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ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS => GARDENING AROUND THE HOUSE => Topic started by: KONASDAD on October 03, 2007, 10:36:22 am

Title: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: KONASDAD on October 03, 2007, 10:36:22 am
I have nevere grown garlic before. I know a bunch of you do. Suggestions? Also, any other ideas for fall plantings for a veggie garden would be cool.

I just harvested my last green tomatoes that wont ripen and will pickl'em tonite. Now have lots of room to plant if I want.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on October 03, 2007, 10:53:31 am
OK Konasdad, here we go, my advice on growing garlic.  In our climate, we plant garlic from about the middle of September to the end of October, it should be planted in the fall.  I have planted it in the spring, and good luck with that, it doesn't work well.  Garlic needs to grow silently underground for the wintertime, it grows and grows, you may or may not see it growing, depending if the green shoots come up from the soil before the hard winter freeze, doesn't matter either way, if the green shoots come up, OK, if they don't OK.

Plant the garlic before the ground is frozen, obviously you can't plant it then.

Garlic loves good nutrition, important.  Wintertime not so important, but spring rapid growth, needs nutrients and lots of it.

Plant garlic cloves (yes each single clove) about 3 to 4 inches apart (or more if you choose).  The cloves will turn into bulbs by the middle of next summer and they need room to mature.  Picture the size of a garlic bulb when you buy it at the store, and add a little bit onto it for the bigger ones that I know yours will turn into  :) ;)

In the summertime (it is usually mid July for us), when about 1/3 of the foliage has began to turn brown, pull the garlic up.  Lay it in the sun for about 6 hours to cure and then take it into a warm and air spot and hang it to dry for another two weeks.  The stalk acts as a wick and draws the moisture from the bulb and cures it properly.  After that point in time, cut (or rub off) the roots on the bottom of the bulb, cut the stalk off about 1/2 inch above the bulb and there you have your beautiful, home grown garlic.

I grow garlic by the thousands and they are certainly yummy!!!!!!  Haven't bought garlic in years and years and years.  And, there is always the garlic cloves that you miss that you can harvest later too, yeah.

Another thing, when you see in the summer when the garlic is setting the flower stalks, it is a good idea to cut them off to put the power of the plant to grow the bulbs, you don't need the flowers.....unless.....you want to delve even deeper into garlic growing.

I am doing that this year, I allowed quite a few plants to go to seed.  I harvested these seeds and will plant them (actually I throw them around and scuffle them over with my foot).  Next year when they make a bit bigger seed (like a little round pickling onion), I will uplift these and replant them, then the next year they will make the beautiful big bulbs, but that takes two years, it is a long process. 

So, if you need any more information, ask away, your keyboard is your tool!!!!  Have a wonderful day, you will get lots of other opinions from our forum friends, compile them in your mind, and you will have a wealth of knowledge on how to grow beautiful, clean garlic, hopefully ones that will not set your mouth on fire too badly!!!!!  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: KONASDAD on October 03, 2007, 01:04:46 pm
where do you get cloves to plant? Do you remove all of the skin as if you were going to cook w/ it?
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: randydrivesabus on October 03, 2007, 01:21:12 pm
i think my climate is more like yours kdad...i'm going to plant mine after it gets colder..i'm thinking late October. i got 5 lbs of the stuff from another vendor at the farmers market i sell at. you don't want them to sprout above ground until next spring. i will just seperate the cloves in the heads and plant them individually. I dont think you need to remove the outer papery cover.

o...btw...there are 2 types of garlic...soft neck and hard neck. if you want to braid it then you need to grow soft neck. hard neck is supposed to keep better. Elephant garlic is not really garlic but a different kind of allium.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on October 03, 2007, 06:36:35 pm
Konasdad.  If I were you, I would get in touch with your garden centres, there is many cultivars of garlic and so many for different tastes.  YOu can just plain and simply get them from the supermarket if you so choose.  But seed companies offer some pretty nice ones. 

I ordered mine long ago through a company called Salt Spring Island Seeds, but that is in Canada.  They offer many nice varieties, so if I were you contact your locals, if you have some.  I do not know what cross-border selling is allowed, but I think Salt Spring has a website, google it, you may find something cool.

Garlic cloves are NOT PEELED.  The silvery skins are left on, I do not know why, but there must be good reason because it was advised when I ordered the garlic cloves.

Many times here I have had the garlic sprout underground and the leaves grow throughout the wintertime.  Freezing does not do any injury whatsover to the leaves, so if you plant them and they do sprout, do not worry, they will weather fine, even through the freezes.  Good luck, nothing like that beautiful home grown garlic!!!!  Best of a great day, Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: KONASDAD on October 04, 2007, 11:45:42 am
alright gang, thanx. Bought some garlic off ebay. Romanian hot, Italian purple, Georgian sweet and some elephant which they say is a leek. I love elephant for grilling whole and making a garlic spread w/ a little olive oil. Spread on toasted bread, put bruschetta on top and enjoy!
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: reinbeau on October 05, 2007, 08:05:31 am
Konasdad, you can plant that garlic at the end of October.  You don't want to plant it too early because you don't want huge sprouts going into the winter.  Plant it about 1 1/2" deep.  Plant in good fertile soil, I like to use a good bulb food, my favorite is Espoma Bulbtone.  Once the ground freezes, mulch heavily with shredded leaves to keep that ground good and frozen over the winter (and pray for snow!  It's a wonderful mulch).  In the spring you'll see the little green shoots coming up through the mulch.   
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: randydrivesabus on October 14, 2007, 03:46:38 pm
i planted my garlic today. will irrigate it tomorrow morning. i planted it 6" apart and got a row of 80'. i guess if its too much i'll sell some. or eat more :-D
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on October 15, 2007, 12:51:54 am
Randy, so 80 feet, 6 inches apart.  If my calculations are correct, you will get approximately 16 bulbs.  Each of those bulbs may have 4-8 cloves, depending upon the cultivar you planted.

