Fun, I have garlic! (Oh crap, now what?)

[pondgardener]

[mention]wykvlvr[/mention] On the first page of this thread there are a few posts by [mention]Paquebot[/mention] and [mention]Bower[/mention] that mention late planting and in one case using a bulb auger to drill holes. But a lot would be decided on whether the ground is workable. Fortunately I planted all of mine a week ago, covered with a thick layer of pine needles, so the cold weather here is not an issue.

[bower]

Argh I am in that bad position of being too busy with other things (work!), and having let the optimal time pass because it was warmer than normal, now the cold is all of a sudden setting in here as well. Did bed prep on the weekend for most of it, then went to finish on Monday morning and the surface of the ground was indeed frozen. So I waited to get it weeded and limed in the afternoon, then today it poured rain but didn't warm up as forecasted whatsoever! And now they have a low of -2C forecast for tomorrow night, with a windchill of -8 C. I still have some well rotted horse manure to dig in those beds, which I have to move in buckets since I don't have a wheelbarrow. So that's what tomorrow is shaping up to be! After that, will be watching for the dry day to actually plant, ASAP.
I'm not worried about planting a little late, from the garlic's pov, more so for my own discomfort if the weather's nasty. For the garlic, rain is probably worse for them than snow.
[mention]wykvlvr[/mention] you can certainly plant it if you can make a hole in the ground and cover it up. Either wait for the snow to melt (if that's in the forecast) or pick a nice day that's not too cold, push back the snow and go ahead. If you expect the snow to stay all winter, just pile it back on the bed after planting.
Especially if you don't have a huge amount to plant, it's feasible. Short work, and a mug of hot chocolate afterwards !

[wykvlvr]

I did ask in the Wyoming Gardners group and was told about the same wait until it melts and plant... of course I will leave the bulbs intact until I get ready to plant then will probably save back the smallest cloves so we can see what they taste like. Spring should be interesting...
Grin and to put this in perspective for some folks it was -13C this morning but has gotten up to 3C this afternoon however it should drop to -8C tonight. Winter is here for now but will we have winter or fall next week no telling...

[Paquebot]

As I have stated for 15 years, latest that a person may plant garlic is 31 December and earliest is 1 January. Think of the bulbils. They may lay on the ground all winter and take root in the spring. I know that everyone loves to see growth about now through Zone 7. OK to have a spear showing but if leaves are exposed here they are frozen and dead in April.

Forgot to mention my opinion of "workable". Ultimate tools for ultimate conditions are either a bulb auger or hatchet. I have used both!

Martin

[wykvlvr]

LOL thank you I will relax now and wait until this weekend to plant my garlic bulbs. From the looks of it in my Wyoming Gardeners group I will be in good company...

[Amateurinawe]

ditto! However i do need to pull up the ginger and bring it indoors into a pot...on the list for the weekend

[pepperhead212]

It's that time! I know some have already planted, since they are much colder, and some even warmer than I am have planted theirs. I always wait until about a week into November, and this year is much warmer than usual - in the 70s for a while. I got my ground ready a couple of days ago, and today I started working on the garlic.

I got all of my garlic separated, and counted out, and it will be soaking overnight in a solution of kelp and potassium bicarbonate, then tomorrow, I'll rinse them briefly in 50% isopropyl alcohol, and plant.

I have 32 huge cloves of German Extra Hardy from a pound of seed garlic, and the same number of cloves almost as large, from just under a pound of Estonian Red, using my largest heads. Then 60 cloves of Metechi from a pound of seed garlic - still large cloves, just not huge like those other two. And I have 33 cloves of Montana Giant, from a little over a pound, from last season. Any extra area I have will get planted with shallots. And maybe some elsewhere, too.

[bower]

Mine went in last weekend and finished up Monday. I waited for a 'thaw' day in our yoyo and I dug the horse manure in with the fork, raked it down, and dibbled all three beds the same day although I only got one planted immediately and a second one the next day, then waited for rain storm to pass before planting the third. It was still okay, no cave in of my carefully spaced holes. I must say the (completely rotted) horse manure made for a very soft springy bed. I think if I was garlic, I would like it.
Only got leaves on one of the beds but expecting to bag some tomorrow and get the others covered. Chicken wire just laid on at present with boards to keep it down.. no signs of animals (yet) but I did see a lurking grouse this morning. I don't think she'd brave a patch of wire for bare ground, they are bud and sprout eaters more than diggers for ?? unknowns - but they do love a dust bath in a freshly raked bed! No ma'am! Not today.

