Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Garlic planted.

I finally got the garlic planted back on November 21 st. It was an awfuly late time to be planting but the outside temp was near 50F. So first the soil was forked over to remove weed roots and loosen the dirt. Then I added a quick dusting of agricultural lime as this was one of my oldest beds. I didn't check the pH first but it may have been a bit sour as I have added aged chicken litter and compost over the years. I then worked over the clumps with the tiller attachment for my weeder until it was a fine tilth. I then leveled the bed by raking until it looked like this.

I then set out the garlic cloves to get my spacing. I used the bottom of a one gallon bucket to space my cloves out by around 8 inch centers. And pushed them in to a depth of approximately two inches.



As you see below a 4 x 9 bed can allow you to plant quite a lot of garlic.



After planting the soil was firmed up around the cloves of garlic. I didn't water them in as rain was predicted for the next afternoon. I finished it all up by bedding the new planting in with a covering of some of the straw that was left over from our fall festival.




Now all I have to do is wait till I can enjoy the delicious garlic scapes late next spring.

6 comments:

Mr. H. said...

Nice looking garlic bed, it looks like you are going to have a lot of garlic next year.:) I'm curious, do plan on you leaving the straw on or removing it in the spring?

Jo said...

Some of your favorite garlic scape recipes would be most appreciated!

Bill said...

Hey, just wondering what type of garlic did you plant? I was watching a gardening show and the person they were featuring had dozens of different kinds of garlic. Apparently his lot was rather pungent. (GRIN)

Frustrated Farmer Rick said...

Mr. H. ,

Thanks. I was quite proud of how it looked. I haven't used regular straw before but in prior years I have left it in place and let the garlic grow up through it.The straw helps to keep the weeds down.

Jo,

Our favorite way to use them is either fresh in place of basil in a pesto or grilled with olive oil and salt.

Bill,

to be honest I no longer know which varieties I am planting. A few years ago I got a variety pack from SSE and planted most of them. I however neglected to dry them separately. So I probably have a few varieties in there but figure that since I plant the cloves that perform best I will eventually have just one variety and it will be the one best suited to my garden. I will just have no idea what variety it actually is. "Benign Neglect" in action.
Hehe

Annie said...

The garlic bed looks good Rick, how many bulbs will you end up with?

Frustrated Farmer Rick said...

Thanks Annie! I think I planted around 65 or so. So probably around that much. So far I have had good luck with garlic.