by Margret Mueller
This bright, cool afternoon was perfect for planting our first crop of garlic on the land. Jeffry and Tain, encouraged by Eya, planted about 900 garlic cloves (one 100-foot bed, with 3 rows, approximately 3 cloves per foot).
Here’s how it works:
Garlic planting is generally done in the fall so that shoots have time to emerge but not grow too tall before we have any hard freezes. The largest heads of saved garlic from last year’s crop are separated into individual cloves (thanks, Tain!) and pushed into loose prepared (amended and tilled) soil. A layer of soil is raked over them, and pine straw mulch is scattered over the row. The mulch helps retain moisture and suppress weeds. (Since HM’s soil is already too acidic, we will rake off the pine needles at harvest and pile them up somewhere to rot instead of letting them deteriorate in place.)
Illustration from https://www.slugmag.com/interviews-features/garlic-planting-growing/
As soon as the soil warms in the spring, the shoots will, well, shoot up! Nitrogen fertilizer is applied during the growing season. Garlic is mature by late May, signaled by the tops starting to yellow and fall over. It is then pulled, allowed to dry, cleaned up, and Voila! Ready for market.
