is getting close to planting time for garlic. which is mid-october-ish
here in western new york.
i'm learning from mistakes and hoping to increase my yield in 2023. in
2021 we planted 120 cloves. out of that we harvested 87 bulbs. during
curing some went soft and we were left with 76 bulbs. the largest were
set aside to plant another 120 cloves. we have plenty to left to enjoy
eating but not enough.
i used shredded straw as a mulch for the winter and think i put it down
too early and pulled it off too late. there were quite a few plants
which sprouted but never made it to the surface through the mulch. it
matted heavily over the winter. a few plants that crawled around a bit underneath trying to get out survived but grew into 2 clove mini-garlic.
is it wrong to expect a better yield using a better methods. 63% seems
quite low.
is getting close to planting time for garlic. which is mid-october-ish
here in western new york.
i'm learning from mistakes and hoping to increase my yield in 2023. in
2021 we planted 120 cloves. out of that we harvested 87 bulbs. during
curing some went soft and we were left with 76 bulbs. the largest were
set aside to plant another 120 cloves. we have plenty to left to enjoy
eating but not enough.
i used shredded straw as a mulch for the winter and think i put it down
too early and pulled it off too late. there were quite a few plants
which sprouted but never made it to the surface through the mulch. it
matted heavily over the winter. a few plants that crawled around a bit underneath trying to get out survived but grew into 2 clove mini-garlic.
is it wrong to expect a better yield using a better methods. 63% seems
quite low.
i don't trim scapes.
On 9/27/22 15:33, songbird wrote:
i don't trim scapes.
Everyone else tells you to do that. How
did you figure out they were blowing hot air?
Am I hurting mine by cutting them off?
I do not cut off my white onions scapes, but
rather harvest them for seeds when the seeds
turn black. Does not seem to hurt them at all.
I have thought of harvesting my garlic seeds, but
do seeds not take two years to mature into bulbs?
fos@sdf.org wrote:
is getting close to planting time for garlic. which is mid-october-ish
here in western new york.
i'm learning from mistakes and hoping to increase my yield in 2023. in
2021 we planted 120 cloves. out of that we harvested 87 bulbs. during
curing some went soft and we were left with 76 bulbs. the largest were
set aside to plant another 120 cloves. we have plenty to left to enjoy
eating but not enough.
i used shredded straw as a mulch for the winter and think i put it down
too early and pulled it off too late. there were quite a few plants
which sprouted but never made it to the surface through the mulch. it
matted heavily over the winter. a few plants that crawled around a bit
underneath trying to get out survived but grew into 2 clove mini-garlic.
is it wrong to expect a better yield using a better methods. 63% seems
quite low.
that is pretty low. i may not always get perfect bulbs
back but i rarely lose a lot of what i plant.
i don't mulch at all. hard neck garlic. normally plant
anytime between Oct 1st and the day before the ground
freezes. it is very hardy stuff - i've never been able
to kill it off.
mainly for us it is a matter of me remembering to get it
done.
this past year i didn't plant enough so i'll increase my
cloves this time around.
full sun, good drainage, reasonable soil quality. keep
watered and weeded. i don't trim scapes. the largest
cloves planted give back nice sized bulbules so i grow
those to give away to people who want to plant garlic.
it is one of the most popular things i have to give out.
i better put it on my list of things to get done the
next few weeks as after that i'm likely to be too busy
with other things.
songbirdI think not cutting off the scapes means you are missing out on a wonderful garlic by-product of Scape Pesto. And you WILL get bigger bulbs that way. I
i better put it on my list of things to get done the
next few weeks as after that i'm likely to be too busy
with other things.
the prior two years we purchased seed garlic from Burpee. Romanian Red, hardneck, and their advice was to plant soon as the garlic, which was
ordered late summer, arrived. that was early to mid october. by mid
october the bed will prepared, but the garlic isn't going to be planted
until we get a good hard frost and the soil is a bit crusty. we had
growth make it to the surface in the fall the last two years. i've read
it can act like a straw to suck moisture out of the cloves causing rot
once killed by the cold.