I don't think that that will be too much.  You will be surprised to see how much garlic you will eat when it has been grown  by your ownself.  I don't plant mine that far apart.  I usually plant about 3 inches between each clove.  I always make more than one row too, I plant a zig zag pattern, that way I can accomomdate more garlic in less area.

I have my leftover garlic from last year ready to go into the ground, but I haven't quite got to that point yet, I have been awaiting a little bit more sun to dry out soil so my knees won't be mud packed.  Tomorrow will be the day, if it doesn't rain.

Just for the fun of it, I will try to count how many cloves (approximately) that I plant.  I will venture it will be around the 200-300 mark.  We use lots of garlic around here.  I also saved many of the little bubils that the flowers of garlic create when they are left on the plant.  I have thousands.  I will sow these, some I will take the time to place under the soil.  The others I will caste to the wind and turn under with my Mantis rototiller.  What grows will grow, many will become bird food.  Next year I will dig up these bubils that will be a single round clove, and replant, they will make the garlic cluster bulbs that we all know and love in the following year......Have a wonderful and beautiful day in this great life we live.  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: randydrivesabus on October 15, 2007, 07:05:59 am
Cindi-do you mean 160 bulbs?
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on October 15, 2007, 10:32:55 am
Randy, oops, yes, I meant 160 bulbs.  Sorry, missed out the zero.  Garlic is great to grow.  Next year when you see the flower stalks begin to grow, it is suggested to remove these stalks to promote the bigger bulb growth.  Or leave some to flower, then you can plant the bulbils from the flower and get hundreds of potential garlics in the year after the next.  It takes two years for bubils to make full sized garlic bulbs. Have fun with it!!!  Have a beautiful and wonderful day.  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: KONASDAD on October 15, 2007, 12:12:16 pm
received my garlic while out of town for anniversary. Will plant this weekend weather permitting. Yeah!!!
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: reinbeau on October 15, 2007, 10:07:39 pm
The other thing you can do with garlic scapes is eat them - I've got a recipe around here somewhere for garlic scape pesto I'm hoping to try next season.  They're great in stir fry, also.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: BenC on October 15, 2007, 10:26:43 pm
Hardnecks are the way to go!  I used to plant between 50-60lbs of seed garlic every fall here in MD.  Haven't grown any for a few years now.  At my location I figure I've got 2 more weeks to plant, the sooner the better.  Ideally the roots will start to grow and anchor the plant, don't worry if you see a green leaf or two, they will grow through the winter on warmer days.  Straw or grass clippings makes good mulch, forgetting to mulch is not an option.  Nothing is more disheartening than walking out in February and seeing an entire planting heaved up out of the ground.  Mulch should be removed w/a pitchfork in spring to allow faster warmth of the soil and to prevent leggy, kinked stalks.  Based on my experience, I've got to disagree with Cindi, don't let garlic lay in the sun for even 5 minutes!  Get it out of the field and into the barn pronto, it will sunburn in a heartbeat.  If you feel the need to pinch the scapes (hardnecks), do it after they have done a loop and keep them for stir-fry.  I have never observed any increased yield from scape removal but some think it helps.  Italian Purple is a pretty bulb, typically 4  big cloves.  I also liked (If I remember correctly) one called musik.  Once you have purchased your "seeds"  there is no need to buy again unless you are looking to try a new variety, just save your biggest and best from year-to-year.  Don't try to evaluate varieties until the third year, some garlics take that long to acclimate to your specific soil and then they will really take off  ;)     

 Randydrivesabus, have I read before that you sell at the Blacksburg Farmers market?  I lived there for a while and recently found out that someone I know sold at that market this year!  Big whoop I know  :roll:  just thought that was kind of neat!
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on October 16, 2007, 12:12:56 am
BenC.  You are probably correct with the advice to not even let the garlic lay in the sun for 5 minutes.  Where I live is a very temperate zone.  The advice "for my specific area" is to dry in the sun for about 6 hours, no more.  Then hang upside down as the stalk acts as a wick and draws moisture from the bulb.

I can truly believe that in the hotter climates, the burning sun would cook the bulb before your very eyes.  So absolutely, go with how your weather conditions allow.

Personally, I really see no reason to dry in the sun for 6 hours.  When the garlic  bulbs (and attending stalk) are left to dry, they dry pretty quickly.  When I reap the garlic harvest, in all honesty, by the time I am done with the very last of bulb pulling, I take them to my airy open part of my greenhouse and hang them up.  By the time I have completed the harvest, it has been hours anyways, so I guess they have some fun in the sun........

My choice for the cultivar is Hardneck too, it possesses a longer keepin quality than the soft-necked. 

The scapes are wonderful to put in the dehydrator and to use in those wintertime soups!!!!  Yeah!!!!!  I also pick the garlic leaves all summer to have a zesty green onion/garlic flavour to my potato salads, and anywhere where I use green onions.  Actually haven't bought green onions in years and years and years due to the amount of chives that grow wild around my property, yeah!!!!  The lull between the beginning of November until the beginning of January for chives leaves me in a saddened way, no green oniony stuff for a couple of months, having to rely only on the purple or white onions that we used pounds and pounds and pounds and pounds of, all year round.  And yes, we have beautiful breath!!!!   ;) :roll: :)  Have a beautiful and wonderful day, greatest of our great life.  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: randydrivesabus on October 16, 2007, 07:04:50 am
   

 Randydrivesabus, have I read before that you sell at the Blacksburg Farmers market?  I lived there for a while and recently found out that someone I know sold at that market this year!  Big whoop I know  :roll:  just thought that was kind of neat!

yes I do. who do you know that sold there this past season? i've been selling there for 16 years.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Brian D. Bray on October 21, 2007, 12:59:39 am
If you don't harvest your garlic it comes back up the next year.  My parents let a few cloves of elephant garlic go to seed, now I have it like hair on a dog in places--those we don't mow.  Also they seed out pretty heavy if left in the ground.  If you want to develop the cloves it is best to break the flower stems over after pollenation.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on October 21, 2007, 01:17:14 am
I have garlic sprouting and growing everywhere, like you say Brian.  Places where I never would have imagined.  Once you have planted it, and have the area to let it grow wild, it will be with you until the end of your days.  Beautiful, garlic, home grown, if only everyone could be so blessed.

