What We're Doing Now:
Garlic at The Jeavons Center
Method 3 gave the best results, so it’s how we’ve done it since: planted on 4” centers (1,343 cloves per 100-sq-ft bed) almost at surface-level, with the pointy growing tip of a clove left about 1/4” above the soil and the root end about ¾” below the soil. At intermediate-level GB yields, we expect to harvest approximately 120 lbs/100 square feet, plus 15 pounds of air-dry biomass for compost. …but we never stop learning! Recently, John came across a video showing a test of different garlic planting depths, which appears to show that planting at 4” and 7” deep can increase productivity compared with surface planting as we do it. So this fall, we’re going to try the experiment ourselves: planting our garlic at different depths to see if we can increase yields even more. With luck, we’ll have some interesting results to share with you next fall! When planning your garden, don’t forget that garlic requires a period of “vernalization” – 4-8 weeks below 40ºF to produce bulbs—so you need to time your planting to go with your climate (or in warm climates, to trick your bulbs into thinking they’ve gone through the winter by vernalizing them in the refrigerator). According to epicgardening.com/plant-fall-garlic: “Hardneck garlic is more cold-hardy and best for northern climates. It requires the chilly winter (vernalization period) to create full bulbs. As the name implies, hardneck garlic has a stiff central stalk. They are the only kind of garlic that sends up buttery-delicious scapes (flower stalks) during the spring or summer. The cloves tend to be larger, easier to peel, and more complex in flavor. Plant hardneck garlic right around the first fall frost to ensure that it gets a full 4-8 weeks of cold exposure below 40°F. What We're Doing Now: Garlic at The Jeavons Center By Shannon Joyner, Garden Companion Editor image: shannon joyner 12 Ecology Action’s Garden Companion Softneck garlic is best for mild or warm climates. It only needs mild cold exposure (vernalization) to grow a bulb. This can be easily hacked with 5-10 weeks in a refrigerator before planting. Softneck varieties have a soft stalk for garlic braids. They have a longer storage life, smaller cloves, more wrappers, and mild to hot flavors. In tropical climates, plant softneck garlic during the early winter after 5-10 weeks of refrigeration (not freezing). For the most part, you should be planting garlic between September and November. In frigid northern zones 0 through 4, it can be planted throughout September. In zones 5 through 7, hardneck garlic is traditionally planted in October. Growers in zones 8 and 9 typically wait until October or November. Frost-free tropical growers in zones 10 through 11 often grow softneck garlic in only the coolest months of December through January, but can also plant hardneck garlic in October to November, particularly if they vernalize in advance. … Use the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map to determine your growing zone, and then head to Farmer’s Almanac to calculate the estimated first frost date of the autumn. This will give you a good idea of the best window of opportunity for getting your garlic in the ground.” At The Jeavons Center, depending on the weather, we plant garlic around October 1 and plan to harvest them around August 1 the next year. We like both soft- and hard-necked varieties, interplanted with drying flowers which can then be used to enhance the beauty of garlic braids (soft-neck are easiest to braid, but hard-necks can also be braided with colored silk ribbons). We’ve tested over 40 varieties over the years and are partial to Asian Tempest for its delicious flavor and short growing season (it typically ripens several weeks sooner than most hardneck varieties). But so many varieties taste good, you should try several and find out what you (and your garden) like best! When selecting which cloves to plant, remember that the largest bulbs produce the largest plants. This is because the larger cloves contain more nutrition to feed the growing plant and to build another crop of big bulbs. Each bulb is made up of 12 cloves: six small cloves in the center (which we use for cooking) and six large cloves on the outside, which we save for planting. We store them for two months in a cool dry area, and then plant them as noted above. How do we know when to harvest without digging up bulbs to check them for size? Initially, 12 green sprouts emerge from each clove and grow as green leaves though the season. When 6 of these leaves have started to wither and die off, the bulb is mature, and it is time to harvest those plants. While we usually plant garlic in the fall, if you miss your window, don’t despair! In the June 2004 issue of HortScience, the article “Low-temperature Storage of Garlic for Spring Planting” shows that when stored at –3ºC (27ºF), cured garlic bulbs harvested in the summer can successfully be planted in the spring! “Garlic bulbs (Allium sativum L.) harvested in the summer are often stored at room temperature between the time of harvest and curing and either consumption or planting in the fall. The quality of these bulbs usually deteriorates dramatically by 6 months after harvest. Garlic bulbs were placed at –3, 0, or 5ºC for ≈6 months to determine if bulbs could be maintained for spring planting. Response to cold-storage conditions was cultivar dependent. We found that most cured garlic bulbs stored at –3ºC for 6 months successfully formed cloves within bulbs when planted in the following spring. Unlike the high-quality bulbs formed after –3ºC storage, bulbs stored at 0ºC for 6 months often formed side cloves and had loose wrappers. In another study, garlic bulbs stored at 0, 5, 15, or 23ºC exhibited a higher rate of shoot elongation within the cloves during storage than bulbs stored at –3ºC. After 9 months of –3ºC storage, bulbs then held at room temperature retained the quality characteristics of freshly harvested garlic (firmness, taste) for at least 2 months. These studies suggest that cured garlic can be spring planted and consumed year-round when bulbs are stored at –3ºC". Pumpkin spice may be on everyone’s mind as summer transitions into fall, but here at TJC autumn means garlic spice, all the way.
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Many years ago, at The Jeavons Center minifarm,
we tested three methods of growing
garlic: