Garlic for 2025 - almost time!

[pepperhead212]

This week I've been getting the garden ready for the garlic, and the shallots, and also got some of the garlic ready for that experiment I'm doing, chilling about half of each of the variety in the fridge, and leaving the rest in the basement. There are theories about vernalization of garlic helping to grow larger heads (and some, especially down south, need this to form heads at all, but that's not my problem), so I took heads with about half of the cloves, and put them into a box, and into the lower level shelf of the fridge.

Those shallots I have to look at closely, to see how many will be planted (some will be split, other, smaller ones, as one), and they will go into the end of the 3 rows, then I can see how many of the garlics can be planted. I only chilled 8 Bogotyr and 17 Music cloves - the rest will all go in, with the chilled labeled.

Northern While Porcelain - new this season, but grew it years ago. 18 chilled, plus 19.

Metechi - favorite in the past, but would be out of stock, by the time I ordered the last few years. Best storing hardneck, in my experience. 27 chilled, plus 29.

Estonian Red - largest variety I've ever grown, but doesn't store well, but keeps until planting - it's the first variety I use after harvest. 22 chilled, plus 23.

Georgian Fire - second largest, even stronger flavored than Estonian Red, and stores a little longer, but it's the second I usually use up, after planting the largest. 20 chilled, plus 19.

The Music and Bogotyr I have the most of left from last season, but I told my friend that I'd give her some to plant, since she wants to start planting it this year. The Music is the second best storer, for the hardnecks I've grown - too early to tell for the Bogotyr, as this is the first season for me. It has a powerful flavor, but not as strong as the GF.

Earlier this week I 'tilled the row, where 3 rows will be going, about a foot apart, with a T-tape between the rows. I had to wet the ground some, as it was rock hard, from the lack of rain. Today, it 'tilled easier, and I'll do it again, just before planting.

[bower]

Music is a good keeper for me too - this year I had a couple of bulbs that were still good after the new crop had been harvested.
I don't have a real test with side by side comparison, but my impression from different years is that they didn't keep as long when they were dried and cured at a higher temperature. I store them in the cool basement room until I use them, and that seems to help them keep longer too.
I'll hazard a guess that your refrigerated cloves may sprout quicker than the others.

[Whwoz]

@bower , any idea what the temperature of your basement room where you store your garlic is? I am getting nowhere near that length of storage out of the porcelain garlic here, thinking that it is warming up to quickly.

[karstopography]

As of this morning, I have put my almost all my seed garlic in the 33° fridge out in the garage (no basements here). A few heads went in a couple weeks ago, the rest this morning. A few are survivor stragglers, likely a very little of the hardneck Spanish Roja and then some softneck from feedstore and maybe a little Lorz Italian softneck, all from the April/May harvest. Added to the above are one head acquired over the late summer, an unknown variety from the Republic of Georgia, and then six heads, two each of three unknown hardnecks from a farmers market in New Mexico. Added to the above is a small order of Chesnok Red seed garlic due to arrive in the mail today. I might still pick up a couple of heads of whatever type the feedstore has.

Nothing garlic wise will go into the ground here until at least mid November. Shooting for Thanksgiving weekend planting date. Should give the hardnecks time to vernalize as needed. Soil should be cool enough by then. Garlic never goes dormant in the winter here so even with the late November planting dates the garlic will sprout soon after and grow all during our cool season and be ready by April or May, no matter which variety. Ground doesn’t freeze here and there is no late fall/early winter die back or anything like that.

I had a head of May harvested Russian Red hardneck set aside in the cupboard for seed garlic, but it didn’t make it to September. Most of the rest I set aside in the cupboard survived, but overall there wasn’t a whole lot left, we ate most of our April/May harvest.

I figure I might plant something like 80 cloves, but it might be more and it might be less. I like the look of having garlic growing out in the beds during winter. I think I had closer to half that amount growing last season. Garlic overall does well here in spite of my relative neglect and hardnecks evidently will bulb if vernalized for 8 weeks or more. I might try to do a better, more consistent job of spacing this season and improve the soil preparation along with staying on top of the weeds better. I got some decent heads last season and some smaller ones and singles and spacing seemed to be a part of the difference and the amount of weeds might have figured in as well.

[bower]

@bower , any idea what the temperature of your basement room where you store your garlic is? I am getting nowhere near that length of storage out of the porcelain garlic here, thinking that it is warming up to quickly.

I could be more precise about that in coming months, since I have a temperature sensor in the basement - I'll move it into that room which is currently tomato triage area since it tends to stay cool. At present in another basement room it's reading 18.8C/ 65.8F, and is probably about the same, I will check. My guess is that it never hits 20C until summer sun has overheated the rest of the house in July.

[JRinPA]

Seems way too early to plant garlic but I like the idea of a controlled test. Good luck, I tried last year and it was ruined by the bugs, no results tabulated.

I want to try some purposeful upside down bulb planting this year as a test. A turn at the end might prevent bad stuff from getting to the bulb. It seems to me the upside down ones I've grown are all very healthy bulbs. Traps work for plumbing, why not garlic.

Also want to plant some direct july harvested bulbil to fall maincrop planting, to see how my garlic fares.

