We did the math.

One clove of planted garlic, yielded one bulb bearing 24 fresh cloves.

Unless we want our garden beds to be overtaken by garlic, only a portion of the harvested bulb’s cloves will go back in the ground to perpetuate the crop. We’ll share some cloves with other growers. And we even get to eat a few!

They may be small but they pack a potent pungency. Great flavor!

Hip hip hooray for short day garlic grown in the tropics!

And for anyone who read the recent “Why Not?” I’ll let you know that I spied a small seed tray with a wooden marker that read “Garlic Long Day” in the Bohemian’s neat print. He just can’t help himself from attempting the ‘impossible’. For those that did not read “Why Not?”, I’ll give you the why. “Garlic Long Day” does not grow in the tropics.

So don’t ask me what this means: As the Bohemian finishes planting our ‘short day’ cloves, all the while quietly humming what resembles a version of the “Happy Birthday” song to them, he suddenly gasps with glee.

I move to where he’s squatted and observe with my own eyes. The papaya tray has not yet sprouted. Neither have any of the kumquats. But that “Garlic Long Day” – sure enough – a small, green tendril is moving earth, curling up to stretch to sun.