I want to plant groves of garlic chives this coming up year, I have gathered the seed in mass amounts.  The perfume from the garlic chives was beyond what you could ever believe, I think that it would create a wonderful sniffing area  :) :) :) :)  I liken the perfume of the garlic chives to lilacs, clear, sweet and beautiful.  Have a wonderful day, best of our great life.  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: randydrivesabus on March 22, 2008, 01:58:23 pm
I went out to check how my fall planted garlic is doing and there is a very good looking row of green garlic leaves out there. It looks like just about every bulb we planted has done well. And i'm guessing that deer are not into munching on them or they would be gone. :-D
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on March 29, 2008, 11:12:13 am
Randy, yeah!!!!!  Glad to hear that the garlic fared through, just wait until the harvest, yeah!!!!  Deer I don't think would eat the garlic leaves, they taste just like garlic.  You can pick parts of the leaves later on if you want to have a little garlic greens, yummmmeee!!!  BEautiful day in this beautiful life.  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: MrILoveTheAnts on March 29, 2008, 02:24:36 pm
How is Garlic harvested? I hear in the summer I'm supposed to dig up the plants and let them dry our or something. Is that right?
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: randydrivesabus on March 29, 2008, 06:27:47 pm
if they are like onions (which they are) you wait till the tops die and then dig them up and let them dry out.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on March 30, 2008, 10:55:51 am
MILTA.  In my climate, usually garlic is pretty much complete its life cycle by the middle of July.  I allow the plants to stay in the ground until about 1/3 of the entire plants leaves have browned.  Sometimes I get too busy and they stay in the ground a little longer though, hee, hee.  When this process of growth has stopped, the plants will not mature any more, if they stay in the ground too long, the bulbs begin to slightly dry out and that is not what you want.  Listen to what I say further before you wonder what I mean, hee, hee.

When the tops are 1/3 browned, then I pull then up and let them dry in the sun for half a day.  In a really hot climate, I would think shade may be better, or they could get sunburned badly.  After this drying for half a day has been complete, I then take the garlic and make bunches, I hang them to complete the curing process.  The bulbs are allowed to hang, the tops being tied together.  I do this in my outside greenhouse that has only a roof, it can be done anywhere though, a dark room, anywhere where they can finish curing.

The leaves act as wicks and draw the rest of the EXCESS moisture out of the bulbs, as is done with onions and they will then keep for a long time.  My garlic usually keeps well near into the next season of harvest, not as juicy as it was at the beginning, but still completely edible.

Garlic can also be spread out to finish curing, laying flat, but I believe that hanging is the best method, as the wicky thing happens (like my lingo?  hee, hee).

That is the scoop on garlic.

Last year I had a terrible harvest of garlic.  I had planted say, 500 cloves and of those maybe I was able to have about 50 that were good, but they were good.  We had the most coolest and dampest summer that I can remember and they just did not do well.

Now I see that hundreds of the garlics that I must have missed in my harvest last year are sprouting up now, they are about 3 inches tall and lookin' mighty fine.  I also planted about 200, so garlic is popping up everywhere now.  Garlic is a funny thing.  I think that once you have it you have it for your life of the gardens.  There are always ones that you miss and they will show their pretty little heads the following spring, as I am not witnessing.

If you have any more questions about the garlic, ask me, I could help more, I may have omitted some information, but I don't think so.  Have the most beautiful and best of this great day, Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: doak on March 30, 2008, 09:02:46 pm
To get bigger cloves, cut the seed head/stalk off when it first shoots up.
We have some Elephant Garlic and it will spread like wild fire.
It will just keep on,and on,on,on,on,on,on,on,on,on,on,and go some more. :roll: :)
doak
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Brian D. Bray on March 31, 2008, 01:21:39 am
To get bigger cloves, cut the seed head/stalk off when it first shoots up.
We have some Elephant Garlic and it will spread like wild fire.
It will just keep on,and on,on,on,on,on,on,on,on,on,on,and go some more. :roll: :)
doak

How true, between the elephant garlic let go to seed and the various mint species I hardly have any room for grass or weeds.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on March 31, 2008, 01:26:17 am
Doak, right, I forgot about that very important part of the great garlic harvest.  I do always cut off the flower stalk on most when they firstly begin to rear their pretty little heads.  There are quite a few that I leave to let go to flower though, for the bees to forage on, they love garlic flowers, as they do with all alliums.  And those little bulbils from the flower head, that seem to get spread all over, in a couple of years make a big bulb too.  Elephant Garlic, lovely stuff, that is actually a cousin to the leek, not really a true garlic, but it is still in my eyes considered a lovely garlic.  Beautiful and so nicely mild.  Have a beautiful and most wonderful day, Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: poka-bee on March 31, 2008, 01:21:56 pm
I have walking onions that came from my daughters Dad's grandma!  They had been in her garden for at least 50 years & here on the property for 25!! I get a secure warm feeling when I see them..circle of life type of thing!  I know, I'm weird!  :)  Jody
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on April 01, 2008, 10:01:30 am
Jody, I have the walking onions growing happily away too, aka, Egyptian onion, top setting onion.

The only thing I have never figured out what to do is, how do you process the little bubils on top, if they are young, can they be used unskinned.  Elaborate a little on this for me.

I have set all kinds of seeds yesterday for the early garden stuff, that will go into the garden in a few weeks, oooh can't wait for my own lettuces again, after buying the store bought all winter.  I really need to get something going here where I can have lettuce in wintertime too.  Just too lazy.  Beautiful day in this beautiful life. Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: reinbeau on April 02, 2008, 06:19:39 pm
These were planted last fall.  Unfortunately all of the labels were blown or washed away - there's five varieties there, I'll never know exactly what I'm eating.  At least I didn't have a complete crop failure again this season!

