My husband has a knack for landscaping. Our yard always looks fresh and pretty in all seasons. I am more of a “small container” type of gardener. 

 Growing herbs in pots is more my speed. Watching them grow from tiny plants to a whole big crop to dry and use fresh in my kitchen is gratifying. Last fall I wanted to experiment with planting some herbs in the ground and that got me thinking about trying my hand at growing garlic. My husband is Italian and we can never have enough. The process seemed simple enough but the real attraction to me had to do with an old wives tale.

I’m a push-over for a good story or folklore. After googling the process of when and how to plant garlic there were, of course, different options and opinions. In making my usual weekly round of farm-market shopping in the summer, some growers shared a secret with me about garlic. Here’s what I learned through them and by reading a couple of interesting articles…

Evidence of planting by the moon dates back to ancient history when the source of telling time was the sun, moon, and stars. Working with the natural rhythm of the moon’s cycles affects plant growth similar to the way it causes gravitational pull that causes high and low tides. That’s pretty deep scientific information, right? 

Apparently, if you plant your garlic bulbs on the night of October’s first full moon, you will have a hearty and full crop at harvest! So, that’s exactly what I did. I literally circled the date on my calendar and planted the bulbs as soon as it turned dark. It was fun and certainly different from our usual planting schedule.

This spring when the bulbs were ready to pull out of the ground, I was excited to see the fruits of my labor. The results? Meh. They were a little small but they did grow! I’m chalking it up to where I planted instead of when.

That’s not going to stop me from trying again this fall. On Saturday night, after dusk on October 28, 2023, you will find me planting some new garlic bulbs in a new garden space! I’ll let you know in the spring how this new crop turns out. Maybe I’ll even invite you over for some spaghetti with freshly planted garlic in the sauce. If you decide to try it, let me know how it turns out. We can compare bulbs!