Plant Garlic Now: A Ranch Kitchen Garden for Next Year
Garlic goes in the ground in October and comes up in spring. Plant a bed now, then spend the winter choosing chiles, a taco garden and seeds made for the West.
By the Ranch House Finds editors
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The garden looks finished in October, but this is when next year's starts. Garlic goes in the ground now, sleeps under the snow and comes up as one of the first green things in spring. Plant a bed this month and you'll braid your own by July. Then spend the winter planning the rest: chiles for roasting, a taco garden and seeds picked for the country you actually live in.
Plant garlic now
Hardneck garlic is the one for cold winters. It needs a long chill to divide into a full head of cloves, and it sends up curly scapes in early summer that are good in a skillet. Break the bulbs into cloves just before planting, set them pointy end up about two inches deep and six inches apart, then mulch with a few inches of straw once the ground starts to freeze. Aim for a few weeks before the ground freezes hard.
Botanical Interests sells garlic by climate zone. For Zone 5 and colder, this bundle puts together three certified organic hardnecks that need a hard winter: German White Stiffneck, Montana Zemo and Chesnok Red.
In Zone 6, where cold winters build big bulbs, the bundle is Majestic, Romanian Red and Music.
A bed close to the kitchen
The best kitchen garden is the one you walk past every day. A raised bed by the back door warms up earlier in spring, drains well and keeps the dogs and the chickens out. This one is round, coated steel and 29 inches tall, so there's less bending.
Chiles to plan for spring
Chiles take a long time to get going, so they're started indoors about eight to ten weeks before the last frost and planted out once nights stay warm. That makes winter the time to choose them.
Big Jim is New Mexico's famous roasting chile, and this improved version has thicker flesh and steadier heat, around 9,000 Scoville. Big pods made for the fire.
For milder green chile, NuMex Joe E. Parker is the classic Anaheim type: thick walls and 6- to 8-inch pods for roasting, stuffing or canning.
And for a ristra by the door, Durango does double duty: eat it fresh as a fruity mirasol, or let the pods dry deep burgundy for guajillo sauce and powder.
A taco garden
If you only plant one bundle, make it dinner. The Taco Night set covers tomatoes, tomatillos, lettuce, cilantro, jalapeños and a sweet onion, among others.
Seeds for your country
Gardening in the West means short seasons up high and fierce heat down low. Botanical Interests puts together bundles for each. The Intermountain set is chosen for Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, with cool nights and short summers in mind, and includes Rocky Mountain Blue Penstemon.
The Desert West set is for hot, dry gardens from Nevada and Utah to Arizona, New Mexico and eastern California: Armenian cucumber, cantaloupe, delicata squash, sage, zinnias and Big Jim chiles.
Something for the monarchs
Leave a corner for the butterflies. This small gift set pairs two western milkweeds, food for monarch caterpillars, with Rocky Mountain Blue Penstemon, California poppy and blue grama grass. It makes a good small gift for anyone who gardens, too.