[pepperhead212]

Garlic and shallots are in! I did 3 rows in the wide row that my squash was in, and that my rosemary and sage are in - a row I haven't grown garlic or any alliums in for at least 8 years. The rows are about 10" apart, garlic 5" apart, and the shallots 9" apart for the large, 6" for the small. I had 32 shallots to plant, and a little more space than I needed, which I why I spaced the larger further apart, than usual. I dumped some ground up leaves in them - I'll let them settle, and put some more in later on, or some straw.
The finished 3 rows of garlic and shallots, mulched with leaves, same row the squash was in. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

It's funny how large those metechi cloves were, yet they were my small cloves! There were a few average sized cloves, but most were what I would consider 2 cloves, when cooking. Those German Extra Hardy Porcelain and Estonian Reds were so large that I consider that size 3-4 cloves. That's why I like these kinds so much.
The small metechi cloves! In a 10 x 13 inch tray, for reference. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[LK2020]

Garlic and shallots are in! I did 3 rows in the wide row that my squash was in, and that my rosemary and sage are in - a row I haven't grown garlic or any alliums in for at least 8 years. The rows are about 10" apart, garlic 5" apart, and the shallots 9" apart for the large, 6" for the small. I had 32 shallots to plant, and a little more space than I needed, which I why I spaced the larger further apart, than usual. I dumped some ground up leaves in them - I'll let them settle, and put some more in later on, or some straw.

It's funny how large those metechi cloves were, yet they were my small cloves! There were a few average sized cloves, but most were what I would consider 2 cloves, when cooking. Those German Extra Hardy Porcelain and Estonian Reds were so large that I consider that size 3-4 cloves. That's why I like these kinds so much.

Looking good, Pepperhead! Where did you get your ginormous garlic?

[LK2020]

Well, I got my garlic in today!! Hallelujah!! I ended up planting them 6" apart, in rows one foot apart, even though in my small garden that means I could only plant about 30 cloves. Only 5 to 8 cloves each of five varieties, Music, Chesnok Red, German X-Hardy, Georgian Crystal, and Persia Star. I have a 3' x 6' plot for my garlic, that's it. Pepperhead, I envy that nice big garden!

I also found that some of my bulbs had dried out or rotted cloves. I did take the best, biggest cloves, and I'm happy with the ones in the ground. I think they will do much better than the ones I grew 2 years ago in my only other garlic-growing year. I wanted to try more in some big containers, but I don't want to plant cloves that are turning brown, yuck. I ordered in July, received the bulbs in mid-October, and they've been in a well-ventilated area since then. Was that too long to wait to plant?

Somewhat disappointed in the quality, and wondering where people get nice, big, clean seed garllic? Any favorite suppliers?

[ponyexpress]

Somewhat disappointed in the quality, and wondering where people get nice, big, clean seed garllic? Any favorite suppliers?

Where are you located?

I just planted mine this weekend in Massachusetts. For my area, people will plant around mid October through end of November.

In the past, I’ve bought cloves from Fedco, Maine Potato Lady, and Filaree Farm.

[pepperhead212]

[mention]LK2020[/mention] I ordered my garlic way back in the summer, and got it in early Oct., and had no problems with them. You definitely shouldn't have had dried or rotted cloves in that amount of time.

I have gotten some of my garlic from Keene's the last couple of years, and didn't have a single bad clove, and those German Extra Hardy cloves were huge, without having to order larger ones. I used my own from last season of the Estonian red, mainly because everywhere I found it the price was higher than usual. And the Montana Giant from last season, to fill in the space.

https://keeneorganics.com/garlic-store/

[GoDawgs]

My garlic got planted on Halloween! I saw yesterday that the Siberian, Russian Inferno and a 6' stretch of mixed garlic (that's what I get for not paying attention to labeling when curing!) are poking up. Not up yet are the Lorz Italian and cloves from a bulb of something I bought at WalMart. The one from WalMart's grocery section was bought for cooking but since it had really big cloves and no small ones in the middle I planted it. The Lorz is new to me this year. I got it from Southern Exposure and the bulbs they sent were very nice.

[LK2020]

Somewhat disappointed in the quality, and wondering where people get nice, big, clean seed garllic? Any favorite suppliers?

Where are you located?

I just planted mine this weekend in Massachusetts. For my area, people will plant around mid October through end of November.

