October 17, 2015 - Garlic Planting

Last year's garlic harvest was less than usual as I wasn't able to get them into the ground until the boxes were built and filled with soil. This year I'm planting at the optimal time for the Bay Area, mid-October.
Spanish Roja, Italian Purple, and California Early White occupy the first 3 rows from the left, the fourth row is a mix of the Spanish and Italian. Yesterday I turned over the soil in Box 3 (home of this past summer's tomatoes) adding steer manure and replenishing the Local Hero then watering deeply. Today I've planted four rows, 12" apart, of cloves staggered within the row diagonally about 3" apart. Before planting I dug in both blood meal (nitrogen) and bone meal (phospherus) then planted the cloves top end 1-1.5" deep. No watering today and will not start doing so until the shoots emerge. The remainder of the bed will be dedicated to the onion transplants I'm expecting to be delivered this coming week.