Garlic Planting

Yesterday Richard and Melanie planted Garlic. I would have helped but on this day I was completing my Master Gardener Final Exam. My last class was yesterday evening.

Richard prepared the Garden Bed. We did plant the Garlic in the same place last year. Some varieties were more successful than others. No doubt, the cool wet Spring and heavy Rains this past Summer affected success. By the end of the Growing Season, the area seemed compacted and a little lower. He knew that this year, we needed to build it higher, add soil amendments, and fluff it up.

Seed Savers sent instructions with the Garlic. In their notes, we learned that Garlic is a heavy feeder. What that meant for us was that we needed to ramp up the Organic Material in the bed.

A major player in ramping up the Organic Material was our Compost Pile from this past year. The pile included: leaves, grass, straw, garden scraps, kitchen scraps, hay from the Chicken Coop. The Bed was continuously turned by delighted Chickens who no doubt added blessings of their own Organic Material. Richard would straighten up the Compost pile and they would rearrange it to their hearts’ content. By the end of the Fall, the pile looked like soil with a bit of fluff. We can only hope that the Garlic is as enamored by this Pile as the 3 C’s.

Here is Richard’s recipe for the Garlic Bed: (1) Till soil. (2) Add 2 bags of Leaves and 1 old bale of Hay which was beginning to biodegrade. (3) Till soil again. (4) Add 9 wheel barrow loads of Compost. Evenly spread over site. (5) Make rows so Garlic will be planted 2 inches deep. (6) Plant Garlic and cover with Soil/Compost Mixture. (7) Put 6 inches of Wheat Straw Mulch over top. This is kind of like a blanket for Winter over all those Garlics tucked into the Soil/Compost underneath. (8) Surround with 4 foot Fence to keep Chickens out. (9) Send the Garlic to bed for the Winter and let it do the rest of the work.

Richard and Melanie planted 228 cloves of Garlic in 5 varieties: Farmer's Market (103 cloves), German Extra Hardy (52), Georgian Fire (33), Elephant (7) and Russian Giant (33). The Farmer's Market variety came from a woman who regularly sells at the Farmer's Market in Kirksville. We have liked her Garlic a lot and decided this year to raise some. She tells us she does not remember the name. Her Garden is in the Atlanta area which is about 20 miles of our Farm. While Soils and conditions around here do vary, we are hopeful the local nature of this Garlic and its success will increase our likelihood of success too. The remaining 4 varieties came from Seed Savers which is well known for the preservation and marketing of Heirloom Seeds.

As usual, we kept a map because next year, we will have no clue as to what we planted where. This will help us track success.

Now we wait and see how it works.