Upsizing bulbils to rounds was my test this past season, and was a lot of work and had a high failure rate between round harvest and replant. So that is out, but direct bulbil might work great for me here and much easier.

[karstopography]

My Chesnok red garlic arrived yesterday. Already parked in a paper bag in the 33° fridge. I forgot I ordered 1/2 pound, thought I got 1/4 pound. Anyway, the garlic looks great and the smell was amazing when I opened up the shipment. Excited to be growing this one.

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

I won't plant till closer to Halloween here in CT. Mine hangs in my basement until ready for use; I selected and marked those for planting when I hung them.

My basement runs about 63 - 65F year round and stays dry. All my garden starts are grown under LED lights in the basement - no getting spoiled by nice temps for my little plants! It tends to result in short, thick stemmed plants in my experience.

[pepperhead212]

I got the garlic in today - 254 cloves, more than I was expecting, but I planted 33 shallots, which was exactly what I had counted (I had sort of counted them in the mesh bag, some had to be separated, some not, so I was sort of guessing). I planted 12, 11, and 10 at the far end, before I started with the garlic, and the 3 rows I finished with 10 and 26 Bogotyr and 49 Music, saved from last season.

Here's the 3 rows of garlic planted, then mulched with last year's leaves. I'll be getting many more soon.
Planted triple row of garlic and shallots, at the end of each. A row down the middle, and another about 3" outside of each T-tape. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Last year's leaves on the garlic row, to start it out - will need more, once they start blowing down this year. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[JRinPA]

That is a serious setup. So what is your spacing? Do you have the ALM there?

[pepperhead212]

That row is about 37 ft long, and those T-tapes are 10" apart, and the rows of garlic are about 8" out from the center. And fortunately, I haven't had any ALM here, on these, or any other alliums I grow. The only allium I have ever had a problem with, though I'm not sure what it was, was when I planted some "French Gray Shallots" - a half pound I got many years ago, sort of an unusual shape to them, being like a small sausage, not like normal shallots, and sort of a greenish gray color. Each one planted created 5 or 6 more of the same looking things, but the problem was that almost every one of these had something like maggots growing in them, many with holes in the surface. No other allium (or other root crop) I grew that year, before, or since, has had this growing in them.

[JRinPA]

I mean the spacing, in row spacing. But I guess 254+33=287/3/37=2.6 per foot~5" spacing in row?

I'm not going to plant until fall ALM are gone for sure. I pulled all the garlic I could from the shady side of the house where they had a bed. All infested with it. A month or so back I transplanted mint there instead and had dug and removed the garlic at that time. But many more came up with green shoots since then, and all infested.

[pepperhead212]

Yes, the garlic is 5" apart; the shallots I do 6" apart, as they get larger. I have a long nylon cord that I marked every 5" with a sharpie, and I just stretch it from one end to the other, and put the small stakes in the ground, and it keeps it straight, and easier than moving a tape measure!

Too bad you have that problem with ALM. And garlic is often one of the "natural" things you can usually use against things like that, along with herbs, as you're trying with the mint. I often use mint, rosemary, and sage, mainly because I have so much of them! Good luck.

[JRinPA]

I did 4" in row on onions this year and it was perfect. My 4" is using the broadfork as a heavy duty dibble, then putting the transplant right in. Rows were about 10" apart, with drip tape bisecting.

Not sure if I ever did that with garlic, but might this year. Would work great for bulbil spacing. Could skip every third for regular cloves.

Are you planning to run water this fall yet on that freshly planted garlic? Do you want it to throw up a shoot this fall?

[pepperhead212]

I usually don't have to water that in the fall, but this hasn't been a normal year! Usually I don't put the lines down until spring, when the sprouts are just coming up, but in recent seasons, the winters were so mild that they didn't even die back, and by March some varieties were 6-8 inches already.

I'll watch the soil under the leaf clippings, and if it is drying out, I'll soak it again. Hopefully, I'll get some precipitation some time!

[pepperhead212]

While out harvesting those last few (I think) tomatoes today, I noticed quite a few garlic sprouts out there! Mostly Music and Metechi, but a few others, as well.

Some of the garlic stalks coming up, mostly the Music and Metechi, though I saw a couple of others, too.
Some of the garlic stalks coming up, 10 days after planting, mostly the Music and Metechi, though I saw a couple of others, too. 10-16 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[GoDawgs]

Today I need to get three rows ready and plant garlic tomorrow. Will be planting Lorz Italian, Polish White and Siberian.

[bower]

You guys are doing great with closer spacing in the row... I might change it up again.
Today was my target date for planting but the beds aren't ready.

[JRinPA]

Any alliums up here would need netting to protect from the bugs. Not worth the risk to me. I need to dig/pull my old free grow garlic that has the tops up now. I'll wait another month to plant, probably.

[rxkeith]

i got the main crop garlic in today
the new additions are rosewood, metechi, spanish roja, italian purple stripe, armenian, and leningrad
from mad river garlic. a 1/4 lb of leningrad was one bulb with 4 very large cloves. it will take while to
build stock of that one.

persian star, and german white from some local farmers.
some of my own garlic including a german type, and music which hasn't done well lately. music used to
be one of my best growers. about 172 cloves planted so far.
i have some bulbils, and second year rounds still to put in. trying to scale back a bit, and find the right balance.


keith