Among my correspondence today was a note asking how deeply to mulch garlic cloves. Some advised two inches, she wrote. Others, six inches.

The right answer is, it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference. Just plant the garlic.

Years ago, while quoting an old friend — James Underwood Crockett — about vegetable gardening, he said it doesn’t matter which end of the seed points “up.” Just plant it. And he was right, of course.

I get these questions all the time. One expert says to plant the seed 1/4″ deep. Another advises 1/2″.  The truth is (1) the only seed which doesn’t grow is that which hasn’t been planted, and (2) An expert is nothing but a damn fool a long ways from home.