Growing garlic

[blanasa]

Lookin' good Lyle.
Mine just had 5 inches of snow on top of it so I won't have to water it this week.
Crazy weather. Supposed to get into the 70's this weekend.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Lyle, looking good! I think that's the fanciest garlic planting bed I've ever seen.

Richard, you are dead on, consistent soil moisture is critical during the bulbing up stage of garlic. So is keeping it well weeded as garlic doesn't do well with competition from weeds or grasses.

Brian, I have that same problem, snow! Well it's not really a problem, it's nature. A nice thick layer of snow is a good thing up here.

My garlic won't have the mulch pulled of until well into April.

 

[kcrain]

Alright guys
all this talk about garlic. and we cook everything with garlic. When is the best time of year to plant? I've picked up cloves from the feed store and some talk about planting in the spring and some say plant in the fall. Help a fellow cubber out give me some tips, pointers, or whatever info you cn help with. I live in the cincinnati ohio area.
Thanks Keith

 

[rpalmer]

Keith Crain,

Lyle has it right. He planted his in November. I live in Toledo, Oh. (hi neighbor) and use to plant mine in October. You have missed this season's crop... but spend your time working the ground where you plan to plant in the fall with as much organic material you can.
I also use to get my bulbs from Johnny's Seeds. Seed garlic is kept in the ground a little longer than what you buy at the store for eating.

Lyle, Just looking at your garlic gives me a BIG grin! Keep the pictures a coming.

 

[lbaker]

The garlic I planted in Nov= I dug up a couple and they did not multiply, Look like one giant onion!! Pic tomorrow. I would think you could plant as soon as you can work the ground. I would as will be replanting another crop in couple weeks.Mulch and plenty of water!! Right Kraig??

 

[lbaker]

Dug a couple today. Keith, Google Garlic, Ohio.
Interesting!!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Lyle, it's way too early to be harvesting garlic!!! Wait until the leaves start to turn yellow. In my area the harvest time is late July. I did an internet search on growing garlic in NC and came up with this, it might have some helpful info for your area.

GROWING GARLIC IN NC

That looks more like a leek!

Keith, do a little internet research on growing garlic in Ohio, that should answer most of your questions. Richard gave very good info. Johnny's Seed is a good source for garlic, that's where I bought my first garlic back in the early 1990's and I've been saving the biggest and best bulbs for replanting ever since, effectively creating my own hybrid version of a German Extra Hardy Garlic. Lyle was correct with the mulch and plenty of water, however do not keep the garlic WET, only moist and do mot let dry out during the "bulbing up" stage which is the last month or so of growth before the harvest. You'll have to determine the normal harvest time in your area. For me up here in Wisconsin that is late July. Best wishes.

MORE HELPFUL INFO

 

[lbaker]

You're correct on the growing time for our bulbs Kraig. That does look like a leek, but came from last years bulbs. Will let them all stay in the ground to see how they develope. I planted them a little deeper than usual,so? Will put a row in the garden soon to see how they do. Like growing/watching, use very little.What did you decide to do Keith??

 

[kcrain]

The wife bought 2 bags of bulbs from the feed store. Were going to plant one bag of the bulbs in the next day or to and then the other bag in the fall. This growing garlic is new to us so were going to try both was for an experiment and see what we can learn.
Thanks Keith

 

[blanasa]

Archive bug!!!!!!!!

 

[blanasa]

Garlic crop as of today.

These are from bulbs bought at the grocery store.

Onion sets poking their heads through.

AHHHH! Spring. Be cutting grass soon.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Brian, looking good on the garlic! Ummm, those "onion sets" look suspiciously like daffodils???

 

[blanasa]

I guess that I should be more consistent on my caption placement.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Brian, oops, I'm posting from my wife's laptop and she has the updated version of Mozilla Firefox that doesn't load ALL the photos! It loaded all but the one of the spring onions.

I switched to IE, now I can see all the photos.

 

[fcurrier]

Are beets and garlic compatible in the same 4' x 8' raised bed?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Frank,

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>

BEET: Good for adding minerals to the soil. The leaves are composed of 25% magnesium making them a valuable addition to the compost pile if you don't care to eat them. Beets are also beneficial to beans with the exception of runner beans. Runner or pole beans and beets stunt each other's growth. Companions for beets are lettuce, onions and brassicas. Beets and kohlrabi grow perfectly together. Beets are helped by garlic and mints. Garlic improves growth and flavor. Rather than planting invasive mints around beets use your mint clippings as a mulch.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

Quote is from this website: LINK

 

[fcurrier]

Thanks, Kraig! Some old 2x8x12's, dirt, wood ashes and peat moss got turned into a raised bed yesterday:

I've been wanting to try growing garlic and I love pickled beets and my aunt likes pickling them.

 

[jbaker]

here's my wife's garlic this year, not sure what kind, what kind are you growing?

Kraig I told her you would like this

 

[kmcconaughey]

Jeff, nice!

Here's a photo of my garlic bed that I took a couple days ago. This is a German Extra Hardy garlic that I bought years ago and have been saving seed garlic from it every year since.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Today was garlic harvesting day! Total of 71 garlic bulbs, the vast majority of which were of exceptional size!

Just a few years ago, back in 2012 IIRC, my garlic was almost wiped out by a pocket gopher.

It's taken a few years but I am finally up to what I consider safe levels of garlic.