(http://annzoid.com/images/forums/bees/garlic.jpg)
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: poka-bee on April 02, 2008, 07:30:27 pm
Cindi, I don't know what to do with em...I just like em cause they came from Amanda's Great Grandma! I end up using the greens if I want chive potatoes..not exactly the same but good in a pinch!  They do cover a lot of ground & grow almost anywhere.  I'm so lazy I get my stuff at the little farm down the road!  I get organic veggies & fruit all year long w/no weeding!  Just stop in & pick up my box..trade the stuf I don't like & get extra of stuff I do if I need it.  I get things for my daughter too. That's where I'm selling my eggs when I get em.   Jody
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on April 03, 2008, 12:05:43 am
Ann, beauty, the greens are growing strong, yeah!!!!  I am surprised at the growth compared to mine, which is probably just about the same, planted last fall, just like you.  So, go figure, you had a way worse winter than we had, and yet, they have still sprung up out of the ground about the same.

Tell me the distance between the cloves.  It is hard to gauge in the picture, are they 6 inches or 12 inches.  Not to be bossy (oops, did I say that, hee, hee), but I plant mine no further apart than 6 inches, that seems to give them lots of room to mature and less weeding between each plant because of the foliage.  That is how garlic should be planted, hee, hee.  Remember, I'm not trying to be bossy, hee, hee  :-P ;) :) :)  Beautiful day in this greatest of lives.  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: reinbeau on April 03, 2008, 07:41:32 am
They're 6" apart, Cindi, I know it's hard to judge by the pic.  There may be some misses there, little bulbs that didn't make it, but 6" it is!
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on April 03, 2008, 09:57:08 am
Ann, good.  Can you grow celery where you live?  I grew it for the first time last year, never thought I could grow it here, for some strange reason.  I began with transplants. I was beyond impressed.  The celery grew like there was no tomorrow.  We ate celery from the garden all summer long.  When the fall came about, my Sister harvested all the remainders and dried them and ground them up.  Added some sea salt to it and that has sat on my counter all winter.  I add the celery salt to everything, and man oh man is that good.  Even Whoppos and chickens get a heavy sprinkling of celery salt (quite chunky) on them, what a flavour!!!!  If you haven't tried to grow celery, give it a whirl.  Do you have a place where you buy a package of seeds, it would be worth it for ya.  Beautiful and wonderful day, lovin' life.  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: reinbeau on April 03, 2008, 06:01:44 pm
Cindi, I'll bet fresh celery is delicious, but I really don't think it would grow well here.  It needs steady water, and we get way too dry here, then suffer with water bans, so I'd have a hard time keeping it well hydrated.  Someday, when I have a well, I'll give it a try.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on April 03, 2008, 11:32:01 pm
Ann, right, makes sense.  Now all I gotta say to you is, starting digging girl, you'd be surprised what you might find, hee, hee, beautiful day in this great life.  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: KONASDAD on April 07, 2008, 12:48:57 pm
all of my garlic is growing big green tops and survived the winter well. I just received my onion plants and will plant them tomorrow. Getting so excited to finally get the season going full steam. I expanded my veggie garden to about 50x20 ft, w/ one rasied box. Never got around to building more this year. Now tonight i will start my radishes and salad greens. Yummy.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: randydrivesabus on April 09, 2008, 06:45:16 am
where did you get your onion plants from? I ordered mine from Browns in Texas. I should be getting them next week. And what varieties didja get?
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: KONASDAD on April 09, 2008, 11:10:48 am
where did you get your onion plants from? I ordered mine from Browns in Texas. I should be getting them next week. And what varieties didja get?
I got mine off ebay this year. Last year from Wilhite nursery in texas. Starter plants from both. The ones fro ebay appear to be healthier and they gave me so many too. I paid $23 w/ shipping for 160 walla wallas, 120 candy, 160 red burger. I definately got an extra bunch of reds and walla wallas too. They shipped my order to the wrong person i emailed them and they fixed prob, and gave me xtra to boot. If they grow well, I have a winner.

Garlic question- someone suggested cutting the tops of the greens after sprouting. Can I do this now? My elephant garlic is already close to a foot high(thick and luscious tops too), and my italin and roumanian hot varities are about six inches already.

One more onion question too- I strted ny plants from little plants. Sellers also offer starter sets "bulbs". Are these superior resulting in bigger onions?
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on April 10, 2008, 08:57:34 am
Konasdad, my 2 cents.  I am not sure why anyone would cut off the tops of the garlic, I never do.  Plants need as much foliage as they can get to draw in the sunshine to create photosynthesis (kind of plain and simply).  I am of the belief that the more leaves, the better the plants will grow.  I personally would never cut the leaves of garlic.  I DO though cut leaves off now and then to put into cooked foods or into salads, etc.  A part of a leaf now and then won't hurt the plant.  You may hear more chime in here.

When I start onions and leaks by seed in the greenhouse, when they are about 6 inches high I do cut the leaves down somewhat.  But that is only because the greens can get far too lanky to be healthy grown indoors.  It strengthens the roots instead of putting growth to the above soil part of the plant.

That would be the only reason why I would see someone saying to trim the tops.  But your plants have been established in the ground, the bulbs growing below ground all winter long, they don't need that power boost for the root (bulb) now.  They have already done that all winter long.  Personally, I would just let them grow.  I have always had the most beautiful and wonderfully enormous bulbs by letting Mother Nature do her thing.  Have a wonderful and great day, Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: thomashton on April 17, 2008, 02:03:48 pm
I don't cut the tops off of my garlic--just the flower head. You'll know which one it is because of the bulge it will grow. Also, it is usually curly.

