Now is fairly close to the time (a little late by my estimates) that people plant garlic in our area. My father and I have been doing a little research on the subject.

Growing Garlic with Tom Ashley – Part 1 of 17
Garlic Propagation with Daniel Botkin

This a nice series and an interesting video from two farmers up in Massachusetts. Tom Ashley from Dancing Bear Farm and Daniel Botkin from Laughing Dog Farm. In the latter segment Daniel sows a large amount of garlic, fast, by planting the whole bulb, then separating and transplanting it come spring time. Pretty awesome technique for for speed and I get the feeling there might be some other intelligence that nature has bestowed upon this method.

I sent Daniel an email inquiring about the particulars:

Hi Matt,

No it’s still prone to those things… however, you can quickly seed out
hundreds of cloves and have them ready for early spring separation and
transplant. When the ground is freezing up, I revert to this method just to
up my total # garlic planted. They all need mulch and a bit o luck, whether
separated or not. Happy planting/eating.

Daniel

> Does planting garlic in whole undivided bulbs help the garlic resist the
> potential perils (heaving, not enough time to establish roots, etc…) of
> late planting in colder weather (as compared to sowing cloves individually
> in the same conditions)?
>
> Thanks a bunch,
> Matt

For those wanting to delve further, here’s a nice article about growing garlic in Minnesota.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/cropsystems/DC7317.html

I figure it could be especially pertinent. People growing in Minnesota are planting in what might be an even colder/tougher environment. Any tips they have might ensure a healthy hardy garlic crop. I’m almost positive we’ll be going with a Hardneck variety. Johnny’s Seeds says German Extra-Hardy is the beezneez.