A lot of people leave garlic off their garden list because they can’t seem to get it to work . My garlic was never successful until I was taught
- there are hundreds of varieties which add creativity to our own dishes and
- it’s easy to grow. It’s all about the timing.
The Living Garden video training series makes growing garlic a cinch. You can get started in just 5 minutes here:www.livinggardenseries.com
Here’s the basics of making your garlic grow!
Garlic is kind of in a class by itself. Most important, you must get the timing right . For years and years, I planted my garlic the same time as everything else, in the spring . It never grew well . It never made a nice bulb. I had failure after failure, until one day, I thought, “why don’t you do it like it says to do it.”
How do you plant garlic?
Garlic is all about timing. You plant garlic in the fall, in September in our area zone 6 is a good time . Separate the cloves on the day that you are going to plant . If you separate them two or three weeks ahead or even two or three days ahead, they start to shrivel. So the day that you know you are going to plant them, separate the cloves and plant them.
We have found that eight inches apart, each way is best, maybe as close as six. But don’t crowd them. Eight inches gives room for nice big bulbs.
Make sure you plant them root down . Sometimes it’s hard to tell. The pointed end goes up; the flat end goes down.
Should you protect garlic in the winter?
The garlic is going to grow during the cool weather of fall . You will only see about six inches of growth above ground , but what is important is what is going on under the ground. It is sending out lots of roots . And it continues to grow roots all through the winter, especially if you have an insulating layer of snow to cover it.
It is suggested to keep it covered with mulch, like straw or loose leaves is important . And that is not a bad idea. However, you have to be sure to move that aside in the spring when it begins to resume growth.
What do you do in the Spring?
In March, your garlic will begin to grow very quickly. It will grow about two feet tall. The reason it grows so fast is because it already has all this root system under the ground.
How do you know when to harvest?
You will want to harvest it around the end of June. In zone 6, we try to harvest it just before the 4th of July. That is just about the best time.
There are approximately 9 leaves on a garlic plant. At least on our variety of garlic. The yellow leaves are a signal that you are close to harvesting your bulbs . Watch for 5 out of 9 of the leaves turning yellow. That is the time to pull them out . Now they don’t need to be yellow all the way to the base of the plant, but they need to be yellow about half-way up. That’s when you should begin to dig your garlic.
Are there any watering tips?
Keep an eye on your garlic . When those leaves begin to turn yellow, you need to back off on your watering a little bit . Let them dry out a little bit. If you leave the garlic in the ground too long, the cloves begin to get too big for their skins and their skins split. And then dirt gets inside the layers. You can still eat the garlic , but it is just not as beautiful, and it also does not store as well if the dirt gets in among the cloves. So you want to harvest your garlic when there are four or five dry leaves on each plant.
You can see a lot more information in “The Living Garden” video training series.” It is taught by Jane Jensen who grows vegetables for chefs from 5-star restaurants. She is successful year after year. The Living Garden video training series includes 60 videos, charts, guides, and includes 2 full-color ebooks which correspond to the training.
Click this link to access the Living Garden video training series: http://www.livinggardenseries.com
Growing healthy, tasty vegetables when you have all the answers.
My very best wishes to you for a delicious tasty table of vegetables grown from your own garden this season.
Aaron Mackley