As for harvesting--DO NOT do it too late. What will happen is that the bulb will dry out in the ground and begin to fall apart. You will harvest a handfull of dirt and a few loose cloves. Cindi has great advice to harvest when the top is about 1/3 dead. That way you will know the bulb/head will be intact, and it you have softnect, the leaves will be pliable enough to braid.

If you get into August it is probably too late. At least here in Northern Utah (Zone 5a).
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on April 18, 2008, 09:55:18 am
Thomashton.  One day I will grow some of the softneck variety.  That would be the most cool thing to braid the tops (haven't done that braiding of anything since my gals were little gals, and then I would have the time of my life, hee, hee).

I grow the hardneck rambocole, man and let me tell you they are tough and rock hard for surely.  Once they have wicked and dried, I have to take the garden shears to cut the stalk off close to the bulb.  It is a toughy for sure.

I like to snip little pieces off the garlic leaves when they are growing, they make the most delicious greens to add to my, for example, potato salad!  Yum, yum, or the fresh potatoes with the garlic greens, fresh dill that grows wild around here, popping up everywhere, and of course, big ol' fattening and luscious butter, and lots of it, hee, hee, oh yes, and don't forget the salt and pepper!!!  BEautiful day, dreamin' of those summertime vegies!!!  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: SgtMaj on June 12, 2008, 03:43:28 am
The best onions and garlic... is reclaimed...

by that I mean, onions or garlic (and I do this with potato's too) that starts sprouting greens while waiting to be cooked is no longer good to eat... but with garlic, I separate the cloves and plant them, and leave them for 2 years, after which, I get a complete garlic bulb out of each clove... with the onions, I only get 2-3 medium sized onions for every large one I plant, which roughly works out to about the same amount of onion... but I at least didn't have to let any go to waste, and I harvest them the same year they are planted anyway.  I do the same thing with potato's, but cut them into quarters before planting them.  I can get about a full sack of potatos for every one that would have gone to waste otherwise.

Oh, on the onions, cut off the flower buds before they bloom or else you'll have to let them sit in the ground another year.

You gotta love getting something for nothing...

PS - You'd be surprised how many veggie garden favorites you can get from left-over groceries... lets see... honeydew, watermellon, cantalope, tomato, cucumber, summer squash, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, can all be grown from seeds taken from groceries...
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on June 13, 2008, 10:56:35 am
SgtMaj.  About the garlic.  I wonder why you leave them for two years?  Maybe you know something that I don't know.  I need to know.

When I plant garlic, I plant the cloves in the fall, that be sometime in September, or early October.  By the July of the following year I always have beautiful and big bulbs, comprised of about 6-8 cloves.  I have never left them in for the two years, and now I really am wondering if they would be even nicer if I left them in for two years.  So.....now you have sent me into experimental mode.  I am going to tag and leave a fair number of the bulbs (that were cloves last year) and see what happens in the following year.

I know that very often I don't get all the bulbs up and they resprout in the spring in places where I never even planted them.

One year I let the garlic flowers mature and they produced hundreds upon thousands of little bulbils. I planted these tiny little bulbils in a particular spot in the garden.  The following summer they produced a bigger bulb, I left them again for that year and then the bigger bulbils produced bulbs the following year.  So that was a two year process and very time consuming, not going there again.

I have garlic coming out of my ears everywhere.  I think that the squirrels must dig them up too and replant them.  How else could they get in the places where no human hand has ever been?  That befuddles me, but oh that is a great thing.  I have never  bought garlic now in years and years.......we are garlic.  Have that most beautiful and wonderful day, love this great life we are all livin' and sharin'.  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Moonshae on June 13, 2008, 05:26:20 pm
I planted garlic last fall, and started with the bulbils that take 2 years to mature into full bulbs. Most of them made it through the winter just fine, and I transplanted them from the containers in which I started them to the raised bed I built this spring. It's only June, and they're turning brown. Should I not worry, and just let them go until next year? Cindi, you said July, but you are much farther north than me...is it possible they're done growing for the season already? Here is a picture, sorry they're a little hard to see:

(http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/1189/snc10665oa0.th.jpg) (http://img49.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snc10665oa0.jpg)
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Jessaboo on June 14, 2008, 12:57:30 am
Moonshae -

I am in NJ and have the same issue.

Cindi and/or Konasdad - maybe you can help us out here?

I have mostly hardneck in two separate plantings. One is down the middle of my asparagus row and they are doing very well - cut the scapes about a week and a half ago and just a little bit brown on the tips. I did lose half a dozen bulbs to onion maggot but we side dressed with wood ash twice and I feel pretty certain that has taken care of it.

Our second planting area is very intensive. We do a lot of square foot gardening so we try to make sure to water and fert more than usual. We treated this bed with wood ash, too - no signs of maggots but we wanted to be sure we didn't just chase them from one bed to the other. We also gave a side dress of bone meal (or was it blood meal?) in the early spring. I would say that at least one full leaf on most plants is brown and the tips are browning. But the scapes have not really come in yet so they can't be mature.

I am just hoping it is not fusarium wilt...especially so close to a harvest!

Today we side dressed with worm castings to make sure they weren't just getting tired being in the same soil since Halloween.

I will say that if anyone does any "companion planting" - it seems to me that garlic and asparagus like each other very much (despite all the warnings about root competition). Both are doing exceptionally well this year. Although I haven't pulled any mature garlic yet I have high hopes for it based on the how well the plants are currently doing. 

Any suggestions for what might be turning our NJ garlic brown would be a great help!

- Jess
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: SgtMaj on June 14, 2008, 03:08:23 am
SgtMaj.  About the garlic.  I wonder why you leave them for two years?  Maybe you know something that I don't know.  I need to know.

When I plant garlic, I plant the cloves in the fall, that be sometime in September, or early October.  By the July of the following year I always have beautiful and big bulbs, comprised of about 6-8 cloves.  I have never left them in for the two years, and now I really am wondering if they would be even nicer if I left them in for two years.  So.....now you have sent me into experimental mode.  I am going to tag and leave a fair number of the bulbs (that were cloves last year) and see what happens in the following year.

