Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow?

Have you tried to poke your finger down along side a stem  to see if there is a bulb deeper down ?  If there is , give the bed a light  feed with Fish , Blood & Bone Meal .. (don't get any in the crooks of the leaves it rots the plant ) lightly work it in the surface then water the bed well.

Just did more finger testing. Nope, nothing down there.

More water ?

Too much nitrogen, too little phosphate?

I wonder what does that?  Too much nitrogen?  Not enough phosphorus?  It’s so tall...Do you think your garlic morphed into something else?  Was it Elephant Garlic?  Because that gets big...still—I’m stumped.

It's not elephant garlic for sure. And, the bed gets watered. Too "warm" of a winter? The compost is blended. I need to experiment with planting in Jan, Feb and March. A Master Gardener mentioned once that it can be planted in March in this area.

I finally decided to harvest the garlic Even though it's only mid-May.  My best harvest ever after 7 years of trying.
There are 23 righteous bulbs, a few mediums and a few teeny ones.  The medium and small will be chopped, dried and made into garlic powder.

Pretty good harvest, Sanderson!  Your harvest is a lot earlier than ours - ours will not be ready until July.  But then, there are the sauteed scapes...

OhioGardener wrote:Pretty good harvest, Sanderson!  Your harvest is a lot earlier than ours - ours will not be ready until July.  But then, there are the sauteed scapes...

And ramps!

NICE!  

Good size on some of those.

Too much nitrogen tends to produce a lot of dark greenery 

 Bone meal is a good source of phosphate which helps for making good roots & bulbing up . Don't use it on carrots or they'll end up like several  cows teats .


 My garlic get a light dressing of , " Dried blood , fish & bone meal " in the ground they are to be planted in , then another dressing , about five weeks after , it's scratched into the ground around the garlics.

Making sure none goes in to the crooks of the leaves as it  will usually cause a rot risk where the grains touch the plant & becomes damp .

What I have read is garlic in the spring needs a boost of nitrogen to facilitate green growth but only initially and then as a side dress a short time later. I believe you can add and probably should a balanced organic fertilizer in the fall with an emphasis on phosphorus, in the fall you need nutrients for root growth. I like Espoma Gardentone 3-4-4 for added fertility and a 5:1 calcium to magnesium ratio. Here is a link to a University of Maine Bulletin for Growing Hardneck Garlic with some interesting information 

https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2063e/

This is a link to Michigan State University Extension. I supply links and information not to undermine anyone's advice or experience only to show what the different states with their research and experience are making available. Much of which has made me a better garlic grower but keep in mind local experience and knowledge is invaluable.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/resources/pdfs/producting-garlic-in-michigan_(e2722).pdf

Dan, Thank you for providing the .edu links.

For anyone that is interested in buying seed garlic, Grow Organic has opened their pre-order for garlic bulbs. Their e-mail says they have 17 hardneck varieties, and 3 softneck varieties, in addition to the Elephant and shallots.

https://www.groworganic.com/collections/seed-garlic

Today I completed the harvest of my garlic for the year. The final yield was 259 bulbs. 

Here are a couple of pictures.



Brian the garlic guy

Good looking harvest there, Brian!  Are those all White & Red German varieties?

German Red
Russian Rocambole
German Xtra Hardy
German White
Music
Kranagaskar

By far the Kranagaskar (new to me this year) had the largest and most consistent production. Almost all the bulbs are over 2 inches. Next year, I'm removing the German Red, which doesn't grow all that well in my beds, and adding Spanish Rioja to the field. 

Brian

Interesting. I normally grow all Music, but thinking of adding a couple other varieties this fall. While looking through the pre-sale at Grow Organic, I was thinking of adding German White and German Red. Guess I'll scratch the German Red....  I only grow one 4'x8' bed of garlic, so don't need that many seed bulbs.

Great thread!

I have grown German Hardy for 4 years, great results.  I usually run out in April-ish?  So this past fall, I added Georgian Fire to the planting.  Super excited to see if I like it (I like spicy) and it grows well, which it has!  

I pulled 2/3 of the garlic planted last November last weekend, and the rest is ready!  Nice!  One of the most utilitarian things that I grow.

One of the nice things about the timing of harvesting garlic here is that the bed can be "double cropped" after the harvest. For example, when the garlic is dug and the bed refreshed, the bed can be planted to bush beans -- they not only have plenty of time to mature before frost, but they re-build the soil with nitrogen and organic matter. This is much like the farmers do when they harvest wheat and immediately plant soybeans in the field.

That's a great idea, but I'm wondering what on earth I can do with the produce from 1000 bush bean plants! Yikes!

Brian

bgardner wrote:That's a great idea, but I'm wondering what on earth I can do with the produce from 1000 bush bean plants! Yikes!

 

We freeze them - they are our favorite winter vegetable.  But then, I only grow 3 beds of them each year, with a little under 300 plants per bed.

OG, 

If I were to plant a cover crop, like beans, legumes, buckwheat, alfalfa, etc., would I plow the plants into the soil after they reach maturity? (and I've harvested whatever goodness from them to eat all fall and winter) I've considered doing this with my garlic area, but don't know if you pull up the plants (and compost them for later) or just plow them under. 

Brian

bgardner wrote:Today I completed the harvest of my garlic for the year. The final yield was 259 bulbs.  Here are a couple of pictures.



Brian the garlic guy

Very nice harvest!