Garlic
The farm season begins and ends with garlic. It is the last major thing we plant in the fall and the first major thing we harvest outside in the spring.
Garlic is planted at around the same time that you plant tulips, daffodils etc and managed in a very similar way.
Holes are made, in our case using an ingenious device designed by Dave it makes 4 evenly spaced holes (6 inches apart) and marks the spot where the next row of holes should be placed (6 inches in front). It looks like a 4 pronged rake and works by a pair of people each taking a handle and pressing down on the cross bar with their foot at regular intervals. This repetitive stepping action has earned it, its pet name, the ‘Stairmaster 2008′.
Serge and Noriko work the ‘Stairmaster 2008′
Evenly spaced holes in raised beds.
You can also use a bulb drill attachment (available from Veseys) or a ‘dibber’ and make the holes one by one. The advantage of the ’stairmaster’ is not just that it makes 4 holes at a time (and spaces them evenly) but also that it does so from a standing position. It is hard on the thighs, but easy on the back.
After that the garlic bulbs are separated into cloves and the cloves are placed individually into the holes, pointy end up, then topped off with some compost.
Noriko, separating the bulbs
Rowena and Noriko planting the cloves (late October)
The prevent the garlic being ‘heaved’ out of the ground during the freeze thaw processes during the winter, we top the beds off with a layer of mulch. This can be almost anything organic, but bear in mind that anything that is loose can blow away, but anything that bonds together can form a thick mat that the garlic cannot penetrate in the spring.
In our case we put a layer of chopped leaves which do wonderful things for the soil, but are not very good at staying put, and then roll out a layer of straw on top to hold everything in place.
Dave prepares a round bale of straw ready to roll it on top of the chopped leaves (to the left)
Rowena rolls out a giant ‘toilet paper roll’ of straw
Meeka tries to help!
The benefit of using the round bales is that they are quite easy to roll out, though of course they don’t produce perfect layers and there is a lot of stopping and starting. When using the small square bales, you can either choose to pull of layers and place them onto the garlic like tiles, or to fluff them up. Fluffing the straw allows the garlic to grow through it, but also allows it to be caught by the wind and blow away. Last year we applied ’tiles’ of straw and then fluffed it in the spring when the garlic began to emerge.
In addition to preventing frost heave the mulch also prevents weeds and keeps moisture in the soil allowing the garlic to grow to a good size. Also, when the garlic is harvested, the straw (leaves etc) can be tilled in providing lots of organic matter to the soil.
In the spring you should have beds of what resembles large leeks, which can be harvested at this early stage and eaten in soups and stews as you would a leek. The flavour is garlicy but mild.
A little later ‘hard neck’ garlic will send up stems which are initially curly and tender. These can, and should, be harvested at any stage before they straighten out and produce a swollen bud. These stems or ’scapes’ are delcious made into pesto or added to soups, stirfries, or anywhere you use spring onions.
It is important to be sure that you have removed all of them because for as long as the plant is putting energy into growing a flower head it is not putting energy into the bulb. Leaving the scapes on will result in much smalled bulb size.
garlic scapes ready to harvest
Garlic scape, past its best, it should be removed anyway
Bunches of scapes. Remove the flower bud tip which can be chewy
By late summer the garlic bulbs are ready to harvest. They will start to look yellowed when the plant is no longer growing. When you are not expecting rain for a few days, carefully pull the stems and place the plants to dry on top of the mulch. Rotate after a day to allow the other side to dry too and avoid piling the garlic up or the bulbs at the bottom will not dry out.
Bring the bulbs in and dry on wire racks or hang in bunches in a dark, dry, airy location for a few weeks, or until you are ready to eat them.
Tags: garlic