Just wondering if Ive set this up correctly. It’s my first time growing garlic. I’ve got about 120 cloves in a couple weeks ago.
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Looks great! That’s what I want mine to look like in May …
Looks nice. Mine are only few inches tall. I wonder if you planted too early?
I finished putting in mine last weekend. Last year they cam up a little in the winter during the mild spells. I do not think it is a problem if they come up some, they will pause over winter and finish in April and May. At least that is the plan!
i planted mine in september they are easily twice your size, i dont think you planted too early i think you did a great job
wait til next august/sept to pull one up, if they are mature go ahead and pick all of them, you can eat the garlic seeds/ which are really more garlic bulbs on the top,
divide your garlic and you have free garlic for the rest of your life
which varieties did you plant? i planted ricos german hardy
@TheNiceGuy, Looks like you are zone 8. I think they will be fine. I’m in Zone 8 and had them that big before winter set in, they did great. They survived winter temps down to 10F. I plant any time from mid Sept to mid Nov, and they seem to come out the same. I did have problems last year, with rabbits repeatedly eating off all of the growth. That set them back and the eaten ones never grew as large. This year I will cover them with some sort of protective fencing.
How do you make sure they find their way up the hole? Do you just cut a slit and pop the clove in, or a small circle hole so they don’t get stuck?
That’s the neatest planting of garlic I’ve seen. They should be fine. Let is know how the weed barrier does. It will keep the soil warmer.
Cool bananas, thanks guys.
Donkey, I’m not sure which variety they are, just look like standard white. Bear, I don’t think it gets quite down to 10° F here. Dan, that made my thread! Nice to do excellence in something.
Jxz, my procedure was: till up all the soil and mix aged chicken manure in with it ( I should mention it was easier because I covered this stretch during the summer for watermelons, so it’s basically weed free); Rake it flat, cover and pin; use an X-Acto knife to cut straight slits at regular intervals; jam a garden pole down the hole a few inches; push cloves in. Maybe half a dozen had trouble finding the slit, so I fished them out with my finger.
I thought someone was playing a joke on me, as I came back a few days later and they all sprung up. I didn’t realize they grew so fast. I thought maybe they did nothing all winter until the spring.
Weeds are serious problem here, so I think some kind of covering is a necessity. Do I just let them do their own thing until harvest time? Or do I need to be concerned about water or additional fertilizer?
An update:
I assume the shoots coming out of the center our scapes. Should I cut them all off to encourage the bulbs to grow larger? I’m supposed to wait until the end of summer before harvesting the actual garlic bulbs, correct?
As a side, Does the garlic look normal size and healthy? There seems to be an aweful lot of browning leaves. I don’t water them often (as we live in a wet area), and I haven’t given them much fertilizer since they were planted.
I always cut my scapes off. They are very tasty. Look up a recipe for garlic scape pesto. We made some last year and it was great.
Those are scapes, and there are a couple of different approaches to dealing with them. Some people leave them to curl up as the garlic matures, and then un-curl when it’s ready to lift. Others cut off the scapes when they’re young and cook with them. Some do some of each.
Your garlic will die back from the top when it’s ready, and the untended scapes will straighten out. Lift a couple then and see if the cloves aren’t distinct, but still tight. They won’t separate easily until the garlic has cured for a few days, unless you let it stand too long before lifting it.
I don’t feed garlic heavily, but I do work some milorganite into the soild when I plant, and then I mulch with compost, so it gets some food. It likes plenty of water but needs to be well drained.
That’s good info, thanks guys. So the actual garlic bulb will be just as good weather I cut the scapes now or leave them until the end?
Yes, harvesting the scape has never adversely affected my garlic bulbs. Garlic has been one of those constantly good crops for me year in and year out. I even save a few bulbs and plant them in the fall.
Cutting the scapes directs the energy into makeing bigger bulbs.
Cut them as they emerg
Harvest bulbs when tops yellow,
July here in Wv.
If left to long in the ground after that the paper that surrounds the bulb will deteriorate .
Garlic scapes usually means it’s 3 to 4 weeks away from harvest! Sometimes the scapes are sold at farmer’s market, very pricey!
Some varietys have nice little bulbs on the scapes.
I have a row that I do not harvest the underground part,
But just pick the little bulbs that form on the scapes
So you may let a ,few , develop top bulbs ,some varietys do
Some don’t
Just wondering if I have a problem with my Garlic? I planted my Softneck Garlic around about the first week April. So far I don’t even have anything above ground from them. I know planting in Spring is different than traditional planting in fall but shouldn’t I see something above ground from them nearly 6 weeks later?
Yeah, you should. I think you’d best dig up a couple and see what’s what. I think garlic needs a chill period to encourage it to sprout. Could that be part of the problem?
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Glad I saw this. Went out to check mine (hardneck planted last Oct) and although my notes say scapes appear mid May, there’s not even a hint of a scape. I guess it’s this unusual weather.
Regarding harvesting, my understanding (and practice) has been to pull them when the lower 2 leaves have turned brown, else they don’t store well. I guess if you are going to dry or can them it doesn’t matter.
Here’s some of mine guarding the Jujube, LOL.
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