Planted Silver White Garlic

Oct 6 about 6" or little more deep.  Planted right next to fava beans, :) might not be best companions.  What are your thoughts did I plant too deep?

I know I did not want them heaving out of the soil, and I have no mulch on this small bed.

I don't know what is the optimum depth for garlic. I poke cloves into the soil. They might get as much as 1" of dirt over the top of the clove. Yup. Some of them pop out of the ground when the roots start growing. I try to avoid that somewhat by smoothing the soil over the top of the bulbs, so that at least there isn't a pre-built exit hole. I should probably stomp them into the ground well, like I do with everything else that I plant.

I went out today and saw one clove laying on the surface!, not sure how it got there but planted it about 2 inches down.

Six inches seems deep to me...I usually plant so the top is exposed or a little deeper.
Here they root and send up a little top growth before winter so heaving doesn't seem to be a problem.

I think some mulch after planting might serve the same purpose as planting deep?

Judith Browning wrote:Six inches seems deep to me...I usually plant so the top is exposed or a little deeper.
Here they root and send up a little top growth before winter so heaving doesn't seem to be a problem.

I think some mulch after planting might serve the same purpose as planting deep?

If lucky might get the one garlic I pushed in a couple of inches yesterday, the rest, mulch for garden, or expensive lesson.

Michael Moreken wrote:

Judith Browning wrote:Six inches seems deep to me...I usually plant so the top is exposed or a little deeper.
Here they root and send up a little top growth before winter so heaving doesn't seem to be a problem.

I think some mulch after planting might serve the same purpose as planting deep?

If lucky might get the one garlic I pushed in a couple of inches yesterday, the rest, mulch for garden, or expensive lesson.

Don't give up on them...they might make it and surprise us all

One thing I know for sure is that there are many ways of doing things...

I've always heard that the reason we don't try to plant too deep is to discourage too much top growth in the fall. The deeper the bulb, the more insulation it has from the cold weather, so the more energy it expends with top growth before spring. If you live in a colder climate, this seems like it should be less of an issue.

But to be honest, I haven't found any real discussion about the consequences of planting the wrong depth. Just a lot of discussion about the "right" depth, like flowering bulbs (daffodils/tulips/etc) which I know from experience to have little to no impact. I planted mine about 4-6" deep this year, although in fluffy, worked soil that will surely compact down throughout the winter & snow load. I guess we'll see how it works out!

Kyle Neath wrote:I've always heard that the reason we don't try to plant too deep is to discourage too much top growth in the fall. The deeper the bulb, the more insulation it has from the cold weather, so the more energy it expends with top growth before spring. If you live in a colder climate, this seems like it should be less of an issue.

That's exactly what I was thinking when planting them that deep.  Shoots popup, then freeze and die (shoots only).

I just moved and have had no time to prepare my soil, no finished compost to spread.  There is a bare stretch of dirt where there was a tarp spread followed by a bonfire.  I'm thinking of broadforking in a titch of organic (4-4-4 ish) fertilizer and putting a much of seaweed coffee grounds and ramial wood chips over top.  three questions though:  should I hold off on mulch until spring to avoid decomposition, should I hold of on the fertilizer until spring to make the most of my small supply, and should I use grocery store garlic or fancy stuff?  ( I can get way more seed  cloves if I do grocery store )

Genevieve Higgs wrote:I just moved and have had no time to prepare my soil, no finished compost to spread.  There is a bare stretch of dirt where there was a tarp spread followed by a bonfire.  I'm thinking of broadforking in a titch of organic (4-4-4 ish) fertilizer and putting a much of seaweed coffee grounds and ramial wood chips over top.  three questions though:  should I hold off on mulch until spring to avoid decomposition, should I hold of on the fertilizer until spring to make the most of my small supply, and should I use grocery store garlic or fancy stuff?  ( I can get way more seed  cloves if I do grocery store )

You can put down all of it in the Fall so the soil can mix it over winter.  Then things should be ready to go in spring.

I think the idea behind planting garlic in the fall is to let it get somewhat established by winter with some roots and a little green top.  
Here, then, whenever it warms a little it grows just a bit more and then really takes off in the early spring.
Freezes  don't seem to bother it, or snow or ice cover....even the exposed leaves.

