Garlic Progression

The garlic that I planted last fall is doing very well.  It pushed up through the mulch in late January and has been growing steadily ever since.  Originally I had it covered by plastic laying directly on the mulch for the winter but once I noticed the leaves against the plastic I changed it into a hoop house to give it room to grow.  Under the protection of the hoop house it grew very well.  All of the protection for these plants was mostly because of the chickens that have been busy scratching up the garden all winter.  I didn't want them to eat my hard work before I could harvest it for myself.  The garlic didn't really need to be undercover since it is an incredibly hardy plant and can survive some pretty chilly temps, but I think it thrived even better with the warming effect of the hoop house.  Now that the weather is warming even more, I didn't want it to get too hot under the hoop house, so I decided that I should let it grow in the open air.  I still had to protect it from the chickens of course, so I used a roll of chicken wire to cage it in the frame of the hoop house that previously covered it.

I am excited to see how well it has been growing now that I don't have to peek under the plastic covering anymore.  There were a few plants that were struggling to push through the grass mulch that I laid over the bed last fall, so I helped them out and hopefully they will soon catch up with the rest of the happy plants.  Many of them are over eight inches tall and have more than four leaves, so I would say they are doing just fine.  I expect they will send up scapes in a couple of months and then be ready to harvest a few more weeks after that.  I am so happy to see my first crop of the year looking so healthy and strong.  Hopefully the rest of the garden will follow their great example.