Garlic cloves planted and covered with straw for winter protection
Nice day yesterday here in Santa Fe. I planted the garlic I ordered from Filaree Garlic Farm online for the second year and their garlic is great. I ordered 3 hardneck varieties (hardneck varieties do well here in cold climates). They are Penasco Blue, German White and Music. All produce big heads of garlic. If you plant garlic in late fall (October), you will get bigger heads of garlic in early summer than if you wait till summer to plant it and it’s sooo easy at this time of year. I added about 2 inches of compost on top of my raised bed, lightly dug it in and planted the cloves pointy side up about 3 inches deep. Then water well and add about 6 inches of straw on top for winter protection. Remember to water them in the winter if we don’t get any precipitation and wait for the green leaves to appear in early spring. Nothing bothers them too and fresh garlic is great! That’s it-easy peezy.
giantveggiegardener 
Hi Tomato Lady! What varieties would you recommend for the Las Cruces area? I enjoy your blog! Thanks…
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I imagine you can plant both softneck and hardneck varieties.
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Hello Jannine, I stopped by the Agua Fria nursery and received excellent info on moving a pinon pine correctly. The owner then informed me I would be ahead to contact the Denver arboretum to do any consulting since the weather in the Las Vegas area, due to the colder winds more closely matches that Colorado climate than Santa fe’s. I found this eye opening, to say the least.
Gene
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Great! Glad they could give you good advice.
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I suppose it must be planted after winter where winters are too cold. I really do not know how much frost they tolerate. I never worried about it before.
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Hardneck varieties of garlic do very well here in our colder winters but softnecks can do well too. I guess we can grow both. The reason I plant in October is so they get a head start on root growth and then take off in spring-they do very well here. Our winters can get pretty cold being in zone 6 although with all the climate change, who knows what will happen.
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We do that with some spring annuals, but only because they survive through the mild winters.
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