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Garlic Festival
by W.Holidays

Growing Garlic
Garlic is used in so many dishes, why not grow your own.  Some experts say growing the garlic you get from the grocery store works great. Others suggest that this garlic has been treated with a growth inhibitor. Why not experiment, buy a head of garlic from the market and one from the nursery or mail order source. See which one grows the fastest and produces the best harvest. This would be a great learning project for kids.

Planting
Break each head of garlic into individual cloves. Plant cloves 3-4 inches apart, with the pointed end upward. Two or three times throughout the growing season give the plants some fertilizer. Keep the soil loose and moist.

Harvesting
When the leaves of the garlic plant are 90 percent brown and dry, it's time to harvest. Pull up the bulbs. Let them dry in the sun for a few days. Now you can either braid the tops together or place them in a net bag. Hang them in an airy location to help prevent rot.

Bug Worries
Thripes are tiny insects that feed on the leaves causing white, blotchy areas. To combat thripes keep weeds out of the garden. Blast with cold water to remove thripes from plants.

The onion maggot is the offspring of a small fly that lays eggs near the base of the plant or on the bulb itself. To combat this insect try wood ashes, rock phosphate, or diatomaceous earth sprinkled around the base of the plant. Pull up and destroy any plants that have maggots before they mature into flies.

Disease Upset
Neck rot strikes just after harvest or while the bulbs are in storage. To combat this dry bulbs in warm temperatures with good ventilation and store in a cool, airy spot.

Roasting Garlic
Slice top off heads of garlic.
Place in an oven-safe pan and drizzle with olive oil.  About 1/4 of a cup per head of garlic.
Place in a preheated 250-300F oven for about 1 hour.
Cool slightly, then squish out the insides.

Now what? Here are some ideas.

• Spread on French bread with goat cheese and a few slices of fresh tomato for a heavenly appetizer.
• Puree with some butter and light whipping cream. Heat gently until thick, then spread on some crusty bread.
• Stir into cooked rice and vegetables.
• Stir into mashed potatoes.
• Stir into extra virgin olive oil along with fresh rosemary, then drizzle over bread.
• Make a tasty dip by combining 3 heads of roasted garlic with 1 pound of softened cream cheese and some minced green onion.