Garlic Planting and Growing
Preparation
Garlic prefers sandy loam soil, but grows well in nearly any well-drained, slightly acidic (6-7pH), fertile soil. The looser the soil, the larger your garlic will grow. Prepare your garlic bed by turning under or tilling in 3-4" of fully broken down compost. Make sure your soil has ample phosphorous. Good choices of phosphorous are, Bone Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Gaia Green Glacial Rock Dust or Soft Rock Phosphate. If your soil is high on the alkaline side you should add Sulfur (read application rates carefully). Avoid planting garlic in the same place you’ve previously grown garlic, onions or any other alliums for 3 years, because of the potential for spreading diseases like white rot. Gophers love garlic; protect your beds with gopher wire or traps.
Planting & Growing
October is the optimum time for planting garlic to get the biggest, best garlic bulbs. I like to plant my on the first full moon in October. That is bio-dynamic growing. When you get your garlic, it will be in bulb form, you will need to “crack” it apart into separate clove sections. Once you have cracked the bulbs it is best to plant within 5-7 days before cloves begin to dry out. A clove pre-planting dip will improve yield: in one gallon of water, place one half cup of kelp meal (to make a tea) and let sit for 24 hours, add two tablespoons of baking soda to kelp tea and 1 teaspoon of Humic Acids. Mix well, add garlic cloves, and soak for one hour. Removal of the clove skin is not necessary. Plant your garlic cloves root end (blunt end) down. Plant garlic cloves 4-6" apart. Elephant garlic plant 8-9" apart. Cover cloves with about 2" of soil. 3-4" in northern areas. It’s a good idea to lightly mulch garlic with straw, leaves or compost, but in cold northern areas, mulch with up to 6". Water well and then only when soil becomes dry. Remove mulch in the spring once frost danger is over. Moisture is a critical factor in spring; watch your soil moisture levels and irrigate accordingly. Garlic loves food and water, but it must have good drainage or it will rot. In the spring, feed the garlic before bulbs begin to enlarge with a well balanced fertilizer and Kelp or side dress with Blood Meal or Alfalfa Meal once Keep weeds away from your garlic at all times; you either have weeds or garlic, but not both! If your garlic sends up a flower stalk in spring, snip it off, making the cut as close as feasible, or it might grow back. If you let the garlic go to seed, you will end up harvesting smaller bulbs.
Harvesting & Storing
When the garlic leaves begin to turn yellow in the summer, stop irrigating for 2 weeks and then pull up the plant. Immediately place plants in a shady place to cure. Regardless of what you read elsewhere, do not leave your garlic in the sun because it will sunburn and rot. A good way to cure garlic is to tie it in bunches or braid it (if it is a softneck garlic) and hang it in a dark place where it will receive good air circulation (keep leaves on). Cure Elephant garlic for thirty days before eating it. “Green” Elephant garlic is bitter, but it becomes milder with age. Standard garlic takes less time to cure and becomes stronger tasting with age. Hard neck varieties generally will only store for 6 months or less. The optimum storage temperature is 50 degrees. If some of your bulbs turn out onion-like (do not divide into cloves) you can eat them, but I do not like to use them for next years seed.
Saving Garlic For Next Years Planting
After harvesting and your garlic has cured, pick out the largest and best bulbs and put aside for next years planting (big cloves produce big bulbs).
Garlic prefers sandy loam soil, but grows well in nearly any well-drained, slightly acidic (6-7pH), fertile soil. The looser the soil, the larger your garlic will grow. Prepare your garlic bed by turning under or tilling in 3-4" of fully broken down compost. Make sure your soil has ample phosphorous. Good choices of phosphorous are, Bone Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Gaia Green Glacial Rock Dust or Soft Rock Phosphate. If your soil is high on the alkaline side you should add Sulfur (read application rates carefully). Avoid planting garlic in the same place you’ve previously grown garlic, onions or any other alliums for 3 years, because of the potential for spreading diseases like white rot. Gophers love garlic; protect your beds with gopher wire or traps.
Planting & Growing
October is the optimum time for planting garlic to get the biggest, best garlic bulbs. I like to plant my on the first full moon in October. That is bio-dynamic growing. When you get your garlic, it will be in bulb form, you will need to “crack” it apart into separate clove sections. Once you have cracked the bulbs it is best to plant within 5-7 days before cloves begin to dry out. A clove pre-planting dip will improve yield: in one gallon of water, place one half cup of kelp meal (to make a tea) and let sit for 24 hours, add two tablespoons of baking soda to kelp tea and 1 teaspoon of Humic Acids. Mix well, add garlic cloves, and soak for one hour. Removal of the clove skin is not necessary. Plant your garlic cloves root end (blunt end) down. Plant garlic cloves 4-6" apart. Elephant garlic plant 8-9" apart. Cover cloves with about 2" of soil. 3-4" in northern areas. It’s a good idea to lightly mulch garlic with straw, leaves or compost, but in cold northern areas, mulch with up to 6". Water well and then only when soil becomes dry. Remove mulch in the spring once frost danger is over. Moisture is a critical factor in spring; watch your soil moisture levels and irrigate accordingly. Garlic loves food and water, but it must have good drainage or it will rot. In the spring, feed the garlic before bulbs begin to enlarge with a well balanced fertilizer and Kelp or side dress with Blood Meal or Alfalfa Meal once Keep weeds away from your garlic at all times; you either have weeds or garlic, but not both! If your garlic sends up a flower stalk in spring, snip it off, making the cut as close as feasible, or it might grow back. If you let the garlic go to seed, you will end up harvesting smaller bulbs.
Harvesting & Storing
When the garlic leaves begin to turn yellow in the summer, stop irrigating for 2 weeks and then pull up the plant. Immediately place plants in a shady place to cure. Regardless of what you read elsewhere, do not leave your garlic in the sun because it will sunburn and rot. A good way to cure garlic is to tie it in bunches or braid it (if it is a softneck garlic) and hang it in a dark place where it will receive good air circulation (keep leaves on). Cure Elephant garlic for thirty days before eating it. “Green” Elephant garlic is bitter, but it becomes milder with age. Standard garlic takes less time to cure and becomes stronger tasting with age. Hard neck varieties generally will only store for 6 months or less. The optimum storage temperature is 50 degrees. If some of your bulbs turn out onion-like (do not divide into cloves) you can eat them, but I do not like to use them for next years seed.
Saving Garlic For Next Years Planting
After harvesting and your garlic has cured, pick out the largest and best bulbs and put aside for next years planting (big cloves produce big bulbs).
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