PLANTING GARLIC

[NorthernWinos]

Kind of off topic here, but it grows near the grapes...[use to grow between the grape rows]


Too nice of a day to spend in the house babysitting the steam juicer, so I would sneak out between batches and got the garlic planted....

Up in this part of the country we plant garlic in the fall, usually the middle of September and harvest in July.

We grow stiff necked garlic up here, at least that what they tell us to plant.

Prepare a bed for the garlic, dig deep and amend the soil...I had added peat moss when I first dug the soil, now I add compost each year.

Separate the cloves of garlic...

Use a dibble or stick to make the holes....about 2-3 inches deep....and about 3-4 inches apart....

Place a single clove in each hole, be sure to plant the root end down...if possible....

We have several different varieties, so I mark the row so can keep the varieties separate at harvest....

Cover the row with a nice blanket of straw to mulch from deep freezing.... leave the straw till harvest to help prevent weeds and conserve moisture.

I first got a mixed parcel from a garlic farm in Montana, it was various European varieties....
A friend dug some wild garlic from Tennessee or Kentucky and gave us some of that.....it has small cloves and very pungent...
Got some from an old guy at a market, he didn't know what kind it was, but has larger cloves and less strong....
A Korean lady traded some with me that her Mom brought over from Korea...it has large cloves but only 3-5 per head....it is very mild.
Last year a friend from Georgia sent us some Elephant Garlic to try...it did winter over and I used most of it for seed this year....

So we have a good selection....we eat a lot of it....love roasted heads and just squeeze out the sweet yummy stuff onto a cracker...
What I separated and didn't plant I will run through the food processor with some oil oil and freeze in little jars to cook with...keep the best heads for fresh eating....

So...have to wait till spring to watch it grow, guess the roots get established this fall...

Hope anyone with a strip of soil tries to grow garlic, it is very easy to grow...

Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[jojo]

inspiring NW
well done too

 

[Wade E]

Oh garlic, We use it in just about everything we eat. I like to make a
good homemade spaghetti sauce with a big head of garlic in it and just
eat the head when the sauce is done, then add fresh garlic to have in
the sauce.

 

[swillologist]

How did you garlic do NW. I just dug mine today. I think it did pretty good. This is the first time I have grown it the way you are supposed to. My wife relation from New York came back last fall to make molasses. They brought back some that they had grown. He told us how to grow it but I think I may have planted it to deep. I planted it around 5 or 6 inches deep. I wish I would have saw this post last fall. I will try some of it at 3 inches this fall.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Ours is starting to get ripe now...leaves are turning brown. We have been eating some, they are not quite ready, the husks are still a little soft and not papery....but they are really good. You can see them to the right side of this photo.

I plant them about 3 or more inches deep and cover them with straw, think you are okay with 5 inches....This spring I removed the straw as last summer they kind of wanted to rot under the straw during a wet period...this was better with them uncovered.

Once I pick it I trim off the tops and store them in a dark shed on wire racks or plastic trays that have lots of air holes....leave them out there till Sept when I plant...then bring them indoors to the root cellar.

This year I thought of leaving them out in the sun for a couple days to dry, I saw them do that on a TV show in Gilroy CA [Garlic Capitol] I leave my onions out in the sun for a couple days to dry the roots off a bit.

I tend to get root maggots in my onions and garlic...tried using Lorsban this year, don't know if it helped or not, I didn't use very much, so don't know if it worked of not.

I have had the garlic in the same place for a few years now.. At first I grew it between the grape rows...there still are volunteer garlics coming up there as well as all around the outside of the garlic row...any little clove you drop will grow. This fall I am preparing a new bed in hopes that the maggots will be at bay...It seems the volunteer plants outside of the row are always the best, so I think crop rotation is a good idea.

Good Luck...some photos would be nice.

 

[AlFulchino]

hey thats cool...i *allowed* my wife to plant some in one vine row last year and we just harvested two days ago...150 elephant and regular garlic.....i used glyphosphate on the row first than a bit later she planted....( i think it was sept or october last year.....so 10-11 months later we have the garlic and odly enough the weeds were not a significant issue during the growth cycle

 

[swillologist]

Here is a picture of my big garlic crop NW.

It's not much but it my first attempt at growing it the way it is supposed to be done.


Here is another picture tobrighten your day.

Have a good day.Edited by: swillologist

 

[NorthernWinos]

Awesome!!!! Thank You for sharing...

Your garlic looks really good......Take that garlic and divide it...plant it this fall and you'll have even more next year.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Swill...Your garlic is so clean and white....and the skins are so nice and tight....

DO AS I SAY....NOT AS I DO!!!!

I just dug may garlic today...Judging by my crop I should have done it a couple weeks ago.....

It had gotten too ripe, the cloves were beginning to separate, so when I dug it they wanted to fall apart and re-plant them selves.

I should have dug it before the rain when the soil was dry...Today the soil was still damp and clung to the cloves. Being as they are so ripe and wanting to fall apart, I had to leave them pretty dirty.

So...lesson learned...Dig when plants are not totally brown...

We will have plenty to eat, share and use for planting stock.

I had better luck with the root maggots this year....with the help of Lorsban, since they took Diazanon off the market....I was hesitant and didn't use much chemical. The garlic had nice roots, except in the middle of the row. I think I am going to move the row to another part of the garden and hope it winters over there with the help of enough straw mulch.

Will plant in sept as usual....

 

[Waldo]

Be a helluva deal if you could graft a tomato and jalapeno pepper onto the garlic

 

[Wade E]

Wow, thats a lot of garlic NW.

 

[swillologist]

Nice crop NW. The man thatinstructs meonhow to grow garlic told me to dig it the end of July. Does yourcome up in the fall? This guy doesn't want it to. He has me plant it in late October or early November.

 

[joeswine]

use to do the same thing good feeling to plant something and watch it grow isn,t it,garlic to us italians is the fruit of the gods of course theres olives and grapes and tomatoes and ,you get the drift.

 

[NorthernWinos]

I usually plant the end of Sept. and hope it doesn't come up, hope only for some good root growth before snow/freeze up...etc. One year I had some top growth of about 4-6"...I worried all winter, but it was fine the following spring.

We eat loads of garlic....and live in a Norwegian community, so we must really stink and only selected friends ever eat here. I pickle it, grind it with olive oil and freeze it at the end of the season...It goes in most meals....If the grill or oven is on we will roast/bake a whole head for each of us and just squeeze that sweet garlic on what ever we eat....

And of course some goes to friends and some gets planted back in the soil for next years crop....So, the trays of garlic disappear.

Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[AlFulchino]

wow! what a crop...my hat's off to you!