we do need to mulch i think. our winters now consist of quite a few
freezing and thawing cycles anymore. we need to mulch to help prevent heaving. we'll put it down several inches thick once the ground is
nearly frozen and pull it off in the spring as it thaws leaving only
enough to keep weeds down. will look for and push back down any cloves
found on the surface.
with good soil amendments, plenty of organic material and proper
nutrients, and maintaining moist soil throughout winter which got
ignored the first two years, i'm expecting much better results next
year.
i'm with others here, we remove the scapes and make garlic scape &
basil pesto with most of it. the rest i use in salads. we cut them off
after they make one loop and point at the sky again. any longer than
that they can become too "woody", so i have read.
On 9/27/2022 10:45 AM, fos@sdf.org wrote:
is getting close to planting time for garlic. which is mid-october-ishWe plant here in coastal Maine towards the last of November at Lat. 45. We have been a bit late and actually planted it in frosted mud without troubles.You might be too early and get too much growth in the fall.
here in western new york.
i'm learning from mistakes and hoping to increase my yield in 2023. in
2021 we planted 120 cloves. out of that we harvested 87 bulbs. during
curing some went soft and we were left with 76 bulbs. the largest were
set aside to plant another 120 cloves. we have plenty to left to enjoy
eating but not enough.
i used shredded straw as a mulch for the winter and think i put it down
too early and pulled it off too late. there were quite a few plants
which sprouted but never made it to the surface through the mulch. it
matted heavily over the winter. a few plants that crawled around a bit
underneath trying to get out survived but grew into 2 clove mini-garlic.
is it wrong to expect a better yield using a better methods. 63% seems
quite low.
We also use Rocambole hard-neck German Red garlic and plant it so the bottom of the clove is down twice as deep as the clove - about 2" down on a 1" clove. Got more bulbs than the cloves we planted this year do to splitting.
The next two links are very good instructionals from the Univ. of Maine.
Growing garlic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FTht2DIJu8
Harvesting garlic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En2lXhOS5X4
Some folks leave the mulch on and don't take it off, but I usually remove about 1/2 of it and leave the rest for mulching and soil amending.
Just curious. How much does everyone spend for 'seed garlic?'
Or for that matter, how much do you sell it for?
Wilson wrote:
...
Just curious. How much does everyone spend for 'seed garlic?'
i've never bought seed garlic. the garlic i've been
growing for many years was given to me by a friend and
i've been paying it forwards ever since.
Or for that matter, how much do you sell it for?
i only grow a limited amount so i try to give it
away to people who will also pay it forward to others.
the best place for anyone to get garlic from me is
at the annual seed swap (or now to show up at the
monthly garden club meeting :) ). if i know you're
going to be there looking for garlic you could e-mail
me and let me know so i'm sure to bring some. just
as a general note not aimed specifically at you. :)
i say it is the best place because it means i'm not
having to spend money mailing it (which is getting to
be pretty expensive) and i can distribute samples to
multiple people for just the price of getting there.
songbirdThanks, songbird. Not looking to buy or swap any as I planted a lot and got
On 10/2/2022 11:15 PM, songbird wrote:
Wilson wrote:Thanks, songbird. Not looking to buy or swap any as I planted a lot and
...
Just curious. How much does everyone spend for 'seed garlic?'
i've never bought seed garlic. the garlic i've been
growing for many years was given to me by a friend and
i've been paying it forwards ever since.
Or for that matter, how much do you sell it for?
i only grow a limited amount so i try to give it
away to people who will also pay it forward to others.
the best place for anyone to get garlic from me is
at the annual seed swap (or now to show up at the
monthly garden club meeting :) ). if i know you're
going to be there looking for garlic you could e-mail
me and let me know so i'm sure to bring some. just
as a general note not aimed specifically at you. :)
i say it is the best place because it means i'm not
having to spend money mailing it (which is getting to
be pretty expensive) and i can distribute samples to
multiple people for just the price of getting there.
songbird
got a lot. Fedco seeds is selling their German Red certified organic for about $25/lb. Got our first frost of the season last night.
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