2012 Garlic Planted

[elkwc36]

I finished up this evening. I started the last day of Sept and have strung it out till now. I ended up with at least 350' of garlic planted. Maybe a little more. Not sure on clove count. I planted most 8 inches apart. I planted different than I have in the past. 3 rows together 8-10 inches apart and the cloves on all varieties but the elephant approx. 8 inches apart. The elephant garlic is 10 inches apart in all directions. Several of the bulbs of it were medium to large undivided bulbs. All of the elephant bulbs stored well and appear very healthy. I culled alot of the other varieties. I attribute it too the way I stored them. Will change next year. If I have poor emergence on any variety I will just buy elephant garlic from the grocery store and fill in the blanks. I will use it as I can readily tell it apart from anything else I grow. I planted more varieties this year than last year as I was able to obtain some varieties that I wanted to grow. I'm concentrating on varieties with 4 cloves but no more than 8. I did plant 2 that has more than eight. I planted the following varieties. Elephant, Rosewood, Zemo, Brown Saxon(Hot), Keeper(Hot), Khabar, Old Homestead(OK heirloom.2nd chance),Musica(2nd chance), Bogatyr, Elmer's Topset, Nesenkeag, Colorado Purple(hint of sweetness), Chamisal Wild(rich flavor,NM heirloom), Metechi(heat), Red Estonian, Ayacucho, German Hardneck, Penasco Blue, Santa Fe Rocambole, K's Backyard Pskem, Nesenkeag, Elmer's Topset, Korean Mountain(heat and full flavor)

[Joseph Lofthouse]

To me, planting garlic is one of the joys of the year... It occurs after frost has killed most of the rest of the garden, and most things are already harvested, so there isn't a huge workload. The seed harvest is waiting to be processed, but that can happen whenever I feel like it. Garlic is planted during the most pleasant climate of our year.

Last year I planted about 4" apart in rows 14" apart. That was too hard to keep weeded, so this year I went back to my normal spacing: 4" apart in rows 30" apart. That allows me to use the tiller for weeding.

I have a set of planks about 6 feet long and 12" wide that I use as a ramp to get the tiller into the truck. Since the tiller has powered wheels, I just drive it up the ramp into the truck. Quick and simple. It helps if I back the truck up to a slight hill (the edge of a road is most common), or drop the back tires into a ditch: Then the angle isn't quite so steep.

[12540dumont]

Yep, I did 4 inches apart in rows 50' long. 2 rows per 3' bed. I only had enough for 2 rows.

Now comes the bulbils....yikes!