so OCTober is the time to plant it??? --I would try some next year if I can remember to do it.
I have been growing garlic for about twenty years. You can plant garlic any Fall or Winter month that you can work the soil.
Work as in not frozen, up until late March, but the Garlic does much better if it is planted in Fall & grows a few weeks before the freeze. Even in climates where the tops die back, the roots will grow & the tops will come back as soon as the soil thaw.
I plant in October when I have cloves,, some times I get them in November.
Filaree Garlic Farm sent me a email that my
GEORGIAN FIRE & MARTIN'S HEIRLOOM will be shipped 11/03/2022.
That late for S.C., but it is still hot here in the day, like 75-80F.
My plot is Fallow ground, so I will need to remove the weeds & turn it once with compost first.
I am trying Martin's Heirloom to see how it does in 8a zones Spring heat, I harvest in early to late June here.
We had garlic as a kid, but it grew in a clump.
What little I know, was taught to me by growers.
1) eat small cloves, plant biggest cloves, because the bigger the cloves the bigger the bulbs.
2) work in compost/ organic matter every year at least three weeks before planting cloves.
3) plant cloves 1-1.5 inches deep/ 25 to 38mm deep
4) plant cloves 6 inches apart/ 150mm in beds or rolls, I do beds.
5) as soon as the cloves leaf/blades pop up an inch or two, mulch them with straw or ground dry leaves to keep weeds down & to protect cloves from cold freeze.
6) water every few days if there is no rain.
7) harvest when the blades/leaves are 1/3 dry on the Garlic stock.
8) dry on screen in the shape, some people leave garlic & onions out in the sun, I do not do that.
Tell me what I missed or got wrong. No one knows everything & I know less, so I am always looking for another point of view.