I know that very often I don't get all the bulbs up and they resprout in the spring in places where I never even planted them.

One year I let the garlic flowers mature and they produced hundreds upon thousands of little bulbils. I planted these tiny little bulbils in a particular spot in the garden.  The following summer they produced a bigger bulb, I left them again for that year and then the bigger bulbils produced bulbs the following year.  So that was a two year process and very time consuming, not going there again.

I have garlic coming out of my ears everywhere.  I think that the squirrels must dig them up too and replant them.  How else could they get in the places where no human hand has ever been?  That befuddles me, but oh that is a great thing.  I have never  bought garlic now in years and years.......we are garlic.  Have that most beautiful and wonderful day, love this great life we are all livin' and sharin'.  Cindi

I leave mine in for 2 years because they don't get planted until spring (remember I pretty much only plant grocery store garlic that has sprouted before I had a chance to use it, and it always seems to sprout in the early spring).  My garlic bulbs come out to be about 2" wide with maybe 8 or so big cloves each.  It's probably about the same as yours, it's just that they won't fill out the bulb with multiple cloves the first year when I plant in spring (If desperate for garlic, I have been known to harvest some the same year, and they are usually just one giant clove about 1" diameter at that point.  Also they had a very onion-y taste to them when they are so young.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on June 14, 2008, 09:56:33 am
SgtMaj.  I see why you say two years.  Why don't you plant some in the fall, before the first hard frost, then by the summertime, you will have mature garlic bulbs.  I have planted garlic in the spring before, and yes, it just doesn't have the months of underground bulb growth that fall planted garlic has.  Garlic doesn't have to sprout to grow, probably better if it has not sprouted, I would think.

Moonshae and Jess.  Gardening is so different in places.  My comments may not be applicable to either of you.

Moonshae, your garlic is mature, it is putting forth flowers.  If I were you, I would cut those flower tops off and allow the plants to mature just a little bit more.  This is what I do, it may be right for you.  I go by how the plants look.  When I have cut off the flower tops and I see that about half of the plant has started to go brown, I pull the bulbs.  I lay them in the sun to cure for half of a day, now remember, I am not that hot up here, the afternoons are hot enough, but I think farther south it is scorching, laying in the shade to cure would be the way to go in a really hot place. 

After this initial curing, then the garlic is hung up, the bulbs facing downwards, this works like a wick and wicks out the moisture.  Moonshae, I would suggest pulling the garlic soon and curing it a little bit.  Come the time in the fall when the garlic should be planted, take those bulbs and separate the cloves, plant the cloves individually.  I think this is what you should do.  This is what I would do.  The plants are almost fully mature and you will see that the cloves that you planted have now bulbed, I am sure.  Pull one out and see, report back, and maybe more comments can be made, depending upon what you find beneath the soil.  I would love to know.

Jess, I can't comment about what is going on with the browning tips.  Maybe others can chime in.  I do know one thing though, garlic does not require an awful lot of feeding during the few months prior to it maturing, are you over-fertilizing?  Just a thought.....garlic does love to be fed.  And yes, manure, holy smoking smokers, they love that stuff.  I have to get a picture of my garlic that somehow got into a spot in my asparagus patch, where it is manured heavily with turkey and compost.  It is monster garlic!!!  It is very pretty growing amongst the asparagus.

Good luck, hope all works out with the garlic.  Yum, yum!!!  Beautiful and most wonderful day, love and live life like there never was a tomorrow.  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: SgtMaj on June 14, 2008, 03:21:37 pm
The only reason I do mine in the spring is because in the fall, the garlic cloves we have in the house are still fit for eating.   :-D
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: SgtMaj on June 20, 2008, 07:52:26 pm
Here's my only garlic for the year this year... I only had one planted.  I peeled that one clove because there's some dark spots on the bottom of it, and I wanted to make sure it was only on the skin.

(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c158/Gatbunton/0620081810.jpg)
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on June 21, 2008, 11:43:29 am
SgtMgr.  That darkness on the outer skin of the garlic is quite common.  It is a form of mould.  I see it sometimes on my garlic bulbs, I pay no mind, when the garlic is harvested and dried, the outer skin has that, but the inner skin on the bulb and the skin on the cloves is just fine.  Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about it.  Get some garlic bulbs, set some cloves in the ground in the fall.  It is quite inexpensive for the gain that you will have next summer.  It is worth it, honestly.  Don't wait for spring for the bulbs to sprout, using the ones that are not very edible looking for table use.  Just do that thing, hee, hee.  Not trying to be bossy, just trying to convince you to get garlic bulbs sooner than two years.  Beautiful day in this most wonderful life, Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Moonshae on June 21, 2008, 01:37:45 pm
I pulled up one of my garlic plants (the brownest, most wilted one) and it was just one clove. I suspect the rest are the same, since they were started in the fall from bulbils. Should I just let them die back, and expect them to sprout again next spring? Or are they just going to rot in the ground if I leave them there, wasting the whole years' effort?
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: SgtMaj on June 21, 2008, 10:37:14 pm
I pulled up one of my garlic plants (the brownest, most wilted one) and it was just one clove. I suspect the rest are the same, since they were started in the fall from bulbils. Should I just let them die back, and expect them to sprout again next spring? Or are they just going to rot in the ground if I leave them there, wasting the whole years' effort?

