Allium Alert!
Time to plant garlic for summer 2010 harvest
Posted by: Kate Bryant on Oct 18, 2009 at 10:00AM
6 Comments
Garlic is an essential ingredient in the kitchen and one that is easy to grow in our region. Garlic (the plant) just needs a sunny spot in the garden; rich, well-drained soil; and moderate supplemental water. And from now through early December or so is the ideal time to plant. It is usually harvested around mid-July (depending on the weather).
There are two basic groups of garlic: soft neck and hard neck. Soft neck garlic stores well, is easy to grow and can be braided. Hard neck garlic has larger, hotter-tasting cloves, are easier to peel, and produces buds in June that can be harvested as “garlic tops” and sauteed.
NB: I’m a huge fan of the varieties ‘Silver Rose’ and ‘Nootka Rose’ – both soft neck types that take well to braiding and have a lovely silvery-purple sheen. But everyone has their favorites. Try a few varieties and you’ll soon discover your own.
Garlic cloves can be readily found at local nurseries right now – I saw some at both the Portland Nursery and at Dennis’ Seven Dees in the past few days. They can also usually be ordered from the fabulous Hood River Garlic website. Right now, they’re mostly sold out of seed garlic for the season but they are great folks and have a wonderfully informative and inspiring website.
I always choose organic cloves to start with. In my experience, one fat head of garlic (breaking into about 20 cloves, each of which grow into a new head) is good for about a year’s worth of moderate cooking per person in the household.
Dig up your garden soil about 1.5’ deep with a shovel so you are assured that it is is not compacted. If you haven’t added fresh compost or other organic matter to your soil lately, now’s the time – buy a couple of bags of compost suitable for a vegetable garden (try a bale of Black Forest soil amendment, or Whitney Farms Planting Compost to lighten up the soil if it’s heavy clay). The quality of your soil is so important – don’t skimp on compost. It’s the best money you can spend in your garden – better than plants, better than fancy tools. It’s the foundation for all healthy plants and is especially important when you’re growing vegetables.
If your soil is well dug, drains well, and compost has been added lately, then you’re ready to plant:
Take your head of garlic and separate the cloves (don’t peel them) just prior to planting. Plant each clove about 2" deep with the pointed tip facing up. (You can see little dried white roots on the bottom.) If you’re planting in rows, space the rows 12" apart and plant the cloves (or “seed” garlic) about 6" apart. Gently pat the soil on top to create good soil-clove contact. Then water it in. That’s it!
Looking ahead over the garlic clove’s development, here’s what to do and what to expect:
-Keep the area weed-free so that the weeds aren’t competing with the garlic or shading the little spear-like leaves.
-Scratch some organic fertilizer down the rows or on the area in about March: cotton seed meal, blood meal or any other nitrogenous amendment is good.
-Once summer arrives around June, the garlic will cease producing new foliage and start forming bulbs. At this point, hard neck garlic produces “garlic tops,” which you can – and should – cut off and cook. Stop fertilizing and cut back on watering.
-About a week prior to harvest (early July), stop watering. If possible, let the garlic bed dry out to “cure” the bulbs in the ground.
-By mid-July, look at the leaves: when there are just 5 or 6 green leaves left on the plants, you can gently dig one up and see if the heads are fat and plump. If they look ready, gently harvest the rest of the bulbs with a fork. They can now be cured, braided (if soft neck), and stored for use.
For the first time, I’m growing garlic in containers. I just planted them in Smart Pots, (black fabric bags) which I had great results with this summer for potatoes (despite blight). I’m even more excited about growing the scapes than the garlic. Since this past summer, garlic scape pesto is my favorite. Fortunately I made enough to freeze and last through most of the winter.
Your readers with late season herb and vegetable gardens may well find that they will grow more than they can use, preserve or give to friends.
They may want to visit www.AmpleHarvest.org – a site that helps diminish hunger by enabling backyard gardeners to share their crops with neighborhood food pantries.
The site is free both for the food pantries and the gardeners using it.
More than 1000 food pantries nationwide are already on it and more are signing up daily.
It includes preferred delivery times, driving instructions to the pantry as well as (in many
cases) information about store bought items also needed by the pantry (for after the growing season).
AmpleHarvest.org enables people to help their community by reaching into their back yard instead of their back pocket.
Lastly, if your reader’s community has a food pantry, they should make sure the pantry
registers on www.AmpleHarvest.org. Its free.
I liked this article so much I had to connect to it on my vegetable gardening Facebook fan page. Nothing like growing your own garlic.
Regards,
Mike the Gardener
Kerry, I know what you mean about the scapes – they are addictive. I have never made garlic pesto – we should post your recipe early next June. Stay in touch. Gary, I have been interested in publicizing groups such as Ample Harvest. There is also a group called Plant A Row For the Hungry – http://www.growarow.org/indexENG.htm – they, too, supply healthy produce to food pantries. Please check out these organizations and get involved – it’s easy! Mike, so glad you liked it – ahh, a fellow vegetable growing aficionado! I bet you grow veges all winter, too…
I planted garlic a year ago and ended up with plants the size of marbles. The greens were dying off which made me think it was time to pull up the plants, only to discover that my garlic was growing in miniature. Is this just because of the soil?
Katy, sorry it took me so long to find your note. The spam our site was receiving meant I missed some good messages while deleting the bad… so your garlic problem could be a few things. I would first check this site for detailed cultural instructions for growing in our general region. http://www.hoodrivergarlic.com/grow-garlic.htm If you planted your garlic properly and at the right time and still had this problem, it’s possible your garlic plants are diseased. It does happen. If you suspect disease, it will probably be necessary to dispose of all your existing garlic in yard debris (as most allium diseases are soil-borne) and plant fresh cloves in a different area of the garden. I suggest starting with a raised bed and completely fresh soil. Good luck!