloves.
Forty pounds of seed garlic went into the ground over three planting days—October 9, October 10, and October 15. We planted Music, German Hardy, Russian Red, and Creole varieties, each one a small, hopeful promise of next summer’s harvest.
Of course, it was not quite as simple as digging a few rows and dropping cloves into the soil.
We started with a garlic planter that looked like it ought to make quick work of the job. It did not. After adjusting it, trying it, and giving it more patience than it deserved, we declared it absolutely useless for our field.
Next came a 2x4 and a hoe, which did help us make some orderly rows. But the real winner turned out to be the grapple on the skid steer. After the field was re-tilled and rocks were worked out, the grapple made rows that actually worked with the contours and conditions of this particular patch of ground.
And then came the hand planting. Clove by clove, row by row, each one went in with its point toward the sky. There is something wonderfully grounding about that kind of work—literally. By the end, there was dirt everywhere: on our hands, our boots, our knees, and most likely places we will discover later.
Daisy served as Supervisor, staying close enough to keep an eye on every decision. You could practically see her being a little critical of our harebrained planting process. Bandit, Head of Security, had more pressing responsibilities: bouncing between the field and the nearby treeline in pursuit of chipmunks.
The field was wet, and a cold front and more rain were on the way, so we pushed through to finish. By October 15, all 2,096 cloves were tucked in for the winter.
Since planting, the rows have been tucked under a covering of oat straw—a final blanket for the garlic as it settles in for the winter. Now the field is covered, the work is done, and we wait for spring.
