Today I planted all the garlic, a total of 35 cloves. First thing was to get the soil in shape. The bed was turned and weeded. Then I amended with a couple inches of leaf mold compost and dug that in. With the bed ready I dug a trench and then sprinkled in some blood & bone meal. The bulbs were spaced about 4" apart with each row 6" apart. This spacing is a little close but it worked out well last season.
Here is the garlic I planted. It is from the farmers market and they call it Elephant garlic. Not to be confused with the other huge Elephant garlic that is actually in the lily family. None the less these are big cloves! It produces around 6 cloves per head that are 2-3 times the size of your average garlic. It is a hard neck variety with a purple flecked skin and had a nice flavor.I really wanted to order some interesting garlic varieties this season but did not order soon enough. Seems garlic is a hot commodity. Maybe next season I'll get to try some purple, red & spicy garlic.
Beautiful soil you have there! I didn't grow any garlic or anything else yet- soil needs work here at our new home. I can't wait to have some so I can try the scapes!
ReplyDeleteHappy gardening to you,
Tessa
Wow nice soil you have there every gardener wish. Ours are clay so we grow lots of them in polystyrene containers which looks almost ready to be harvest. Hope you have good harvest with them.
ReplyDeleteI admired the soil, it's healthy. .What a lovely garlic it must be
ReplyDeleteBoy, your soil does look good! I have never used bone meal when planting my garlic. Do you think that it helps?
ReplyDeleteOur garlic is in too but we start it in pots as our soil is heavy clay that gets really wet and soggy in winter. We transplant in early spring
ReplyDeleteI plant garlic at 6" too. I've always gotten a good crop with that spacing so never bothered to make it more. I hope it grows well for you.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I plant my garlic as well. That black soil is gorgeous, you could get anything to grow in that!
ReplyDeleteOne of the great things about planting garlic - is that you get a fix of digging in the dirt when everything else is coming out of the garden rather than going in. I have to echo everyone else's comments that your soil looks magnificent. I am growing elephant garlic and a new variety for me - a hardneck called Music.
ReplyDeleteI see you don't peel the garlic cloves before planting. I did for the ones we planted, I hope it grows! I planted 40 cloves. I'm crossing my fingers.
ReplyDeleteYou did a fine job! That garlic should produce very well.
ReplyDeleteI think your spacing is just great. I always plant more densely than you're supposed to, like nature does. Love the color of your compost/soil.
ReplyDeleteI'm so jealous! I'll be relocating to a new garden this winter so I am missing my window to plant fall garlic.
ReplyDeleteI planted garlic for the first time this year too. Funny thing is I used garlic from supermarket and organic food shops, none of organic garlic succeeded growing. I don't know why. The soil in my garden is not as good as yours but I'm looking forward to harvesting when they are ready. Good luck with your garlic too :)
ReplyDeleteYour soil looks really good, Dan. I finally got around to planting my garlic as well.
ReplyDeleteDan your soil looks so good...... can never have too much garlic.
ReplyDeleteI find that a nice ring of garlic plants around the house, like a moat, keeps away vampires. And makes great garlic bread with pasta! ;)
ReplyDeleteNone of my elephant garlic rooted at all. Still, I have some lovely early purple garlic coming along nicely. Except Buddy tripped over my flowerpot tray the other week and uprooted them all then trod on a couple... bless him. Still OK (both of them!)
ReplyDeletethat is darn beautiful soil you have there, Dan. Geez. Impressive.
ReplyDeleteThis is my 4th year of growing garlic. I normally put 70-80 plants in, which gives us almost enough cloves to get through the year. It seems that the more we plant, the more we eat. :)
ReplyDelete@kitsapFG: I grew Music for the first time this year as well. Our local extension office indicated that state trials for this variety showed a lot of promise. In my garden, it turned out to be the best producer of the three varieties I planted this year. Very tasty as well.