Planting Garlic

We planted 30 lbs of stiff neck garlic yesterday, and for lunch we savored each variety. I enjoy the varieties. Each has its own flavor and taste personality. Some have a mellow heat and rich flavor, others pop with an instant flavor.

Garlic likes rich, well draining soils. It is suggested that you rotate your plot each year to be sure there is not a build up of pests in the bed. The location we are using this year has never had garlic in it before. In preparation for planting, we tilled and smoothed the soil in the garden plot. We set out the paths per our tractor wheel base at 30 inches of bed space.

We broke the garlic bulbs apart, but kept the paper wrappers on each individual clove. A few hours before planting, we soaked the cloves in a nutrient solution of 1T baking soda, 1T Kelp liquid into 1 quart of water. Then just before planting, we dipped the cloves into undiluted isopropyl alcohol (70%). We have been told the alcohol dip will not damage the cloves, and may discourage bacterial and fungal influences.

For planting, we prepared a bed 30 inches wide, and within this bed we made 4 equal spaced rows for the garlic, approximately 6 inches apart. Within the row, we planted the cloves from 4-6 inches apart and at a depth of around 3 inches. Last year we had garlic cloves pushed out of the ground because of freeze thaw, so we have planted them a bit deeper this year (3-4 inches deep). Our plan is also to cover the area with straw and mulch. A friend has read that you should let the ground freeze, and then place the straw on the bed. This would help keep the ground shallowly frozen, and decrease the freeze thaw cycles during the winter. If you find your garlic heaving out of the ground, then you need to cover it with soil, and plan to plant deeper next year.

Varieties we are planting:

• Chesnok Red, Purple Stripe
• Russian Giant
• Porcelain Musik
• Porcelain Romanian Red
• Silverskin S & H (softneck garlic)

The stiff neck garlic is a special, gourmet garlic. It brings a high price and is of excellent cash crop. It is easy to grow, and in our experience has few pests. I am not sure why the small gardener would not want to try it. If fact I think everyone should!

Resources:

• See our earlier post on garlic.

Garlic

Garlic was the first thing we planted for this season. You plant garlic in the fall for a mid summer harvest the following year. Our garlic sprouted early and has been growing strong. We selected stiff neck garlic for our planting, and it does have a wonderful taste!

Some say no vegetable is easier to grow or harvest.


Planting

Plant the garlic in the fall, in rows spaced 18 inches apart, and set the cloves into the row about 8 inches apart. Cover with one inch of soil and mulch for winter. See our 2013 planting garlic article.


Garlic Scapes

Early June, our garlic started producing seed scapes. These start off straight, and then curl into loops as in the following image. We remove these when they curl, and use them fresh in garlic pesto and other recipes. They are really good, and just as powerful as clove garlic. It is a great to have fresh garlic even before the cloves are ready to harvest.

Note: Garlic scapes are fantastic baked with a little oil and salt. We ate them like finder food. Mmmm good.


Harvest

When the garlic leaves lower (and outer layer covering the bulb) are dead and dry, and the rest of the plant appears dry, the garlic is ready to harvest. Gently remove the bulbs from the ground. You do not want to smash or damage the integrity of the bulb and enclosed cloves. Let the entire plant dry out of the sun for several days. The stem and leaves should become completely brown and dry. The roots under the bulb should be completely dry as well.

At this point, you can cut off the stem leaving a few inches above the bulb. Keep the bulb intact till you plan to use the garlic cloves. Select the largest bulbs / cloves for your seed cloves. These will be planted in the same fall for next years harvest.


Resources

• Planting garlic (web)
• Planting & growing garlic (web)