Beginner Gardening: Growing Garlic, 1 by Ozark

Ozark wrote:
What can you tell me about growing garlic? I've never grown it before, but we use a lot of it in cooking.

A lady at my daughter's church gave her a bunch of garlic plants and she gave them to me. They each had small bulbs like green onions, the tops were cut off about 6" long, and they were tied in bunches. The lady said they were overcrowding their spot in her garden so she pulled a bunch of plants to thin them out. These folks live on a farm, and their family has grown this variety of garlic there for over 100 years because the flavor is so good.

I mixed some compost into the soil of a corner of my garden and planted all these several inches apart. They started growing immediately, and the 'scrapes' (green shoots) have a real nice flavor.

It's too wet and rainy to get in the garden today, so I had to reach over a fence and take this picture straight down.

After some reading I believe these are "hard neck" garlic as opposed to "soft neck", those are the two major kinds - can anyone here tell me for sure. Within those types, there are apparently 600+ known varieties so there's no telling what exact one I've got.

Tell me about growing, harvesting, and using this kind of garlic, please. Thanks!

Oh, in my reading I came across a 'saying' from New York City from many years ago, probably from the Italian immigrant community - it's so good I have to share it:

"A dime will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat!" LOL