Let them come back and they should resprout and do fine.  If you've had unfavorable weather, they may not have been able to fill out the way they usually do.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: SgtMaj on June 21, 2008, 10:44:07 pm
SgtMgr.  That darkness on the outer skin of the garlic is quite common.  It is a form of mould.  I see it sometimes on my garlic bulbs, I pay no mind, when the garlic is harvested and dried, the outer skin has that, but the inner skin on the bulb and the skin on the cloves is just fine.  Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about it.  Get some garlic bulbs, set some cloves in the ground in the fall.  It is quite inexpensive for the gain that you will have next summer.  It is worth it, honestly.  Don't wait for spring for the bulbs to sprout, using the ones that are not very edible looking for table use.  Just do that thing, hee, hee.  Not trying to be bossy, just trying to convince you to get garlic bulbs sooner than two years.  Beautiful day in this most wonderful life, Cindi

You're too late, I just set out my garlic from this spring... I set out around 15 cloves that had begun to sprout. 
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on June 23, 2008, 10:43:26 am
Moonshae. One year I gathered the bulbils from the flowers on the garlic.  I had read that it takes two years to form bulbs from the bulbils themselves.  Yes, that was correct, it did.  I had hundreds of one clove bulbs that grew from those bulbils.  I just left them in the ground, ensuring that I had thinned them to about 4 inches apart.  Those bulbils in the second year grew bulbs with about 6-8 cloves in each bulb.  That is a great way of propagating garlic, but takes some time.  Leave the bulbils in the ground, if they have a little bit of blackish stuff, ignore it.....they will do fine.  I had saved some of the bulbils that formed from some of the plants that I let flower.  I had put then in a spot where it was dry with the intention of planting them.  Good luck with that this year, just so far behind.  So I took these whole whack of bulbils and threw them around the property.  I know that they will do their own thing, whatever that may be and come up and sprout and grow, and now I know that I will eventually have even more garlic, growing wildly, beyond my wildest dreams.  My property is becoming more wild every year, hee, hee.  Beautiful and most wonderful day, Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Moonshae on June 23, 2008, 09:40:17 pm
Thanks, Cindi. We thought we screwed something up by transplanting, I guess they're just waiting for next year. I can't wait to pull them up then and be able to get bulbs each year...but buying cloves was too expensive, since we'd have to buy far more than we needed.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: randydrivesabus on July 21, 2008, 05:34:24 pm
i harvested my garlic crop this morning. its hanging under the roof over my deck. i have about 115 bulbs. guess i'll have to sell some at the farmers market.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: KONASDAD on July 23, 2008, 11:50:51 am
I harvested mine this week too. I planted one bulb in october, and they grew well. i now am the proud owner of about 125 bulbs. Only my elephant garlic failed, all other varities did well. I should have planted more. Pound for pound, garlic is a good value for a home gardener. It was $4.25/lb at Acme for white garlic. I must have about 17 lbs i guess and I paid about $20 for bulbs in fall.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: SgtMaj on July 23, 2008, 10:54:45 pm
Wow, nice. 

I'm hoping to put out about 20 bulbs this year... and that's a lot to me... lol
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: randydrivesabus on September 04, 2008, 06:34:41 pm
so we're coming up to garlic planting time again. instead of selling most of the garlic i grew this past season i'm going to plant a lot of it. the stuff sells very well at the farmers market. but it makes no sense to me to sell it and then have to buy some from someone else. since i just have hardneck garlic i ordered some softneck from
http://wegrowgarlic.com/301.html

they seem to have the best price. the only seller of softneck garlic at the farmers market refuses to sell any to me because she wants it all for braids. must make good money for her and next year it will for me. or maybe the year after.

i'm looking to plant in a little more than a month from now.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: thomashton on September 05, 2008, 01:12:59 pm
Yup. This fall I am planting mostly softneck for braiding next summer. People really eat that up. I have a few varieties of hardnecks, but they are mostly for my own use around the kitchen as they have special tastes I want (hot, firey etc.).

My coworker is our botanist here (I am the wildlife biologist), and he always has a fabulous garden. Usually he plants at least 10 different varieties of garlic and has so much left over that he gives me what he can't plant. This year he is planting left overs from what he grew, so I don't get his extras. Got a big order coming in soon. Got my beds ready and the weather is good too. I'm pretty much ready for garlicing season.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on September 06, 2008, 01:03:09 am
Oh dear, me bad....I still haven't harvested my garlic.  This will be a first that I am so negligent.  It is time to plant garlic, not harvest it.  The late, cold spring delayed so much, even the garlic, but I saw some of the beds today that are in bad shape.  Tomorrow is my promise to myself to dig it all up.  At the end of this month I will replant, probably most of what I have dug up.  I have dug up some that was growing out of place, no clue how it  got there, but they liked where they were growing, monster, pretty hot garlic, just how I like it.  Usually we harvest garlic the middle of July, but not a chance in the great green earth that it was even close to ready.  I missed that window, now I think that the cloves will be somewhat separated from the entire bulb, but oh well, so goes the deal.  Have a wonderful and most of an awesome day, Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: 1reb on September 13, 2008, 10:09:54 pm
I just brought a pound of softneck garlic and going to plant it this weekend.
Johnny
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: randydrivesabus on September 13, 2008, 10:58:02 pm
Johnny-it might be too early to plant it. you don't want it to grow much before the cold weather sets in.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: SgtMaj on September 13, 2008, 11:16:55 pm
Yeah, I planted some mid-summer... it came up good, but all died.  It surely does not like the hot dry weather while still young.

I'll be out tomorrow trying to tidy up the edging on my garden, so It'll be ready for the garlic.  I screwed it up last time... I apparantly can't count right, or make a nice straight line, because I ended up being a half a cinder block shorter on one end than the other.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: 1reb on September 13, 2008, 11:31:11 pm
When will be the best time to plant the garlic?
Johnny
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: SgtMaj on September 14, 2008, 02:14:24 am
Depends on what Ag zone you are in... but it's less about when by the calendar, and more about when by the temperatures.  I would think you'd be safe to plant it when it stops getting up above 80 for daytime high temps.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: randydrivesabus on September 14, 2008, 08:16:38 am
you should wait until after the first good frost at least. I plant mine here in Mid-October and then mulch it with straw. You're pretty far south Johnny so maybe the end of October would be best for you. Keep your planting stock dry until planting time. A hanging mesh bag will allow air circulation.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on September 14, 2008, 04:09:40 pm
Personally, I don't wait until after the first hard frost.  I plant anytime in the fall when I think that I want to plant it.  I don't think there is any hard and fastly set rules.  I would plant before the first hard frost, because I want the cloves to have begun to set some root hairs to hold them in the ground when frost heaves begin. 