I don't know about farther north. Tennessee is similar to Arkansas maybe?

I always thought it needed the cool of fall to sprout well.

Maybe try digging a few that are planted so deep in a week or two and see if they are sprouting?

Just dug up about 17 of the cloves I planted deep (which is close to what I planted).  Replanted about 2-3 inches down now.  Only saw about 4 with rootlets.

Saw at least 2 garlic shoots about an inch high, that classically will get nailed by the 21°F we are due tonight.

Michael Moreken wrote:Saw at least 2 garlic shoots about an inch high, that classically will get nailed by the 21°F we are due tonight.

Garlic can survive those temperatures.  Other things might not, but garlic shoots and their rooted cloves are quite cold resistant.

Unless 'silver white' is much more cold sensitive than other varieties I think it will be fine.

So here's a bit of an experiment: garlic on the left (orange arrow) was planted by pushing in to a finger poker's depth.  So maybe 2 inches.  I think it has all come up, and is maybe a hand high.  The garlic on the right (purple arrow) is planted one trowel deep, so maybe 9 inches.  Some has come up, it's about 1 inch high.  I am still seeing new nubs poking up each day.  But experienced gardeners in the region say that the fall nubins don't matter so much, what we want is for the seed-clove to push out a big healthy root system right now.  That way it will form a few large flavorful cloves in the spring.

Hopefully I will post follow up pics in the spring and harvest time

Gen

One advantage to me, for planting garlic in the fall, is that soil is easier to prepare in the fall. In the spring time, it might be months after the snow has melted before the mud settles down enough that I could get into the field to plant. And in those months, the fall planted garlic could already be a foot tall.

Looks like the garlic survived the latest frost, we another storm coming with freeze and snow? Tuesday.

Of the garlic varieties I'm growing the Eden Rose is the most frost tender, when it gets colder than 14 F (-10°C) the shoots will start to suffer. Snow barely ever occurs where I live, but last winter, with heavy winds and 14 F, most of the green of the Eden Rose was gone. But it recovered nicely after the winter and still produced decent bulbs. Eden Rose - which is related to Rose de Lautrec - is known to do better in warmer climates than mine. But the flavour is very nice.
Some other varieties I'm growing did have no problem at all with the winter. 14 F is not very cold, but moisture loss is the biggest problem when that temperature combines with heavy winds. Snow actually acts as a protective layer; when there's snow garlic can handle much lower temperatures. Probably where you live it's customary to put mulch over the garlic, which wraps it in for winter. Certainly in Canada and Alaska they do that, and I believe it's common in northern U.S. states as well. Not so much in southern U.S. I believe. In northern regions garlic won't surface before it's spring. Where I live it will, as our winters are mild compared to most of continental northern America.

Planting happens deeper in climates with colder winters, but I'm not sure what the drawbacks are when planting deep in warmer areas. If planting shallow, bulb formation can be affected by fluctuations in temperature and moisture level. You don't want the soil to dry out where the bulb forms. The biggest bulb I pulled out earlier this year had been growing quite deep, halfway down a raised bed, on a side facing north. We had a very dry spring, and at that place moisture retention had been better. If it's very wet and your soil isn't very permeable planting deep can be a negative thing as well. The ideal planting depth is dependent on a few things. I believe something like 2 - 3 inches is what a lot of people go for, but I wouldn't worry too much about the exact planting depth.          

Just went out to garden and counted 4 garlic sprouts up.  Thank you for the info on 14°F and being cold hardy.   Things are slowly drying out after a lot of rain, 1.5 inch in a couple of days ago.

So here's the harvest picture of my garlic, not the best yield, but for poor soil and grocery store cloves I'm happy.  The soil was much nicer looking when I pulled them out than when I put them in too.  (thanks mulches!).

The two inch deep bulbs were bigger, and had a greater success rate, than the bulbs that got put 10 inches down.

Perhaps because it was a hot sunny location, or because the soil was dry/dead, or because  my cloves were from a different source not every bulb made a scape... and they fell down/dried up/ died about a month before everyone else around here harvests.  I'm ok with this though as it gives me enough summer days left to put in some sunflowers.

You are off to a great start!  

Remember to "replant the best; eat the rest" and you will continue to see improvement as they adapt / you select the ones that do the best in your conditions.