If you have decided to create new garden beds after the summer season, garlic is best planted in the fall. Before the frost freezes the garden soil, the roots can develop so that the plants can overwinter healthily beneath the surface of the soil. Additionally, garlic is one of the few plants that you can plant during the fall season and harvest the following summer. This cultivated plant is quite useful as an ingredient in the kitchen and is surprisingly easy to grow in the garden. Here is some useful information and tips that can help you get this gardening job done.
Planting garlic in autumn – preparation and soil care
After removing garden waste in the summer season and preparing your garden soil for winter with compost, you can set aside space for growing garlic. This planting time gives it a head start in development so that the plant grows faster and more robustly in spring. A good rule of thumb is to garlic only after the fall equinox endsto plant in September. Like onions and other plants in the Allium family, garlic is sensitive to day length and ripens during the longest days of summer. Fall planting gives it a jump start on the growing season, making it one of the first plants to appear in the garden next spring.
The right choice of plant varieties to grow
These plants require at least two years between successive plantings, if not more, to allow the soil to recover. Garlic is usually hardy and unaffected by many pests or diseases. However, it requires full sun and loamy soil. Choose garlic cloves for planting based on your preferences for taste and use. However, those found in grocery stores are not a good choice as they may be varieties that are unsuitable for your region. Most of them are also treated with growth inhibitors to extend their shelf life, making them more difficult to grow.
It's best to find a reputable dealer and only choose clean, healthy varieties. Local farmers who grow garlic are an excellent source of seeds. You need to chop your bulbs, but not more than a day before planting, so that the root bulbs do not dry out and can take root quickly. Sort them all and reserve the largest of them for cultivation. You can use the smaller ones in recipes for delicious dishes during the fall season. Larger cloves produce larger bulbs at harvest time.
Also read:Planting garlic in a pot: Helpful tips, suitable containers and proper care!
Choose the best planting period
As previously mentioned, traditionally the best time to grow garlic plants in most regions is fall. When winter comes and the ground freezes, the plants go dormant. Once the ground warms in the spring, the garlic will begin growing again where it left off. Garlic thrives in full sun and loose soil. Choose a garden bed that has not grown anything in the onion family in the past two years and one that receives an average of at least six hours of sunlight each day.
Remove weeds and apply some slow-release organic fertilizer according to package directions. Add about 2 inches of finished compost and work it into the top layer of soil. However, the fall planting time depends entirely on your climate and growing region. It is common practice to plant garlic between mid-September and mid-October, but this period can change if you are growing in very short or very long growing seasons.
How best to plant garlic in the fall
If your garden soil is amended, you should plant garlic cloves root side down and upright. You can create a single row or multiple rows with 10 to 20 cm between plants, planting at least 5 cm below the soil surface. Mulch with a good four 10cm straw or shredded leaves. If the planting area is in a windy location, place branches over the bed to hold the straw in place. Additionally, good soil preparation is necessary if you want to produce the best and largest bulbs. They need deeply cultivated, well-drained, rich soil with a pH of 6.4-6.8. So add compost and well-rotted mulch to the bed before planting.
Use quality varieties and plant several different ones just in case one performs poorly. Gently break open the garlic bulb to free all the cloves. Then leave them in their papery skin, but separate them from the onion and from each other. Do this carefully so as not to damage the clove or tear the protective skin. However, do not separate the garlic cloves more than 48 hours before planting to prevent them from drying out. The largest of these also produce the largest onions. Plant individual pieces intact, with the pointed end facing upwards. The mulch helps keep weeds down during the growing season. Your garlic will produce roots but little or no top growth before the ground freezes solid. By the start of next spring, your garlic will be ready to grow, sending out tiny green shoots as the ground thaws.
The right garden care for optimal garlic growth
Remove any seeded, moldy, mushy or tiny garlic cloves before growing. They will not grow well in garden soil and are not worth planting. You are left with all the large and healthy pieces for the garden supply. Each garlic clove can easily be planted in its own hole. Dig the holes about 8cm deep and at least 10-15cm apart. After positioning the toes, cover the holes with soil and press them lightly. Garlic needs to be watered fairly evenly throughout the growing season to ensure full development of the bulb. The dying of leaves indicates that harvest time is near. At this point you should reduce watering. Not too many pests bother garlic, but don't plant it where you've had problems with wireworms or nematodes. Diseases are more of a problem in poorly drained soils.
Feed the plants with a liquid fertilizer every two weeks from the time shoots emerge in early spring until about June 1. Water is critical during the tuber formation phase in early summer, so aim for about 3cm per week, including rain. If you grow hard garlic around the time of the summer solstice, your plants will send up a seed stalk. However, you should cut this off so that the plants put all their energy into tuber formation. These stems curl into a bow and are delicious. Use these in salads, stir-fries, soups, scrambled eggs or any other dish that you want to add some garlic flavor. Grinded in a blender with a little olive oil and Parmesan, they also make a particularly tasty pesto.
Plant garlic in fall and harvest in summer
Leave a flower stalk or two so you can decide when to harvest your garlic. About four weeks before harvest, the outer coverings of the bulbs begin to dry, so stop watering in July. Too much water at this stage can stain the casing or even lead to mold growth. Use a flat shovel to loosen the soil around a few of the plants and lift them by hand as they can easily be damaged. This way you can determine whether they have reached peak maturity. You should harvest garlic before the bracts deteriorate or split. To harvest, gently lift the bulbs with a spade or garden fork. Pull the plants out, gently brush off the soil and let them cure in an airy, shady place for two weeks.
Harvest your garlic in late July or early August when the lower third to half of the leaves have turned brown and wilted, but the upper leaves are still green. It can be difficult to decide exactly when to harvest, and this is where the flower stalks can come in handy. When the leaves begin to turn brown and straighten, it's time to harvest. The garlic will certainly be ready to harvest in mid-summer. You'll know it's time when the plant's outer leaves die back and turn brown.
Prepare the crop for storage and allow the garlic to cure
Leave the green stems on the garlic and do not wash it before curing. Lay each plant flat in a row, then stack the next plants in a criss-cross pattern on top so the bulbs don't touch each other. Then allow the garlic to cure in a cool, dry place with adequate ventilation. Hang freshly harvested garlic bunches to dry for 3-4 weeks. After the leaves, roots, and outer coverings are completely dry, you can brush off any loose soil and cut open the roots, along with the tips, before storing the garlic. At this point you can remove any dirt from the tubers and also wash them before storing them.
Under optimal conditions of temperatures near freezing and 65-70% humidity, hard garlic lasts five months and soft garlic lasts eight months. The flavor increases as the onions are dried. Save the largest garlic cloves to replant for next year. Experienced gardeners claim that garlic can “learn” because it adapts to growing conditions and gets better every year.
Planting garlic in October: Use these tips to achieve a bountiful harvest
