gardening in humboldt

 

Garlic, good for you and easy to grow.

Growing Garlic on the Coast.
Garlic grows during the rainy season. Other than short bursts of activity during the planting and harvesting times, garlic has to be the lazy person's crop. Here on the coast it doesn't even need watering! Put it in the ground in October and dig it back up in late spring. There are many varieties to choose from, from mild eat-like-an-apple varieties to the kind that'll make your ears water (that's not a typo).

It really is easy. If you don't harvest the bulb it'll sprout again next year. It is not uncommon to find abandoned homesteads in this area where the garlic is still actively growing every winter. The key to the harvest is the final size of the entire plant because the size of the bulb is directly related. You want the biggest, healthiest, baddest plants on the block. Remember this as you read the rest of these directions.

Soil Preparation

Garlic doesn't care much for brand new gardening soil, especially if you've added raw manure to it. Find a patch you've used before, ideally something that didn't just grow a root crop. Garlic has deep roots, so prepare the soil at least six inches deep, preferably a foot, and work in well-aged compost or an organic slow-release fertilizer. If it's going to be soggy all winter the plants will rot, so find a drier spot or build a raised bed. A fertile soil will allow the roots to do their best job in feeding the plant.

Garlic Planting

Remember this association: Garlic = Vampires = Halloween, and that's when you plant. Garlic bulbs can be bought at the local nursery or on the web. Separate each bulb into cloves because each one will make a plant. Plant the biggest cloves, eat the rest. Put the pointy part up but that isn't super critical, the plant will grow from that basal plate at the bottom of the clove and use up the clove contents for energy. Plant regular garlic five inches apart, pointy end up, with an inch of soil covering the top. Plant elephant garlic twice as far apart. Space the rows 16" apart. If you plant in beds, regular garlic likes half a square foot and elephant garlic a full square foot of room. You can plant further apart but then you have a weeding problem. Mulch if you wish, it'll help keep down the weeds.

You can still plant as late as December, and you'll still get a decent crop. So why plant in October? The ground is still warm and this really helps the chemical reactions that allow the plant to immediately begin establishing a large root system. Remember, you're going to want the biggest plant you can manage by harvest time next year. When the soil warms up again in the spring all those big roots will already be in place, giving the plant a huge jump on the last part of the season.

The plants will appear above ground in December. They can withstand frost, even snow. Bigger green tops make bigger bulbs, so if your soil is poor, scratch in a little quick-acting balanced fertilizer in February. Keep them weeded, garlic does not like competition. About in the middle of the spring someone will ask you, "How did you get your sweet corn to grow that tall this early?" Gently explain that those knee-high plants are garlic.  Continued

NEXT: Fertilizing, Watering, Weeding, and Harvesting Your Garlic