I think Randy has it bang on the nail though with mulching.  That will keep the soil from heaving too much and uplifting the bulbs.  I have never tried that and have had the ding dang cloves bumped right out of the earth from the frost heaves.  That frost heave is a pretty strong dude!!!!  Many times I have had to go and push the cloves back down into the soft earth because of the frosty heaves....oops, am I ramblin' about frosty heaves?  Pardon please. 

I have wonderful mixtures of older strawy stuff that is mixed with chickeny poopy stuff.  I know that garlic loves chicken poop, and by the time next year comes, the mixture will be really, really aged, it is somewhat aged now, but will provide awesome nutrients for those garlic cloves.

Garlic needs to be planted in the fall so that it can grow every so slowly over the winter and get enormous underground root hairs growing so that when the summer comes and it needs moisture and so on, the bulbs will have that whole whack of help of their hair roots that they grew underground all winter long.  Plant it when it can get that winter moisture to grow great hair roots!!!  Have the most beautiful and most awesome day, Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Jessaboo on September 14, 2008, 04:26:12 pm
I have to plant things based on old lore, holidays and feast days - otherwise I'd never remember anything!

Here in NJ we plant Garlic about Halloween.

We harvest softneck garlics about the feast of St. John the Baptist (June 24) and hardneck garlic about July 4.

I think the rule of thumb is to plant garlic no later than 3 weeks after the first hard frost (so probably no later than Thanksgiving pretty much anywhere.)

I just ordered mine from Filaree Farms - they do have quite a few varieties sold out but that just forces me to try something new. When you're talking garlic, how can it be bad? I meant to hold some of what we had last year out to plant but I would rather have it to eat!

We are harvesting figs like crazy these days - anyone have good uses (besides just eating them and jams?).

- Jess
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Moonshae on September 14, 2008, 06:45:00 pm
We are harvesting figs like crazy these days - anyone have good uses (besides just eating them and jams?).

A nice spiced fig melomel?
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: 1reb on September 14, 2008, 09:40:51 pm
Thank you  for the information I will wait  to plant my garlic
Johnny
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Jessaboo on September 15, 2008, 09:33:08 pm
You know, Moonshae, that might be the ticket.

We made a really nice cherry melomel last year - can't see any reason figs won't be just as good - thanks for the thought!

- Jess
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: poka-bee on September 16, 2008, 07:04:18 pm
Jess, you just reminded me I LOVE figs..I forgot cause we don't have a tree...gonna have to fix that!  I'm busy canning applesauce now.  My Daughter has a little tree & so far I've gotten 3boxes & still more to pick! Next year gonna dormant oil it though cause out of 2 boxes maybe 50 apples don't have worm damage..chix don't mind but I don't like having to cut so much out!  Jody :-x
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: bud1 on September 16, 2008, 08:54:20 pm
miss jody dormant oil spray for scale on stone fruit, but with some malithon and fungicide good for all, have to do a spray program at bloom drop til harvest for apple magots
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: poka-bee on September 16, 2008, 11:55:41 pm
Thanks bud1, I've never had apple maggots on my trees, but my daughters tree 5 miles away..whoeee!! :shock: Prolific apples though.  Don't know what type, don't keep well, get mealy, med size, not too tart but not sweet sweet either.  Great for crisps & sauce.  Jody
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: SgtMaj on September 17, 2008, 03:12:17 am
My neighbor said: "why don't they just tie plastic sandwich bags around the fruit while they are still too young so the maggots can't get to them?"
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: Cindi on September 17, 2008, 11:23:49 am
Jody, your crisp, your crisp, longing for your crisp.  That apple crisp that you baked for our bbq at Brian's was out of this world!!!!  Doesn't it bug the crag out of you when so much of an apple is lost to those ding dang maggotty brats!!!!  Can't stand that.  I have an apple tree that is ready for harvesting now.  It is not huge, it is called a Northland.  It is a pretty yellow apple with pink blush on it.  Very tasty.  It should have been ready at the end of August, but is now ready for the pick, I think it has about 30 apples, hee, hee.  Haven't counted, but I be thinkin' that.  My poor Gravenstein.  It should have had mounds of apples this year, it is now four years old, but it only had one.  Go figure that one out!!!!  I can't wait for next year, maybe it will give us some.  But, yes, unfortunately, if one does not put a spray on the tree, you will get hideous fruit.  That is what I have found out from my Sister, whom grows beautiful apples of many varieties on her farm which is about 30 minutes east of us.  She also has walnuts, I am thinking they must be ready now!!!   Zucchini bread here we come!!!  Beautiful and most wonderful of these days, loving and living life.  Cindi
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: reinbeau on September 30, 2008, 10:09:43 am
I plant my garlic at the end of October.  I don't want top growth before the hard winter sets in.  It sets roots and may sprout a bit underground, but it stays below the soil level til a thaw in the winter.  I mulch it with well-ground up leaves once the soil freezes, that's important around here with all of the frost heaving that goes on!  I got some to plant last weekend when we were up at the Common Ground Fair, I always buy my garlic for growing from the Maine growers, I know it'll make it down here.
Title: Re: Garlic and other fall veggies
Post by: thomashton on October 28, 2008, 02:18:22 pm
I just planted my garlic on Saturday. Gave it all a good watering and then the sun came out and gave it a good day of 60 degree weather. We've had a beautiful indian summer here in northern Utah (except for the two weekends I had family visiting earlier this month). Then the garlic got a good thick layer of straw mulch from the goat barn. I'll be looking forward to that garlic this summer.