In the past, I’ve bought cloves from Fedco, Maine Potato Lady, and Filaree Farm.

Thanks for the recommendations. I'm in NJ. I was hoping to make it up to the Saugerties Garlic festival in NY one of these years and buy some seed garlic there, but ... obviously not this year! One of my sisters lives near there, and has gone to the festival for years. I persuaded her to grow garlic last year, and now she's hooked.

[LK2020]

@LK2020 I ordered my garlic way back in the summer, and got it in early Oct., and had no problems with them. You definitely shouldn't have had dried or rotted cloves in that amount of time.

I have gotten some of my garlic from Keene's the last couple of years, and didn't have a single bad clove, and those German Extra Hardy cloves were huge, without having to order larger ones. I used my own from last season of the Estonian red, mainly because everywhere I found it the price was higher than usual. And the Montana Giant from last season, to fill in the space.

https://keeneorganics.com/garlic-store/

Thank you. About 40% of what I have this year was ordered from Keene's, and I ordered Jumbo cloves. I emailed them, and they were immediately responsive. They said they send extra bulbs with the Jumbos to guard against the possibility of problems, which is true - in my 1/4 lb orders I got 3 bulbs instead of the usual 2 bulbs, which was good b/c one of the Persia Stars had to be tossed. And Keene may have actually already sent me replacements! So, I can't complain about them. The rest were from Mad River Garlic. I'm not trying to say anything negative about individual suppliers, the bulbs from both suppliers ALL seemed fantastic on arrival, and I'm sure they seemed that way when they selected them to ship. But very quickly many of them started feeling dried out and when I opened them to plant, there were a lot more dried out, browned, spotty cloves that you would expect. Probably just chance - a challenging year all around for everybody - and as I said, I did get enough good ones to plant my little plot.

But here's my question - having looked at my "seconds" that I didn't plant (may use in cooking), they look a bit better now that they are not sitting right next to the white beautiful first-rate cloves that got planted.

There are some that have some brown discoloration streaks but they are quite firm and large. I'm wondering if they would do well anyway? I'm tempted to plant them anyway and see what happens.

It's only my 2nd year growing garlic ... what is your criteria for planting vs not planting your cloves? Which ones do you toss, and which ones are less-than-ideal but okay?

Linda

[bower]

I try to be really picky about what I plant, but depends on what you've got. When the garlic's good, even if I accidentally give a bulb a knock during harvest or cleanup, I will put it in the eating pile not to consider for seed. And when I'm cracking, any sign of pest, disease or abnormality will not get planted. I figure an unhealthy or infested plant has the risk of spreading harm to others, and I'd rather avoid disappointment, where you have a limited space to devote to garlic (or anything else) it is not a happy day to have to rogue something that's unhealthy, or just live with empty spaces where they didn't come up.

Actually, I've been filling up the spaces if I have any - I was really happy with the root parsley I seeded into a few gaps this spring. It got no special attention and produced something to eat at the end of the day. Sometimes I plant radishes in the gaps, but I rarely eat them.

OTOH though, if you have cloves with brown streaks I doubt sincerely they will grow up to be a bulb. You're better off eating the good parts now.

[LK2020]

I try to be really picky about what I plant, but depends on what you've got. When the garlic's good, even if I accidentally give a bulb a knock during harvest or cleanup, I will put it in the eating pile not to consider for seed. And when I'm cracking, any sign of pest, disease or abnormality will not get planted. I figure an unhealthy or infested plant has the risk of spreading harm to others, and I'd rather avoid disappointment, where you have a limited space to devote to garlic (or anything else) it is not a happy day to have to rogue something that's unhealthy, or just live with empty spaces where they didn't come up.

Actually, I've been filling up the spaces if I have any - I was really happy with the root parsley I seeded into a few gaps this spring. It got no special attention and produced something to eat at the end of the day. Sometimes I plant radishes in the gaps, but I rarely eat them.

OTOH though, if you have cloves with brown streaks I doubt sincerely they will grow up to be a bulb. You're better off eating the good parts now.

Thank you, I think you're right, it's probably better to be safe. I'm guessing it's fusarium on some of these cloves, and I don't need more of that in my soil.

What do you do with the radishes if you don't eat them? Are you using them to loosen or aerate your soil?

[bower]

[mention]LK2020[/mention] I don't really like radishes. The idea was to use them as a trap crop for wireworms. I've tried that several times and have yet to catch a single worm though. Maybe they don't like radishes either?