A living backyard is a collective, and it is probably too porous, complex and fluid tobe mapped out. Why do we think we have to map them all out, to sense this deep truth and to be guided by it in our planting decisions? Can we not allow ourselves to imagine – to know in our guts -- that the health and vitality of the whole willbe, in principle, negatively or positively impacted, even a little, by the variety and diversity of garlic we grow? We do know that, and we know it in our guts. That’s a teaching of the Stinking Rose(s)! Action Jackson!! Planting as many different varieties of one crop (tomatoes, peaches, bananas, garlic) no matter how big or small our little patch is, is what each and every one of us can do to pushback against the double-vulnerability built into industrial, globalized Big Agriculture: ecological gutting of the soil & market-chain vulnerabilities (which mean food shortages for all and often famine for many).

Keywords: biodiversity, garlic, backyard gardening, urban agriculture, ecology