Pulled my garlic today!

[Ridgerunner]

Garlic are heavy nitrogen feeders so yeah, it may help to amend the soil. I'll use compost as my amendment. It's not a bad idea to get a soils test, just to see if you need something other than nitrogen.

Growing season can make a difference too. If it turns hot too early the heads can be smaller. Garlic likes damp soil but not wet. If it is wet it can rot. Just don't let it dry out. That makes mulching it a bit tricky. Mulching can help keep the soil cooler but can also hold water and make it wet. I'll mulch with a little straw but not much.

I keep reading that you need to plant the larger cloves to get larger heads but I just have not found that to be true. I'm not talking about different varieties but cloves from the same head. Maybe they are talking about varieties when they say that. What you are probably getting at the grocery is softneck garlic. Those grow with larger cloves around the outside but smaller cloves inside. For two years straight I've planted the larger ones of those in one spot and the smaller cloves in another. In both cases they both made similar heads.

Mary, I get different results in different years too. I always plant Silver Rose softneck so my variety is not the reason. It has to be growing conditions or maybe I did not amend it the same.

 

[ninnymary]

Ridge, softnecks are supposed to be the best for the bay area. I really can't tell the flavor from the different varieties and since my bed is so small, I just buy it at the store. For some reason the nurseries don't carry it till spring but I like the fall planting best.

I have started to prepare my bed. I've already added compost and will add some organic fertilizer at planting time. I always mulch my beds with rice straw.

Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

You might add some more fertilizer in the spring when they are growing too. They are heavy feeders and nitrogen can leach out of the soil over time, especially if you get much rain.

Warmer growing season is usually best for softneck, cooler for hardneck. I'm in the middle so I grow both. If the garlic head you buy is big, it has the genetics to be big, and if it is organic there is a reasonable chance it was grown somewhere close by. Sounds like a reasonabl3e approach. Good luck with it.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

something i noticed this year when i planted the smaller cloves, some of them turned into 'rounds'! they look more like a small onion bulb. i've saved them to plant this season to see if they make a larger bulb next year.

 

[Wisher1000]

I bought garlic at the big box hardware store and planted them three weeks ago. I have three to four inch green spears coming up! I planted them against a wall in the back of a flower bed. What do I do to/for them this fall and winter? Will they die back with frost? Do I harvest any this year, or wait until next fall? If you can't tell by now, I have ZERO experience growing garlic! I am in Zone 7b.

 

[digitS']

I pulled a lot of leeks today. Does that almost count?

I don't think you have to worry about winter hardiness but I haven't grown garlic for decades! If there is any damage to those shoots, I'd guess that there will just be new growth to replace them in the spring. Maybe the garlic growers have had this experience of the sets growing before winter.

For someone who grows as many onions as I do, it's a little odd that I don't have garlic. Nothing else quite takes its place so I will buy it. The leeks didn't make much growth this year but sure smell like something good to eat! I need to bring some potatoes up from the basement for leek & potato soup.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

I bought garlic at the big box hardware store and planted them three weeks ago. I have three to four inch green spears coming up! I planted them against a wall in the back of a flower bed. What do I do to/for them this fall and winter? Will they die back with frost? Do I harvest any this year, or wait until next fall? If you can't tell by now, I have ZERO experience growing garlic! I am in Zone 7b.

I'm not a garlic expert Wisher, but I think they'll be fine. Several people have said theirs show some growth before winter, then really get going in spring and they get a good harvest.

 

[thistlebloom]

I pulled a lot of leeks today. Does that almost count?

I need to bring some potatoes up from the basement for leek & potato soup.

Steve

Sure! That counts! I bought leek seed last year but didn't get in. When do you plant yours Steve, and do you start it indoors?

 

[digitS']

I put the leek seed in the soil mix mid-winter in the greenhouse, Thistle'. Not all the bunching onion seed goes in that early but the leeks are treated the same as those. The greenhouse heat won't be on for a month, or so.

The plants can go in open garden really early. Onion sets are out there first but the leeks and onion plants won't be long after. I crowd them too much but I think it was our hot summer that interfered with their growth.

You might want to do a germination test on that seed. I never have a problem with year old onion seed but, you know, it has a bad reputation for viability. Also, leeks are not that common so the seed companies may be a little lax about things. 10 seeds at indoor temperature should sprout in no time.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh, I'd forgotten about the seeds short life span. I'll write that on the calendar and do a germination test before starting them. i haven't grown leeks for about 15 years and I don't remember much about how or when I started them, but I do remember how good they were in soup!