There are a lot of articles out there about planting and growing garlic. Makes sense. Autumn is garlic-planting time. Some of them argue that you have to or should go spend a good amount of money on starter garlic. Unless you are about to start a full out commercial garlic farm, I’m here to tell you that it’s a lot cheaper and easier than that.
Just look at the organic garlic you have at home or at your local farm stand, grocer or market. I’ve never tried non-organic, but online research tells me that it won’t sprout. If it has some pretty good sized cloves on it, snap them off and go stick them about 3 inches into the ground. You’ll get the best results if you add compost or manure to the soil, too, make it nice and rich. In cold climates, it’s a good idea to put leaves or straw over top of the garlic bed for an extra buffer from winter weather. You will get two harvests from garlic! In early Spring, you can harvest the curly scapes (green tops), and in late Spring, you can turn your garlic bulbs out of the soil with a pitchfork. I’ll take any wholesome excuse to use a pitchfork!
Here’s a great (but a little bit too advertisey) article on planting garlic.