Planting Garlic

The boys stopped by the feed store after school today and purchased 10 garlic bulbs so that we could plant our 2012 garlic crop.  Garlic is good on everything, except maybe ice cream.  We're hoping to have a nice harvest this year after two successive crop failures.  Two years ago, we had a really nice crop.  Shortly after harvesting the garlic bulbs, it became really hot and humid for two weeks in a row.  All of our beautiful garlic ended up molding and we had to throw it all away!  This past year we had another nice harvest, but none of the garlic bulbs separated into cloves.  We pulled them up and there was just one thing that looked like a small onion - none of them separated into cloves.  I researched and determined that it takes about two months of 40 degree weather to induce garlic to bulb.  It is called a cold treatment.  I don't know whether or not our mild winter caused this or if it was due to something else.

Here is a brown paper bag containing 10 garlic bulbs.  Our ground is already worked up and prepared.  Garlic grows best in rich, well-drained soil.  The soil we're planting in is the same soil that we harvested sweet potatoes out of.  I just broadcast some composted chicken poop to rejuvenate the soil.  We're ready to go now.

Bag of Garlic

The first thing you do is break up the bulbs into individual cloves.  Benjamin is demonstrating how you break them up to get ready to plant the cloves.  You don't want to tear the skins off of them, though.  They serve as protection for the garlic against moist soil and rot.


Breakin' 'em up to plant

Benjamin has just finished up separating the garlic bulbs into cloves for planting.  I asked him to count them and out of 10 bulbs of garlic, he was able to break them up into 110 cloves.  He was already barefooted before he started.  You're probably thinking that once he got past 10, he had to take off his shoes!  That would've been me.


Cloves of garlic ready to plant

In order to plant cloves of garlic, you dig a trench 2 to 3 inches deep and plant the individual cloves, root side down (pointed end up), in some good, rich soil. 

Planting cloves of garlic

In this photo, Benjamin has finished planting 55 cloves down one row, he's moving 6 inches over in the same row and continues planting all the way back to where he started.  When he is done, there will be a double row of garlic spaced 6 inches apart on all sides.


Garlic Planting.

Once all the garlic is planted, you just cover the cloves up with dirt.  Make sure that they are buried 2 to 3 inches deep.  Here is Benjamin gently covering the garlic that he's planted with dirt.


Covering up the freshly planted garlic

Once the row of garlic was planted we water it down real good.  Russ has the water hose and is giving the row a liberal sprinkling with water simulating rainfall.  You should see green garlic shoots popping up everywhere in 4 - 6 weeks. 

Watering down the row of garlic

Below is the row of garlic, planted and watered and ready to grow.  As soon as the green shoots burst through the soil, I'll take pictures and show you.  You need to keep garlic weeded real good as it is not very competitive.  I generally do this by putting a layer of mulch or hay two inches thick around the garlic to avoid weed pressure.  Garlic takes a long time to mature.  If you plant in October, you won't be harvesting until late June or mid-July.  This is why it is a good idea to plant enough to get you through the year.

By the way, on the right hand side of the bed of garlic we just planted, you can see the Sugar Snap Peas growing nicely.  If there is such thing as vegetable candy, this is it.  These peas will climb up the fence, flower and produce pea pods that you can eat raw.  Delicious!


A row of planted garlic

 We'll talk later about harvesting garlic and many different things to do with it.  Below is a recipe for Roasted Garlic from SimplyRecipes.com.  Simple and very good for eating plain or making a paste and spreading on warm french bread.  Have some Altoids or other breath mints handy, though.  Your wife and/or friends will appreciate this consideration.

Roasted Garlic