|
|
  |
|---|
It is bulb-planting time in the Northwest. While putting in your tulips and daffodils, don't forget to plant garlic! Homegrown garlic is easy to grow and delicious. I regret that I didn’t plant garlic last fall and will be sure to put them in this year. I needed many dozens of cloves last week for pickle making and had to purchase them.
Garlic, a member of the onion family, differs from onions in form as well as taste. Instead of one large bulb, garlic produces a dozen or so small ones called cloves, surrounded by a thin, papery skin. The way to get good garlic bulbs is to grow lots of leaves before bulb development. The more foliage developed, the better the resulting bulb, in both size and quality.
Leaf development happens during the short, cool days of early spring. Long days and higher temperatures favor bulb development and, once the bulb starts to form, no more foliage is produced. Obviously then, it is important to plant very early in the year to establish a large vegetative plant.
Smart Northwest gardeners, who would rather work in the garden in October than in February, plant in the fall. This is not absolutely necessary, but it does guarantee that the plant will get an early start developing foliage, after the bulb overwinters in the ground. Planted between mid-October and mid-November, garlic is completely winter-hardy here. The foliage may get frosted off during a hard winter, but it always takes off again in spring.
Garlic grows best on crumbly, light soils that are high in organic matter, with a pH range of 6-7. Heavy clay soil creates misshapen bulbs and makes harvesting difficult. Add organic matter to the soil on a yearly basis to keep it friable. It does well with high amounts of fertilizer. Add three pounds of 10-10-10 (or an organic equivalent) per 100 square feet of growing area or follow soil test recommendations for your particular garden soil.
Garlic must be kept evenly moist, as dry soil will cause irregular-shaped bulbs. It doesn’t have a very extensive root system, so summer watering is essential. Mulch garlic to preserve soil moisture.
Garden centers often have garlic available in the fall, but bulbs from the supermarket will work fine too. Select only larger, outer cloves to plant. Be sure they are smooth, fresh and free of disease. Do not divide the bulb into cloves until you are ready to plant, as early separation may decrease yields.
Place the cloves 5 inches apart in any direction in an upright position. Cover the top of the clove to a depth of 1/2 to 1 inch. Garlic grows best in beds. This avoids soil compaction around the developing bulb caused by walking between rows. As hot weather approaches, garlic plants may begin to flower. Remove flowers as they appear. When the tops begin to dry, usually in July or August, watering should be reduced.
Harvest garlic when tops die back by digging bulbs rather than pulling them. Clean the bulbs and allow them to dry. After drying, tops and roots can be removed with shears to within an inch of the bulbs, or the tops can be braided together after bulbs are completely dried. Mature bulbs are best stored at cool temperatures (40-50F) in a dry place. (If they are too cool, they will sprout and, if too moist, they will grow roots.)
While I’m on the topic, I’d like to mention elephant garlic. It’s a garlic relative, but has a milder flavor. It looks more like leeks with large, broad, flat leaves, folded down their length. Underground, the plant produces a bulb, which can measure 5 inches across. The individual cloves are over an inch wide and 2 inches long.
Plant and grow elephant garlic like regular garlic. Because of its size, spacing is different. Put the cloves 8-10 inches apart in rows 18-20 inches from each other. Set them 1-2 inches deep. Sometimes elephant garlic tends to produce only one large, solid, round, bulb with no segments. If this occurs, replant and it will produce a bulb the next harvest with the more typical cloves. Thus, it will take two growing seasons to get properly segmented bulbs.
When you harvest all that garlic next summer and aren’t sure how you
will use it all, just walk by a good Italian restaurant or take in a Mariners
game. The delicious smell of garlic is sure to inspire you.
Hortsense: Managing plant problems with Integrated Pest Management
