Garlic

I got the garlic in the ground yesterday, planting it two beds west of the asparagus, where the peas were this year. I think that will be as far as I can rotate, which will put everything on a 4 year rotation around the garden.

Closest to the house is Kazakhstan, a tall and early season variety, planted there to keep its height from overshadowing the other varieties.

Next is Music, a really large-clove variety that is supposed to produce the highest yield of any garlic. Since I often use lots of garlic when cooking, the large cloves are especially appealing.

Then we've got Belarus, a smaller-clove variety but one that stores well. I'll have to try to remember to put these in the deepest recesses of the garage after harvesting next year.

Finally, the last variety I purchased from Territorial is Fireball, supposedly named for its appearance rather than its heat.

But that leaves me with room for maybe 30 more plants. I have several cloves from each of the varieties (besides Music) that I set aside because they were so small. I could plant a mix in this last portion of the bed closest to the lawn. Or I could plant some cloves that I harvested from the garden this year. After it seemed I was having disease issues, though, I'm hesitant to do this. Or I could see what I can find at the co-op or Farmer's Market.

What varieties of garlic do you plant? And do you do anything special with the cloves before planting? I've heard of soaking them in a seaweed/fish emulsion solution first, but I've never tried it.