Started next years garden

Yesterday I mixed up four cu. ft. of MM with double the compost. Tore out a 4x4 box covered with cilantro except for four or five that have bolted and are flowering. This box was way short of MM so I added my new mixture to both refresh the mix and add some more MM, then mixed it all up being careful around the cilantro. Box looks much better. This morning I planted three rows of garlic varying 6 to 7 per sq. This year I am planting all soft neck ( Pueblo early seed) which is supposed to be an all purpose garlic with long storage life. This year was all hard neck. The last row is all shallots, five per sq.( organic Sante). First time for shallots so I hope my spacing is OK but judging from the size of what I planted I think I am OK. Tomorrow I am going to Roundup one 4x4 and one 2x4 bed. They are so infested with bindweed that is all I can think of. The plant guy at our greenhouse said this time of year all the plant's energy is going to the roots so it may work. Hope so, don't like to use it.
   Lettuce, kale, chard, spinach and beets doing well in the greenhouse, looking for a small non electric heater to keep it going but should be OK for the next week or so.

I'm still clearing down at the end of my old gardening year, absolutely tremendous down pours of heavy rain have delayed things by 14 days or so . I only managed to bring in all the outdoor tomatoes yesterday afternoon in between rain storms.  


We hope to start our new gardening year by Tuesday 21 October , when we've planned that my new garlics and onions go in whether they like it or not .

When I realized it was garlic planting time I almost panicked.  I had no idea where to plant it for next years garden.  Friday I figured out they rotate to where the potatoes were this year.  Saturday I got that area cleaned up and found about 5 pounds of potatoes I had missed earlier and 2 winter squash under a bush.  And now the garlic is planted.  About 8/sqf for a 12 square block. I do not htink i have ever planted garlic so close together, we will see if bulb size diminishes. Now to extend that planning to the rest of the garden.   

Good luck with the soft necks, johnp.  Do you mulch them?  Our Ag Extension says they are not really hardy enough, especially for arid cold areas.

Hello Johnp,

Good luck w/ next year's garden. We, too, just planted our garlic yesterday but only a single sq.ft.

Turan wrote:When I realized it was garlic planting time I almost panicked.  I had no idea where to plant it for next years garden.  Friday I figured out they rotate to where the potatoes were this year...

What a GREAT idea!  I haven't been able to figure out where to put my garlic either, but I will put them in this yrs potato bed, which was last years summer squash bed. 

Wonder if I plant the garlic all around the outside of the bed, then put some zukes in the center, if it would confuse the SVB?


Anyone ever try anything like that?

CC

I have always grown soft necks until last years planting of all hard necks. The hard necks were much smaller heads but the cloves are larger, but I have been told the hard necks won;t last as long so we will see. After the garlic starts growing and it gets a little colder I will go down to the feed store and get straw off the ground for nothing and use it to mulch for the winter.

johnp, I am guessing you have greater snow pack than those of us in the plains? I suspect this is why the New England gardeners have success with soft necks.  I have trouble maintaining a solid snow covering on plants and in Eastern Montana they often can not grow garlic at all unless a very early spring planting (even in areas a zone warmer than me).  I think the mulch is good insurance.  Good growing!

Believe me we are in the desert compared to most of Colo. We are almost 30 miles south of Pikes Peak and we get blocked of most snow that comes from the NW.
We water all winter when we can and the mulch helps a lot so we have never had a problem growing garlic. We got 1.3 inches of rain last Thursday and all the mountains got a foot or more of snow but it came from the tropical storm from the SW. So we get some moisture once in a while. All our irrigation and drinking water comes from the south side of Pikes Peak

Yesterday, in between rain showers, I finally got my garlic planted, 108 bulbs, the biggest and best from this year's harvest. More rain forcast this coming seven days then I am expecting the first snowfall, sometimes it falls on Hallowe'en evening.
Waiting for the arrival of daffodil and tulip bulbs to get them in before snowfall: I know I can't eat them but I figure it is food for the soul.
Then, a long, long wait for spring.

"the arrival of daffodila and tulips"
Heralding the hope of spring and another gardening season.