Garlic Time

Today was garlic planting day. 51 Duganski cloves went in the ground.

This IS NOT elephant garlic.

Its just big because we have been selecting only the largest for 4 years straight.

Each year, we save the largest cloves to plant because the larger the clove, the larger the next crop will be.

Each year they keep getting bigger and bigger. I think this is about as large as a clove can get (the size of an egg)
This variety stores very well.

That's great progress, and will save so much kitchen time - foresightful.

Today was my garlic planting day.  We usually try to get it in last month, but the soil was too dry.  Today the soil was fairly warm, but had some moisture from a heavy due so it felt like the right day for it.

Happy Garlic Day!  Garlic replanted last week as I had to prep soil a bit as well.  Sampled a bit of the dried gems, al dente!  Fall dining al fresco: Pesto di Noci, Macco di Fave, con cocozza, Corvina in the garden this evening.  Cheers Aliumophiles.

Just got mine in yesterday actually, first time trying Solent Wight. Never thought about selecting for size like that but it makes complete sense, bigger clove equals bigger bulb.

This is interesting, everyone's planting it in Oct.  Last year I found Nov. planting to be successful.  Should I do it earlier like you guys, particularly inquiring of R and David because you're in a similar area to me.

I planted my garlic on Friday. I've always done it in October because that's what our extension office and my parents says to do and I have such a small garden I don't really want to experiment planting it later. October has always produced a good yield for me.  I've heard you can do spring though so November or December is probably fine?  I suspect you want to mulch it either way.

My question is, can I plant shallots this time of year? I have very few but I'm curious how they do planted in the fall versus the spring. I planted in the spring and they did very little (there was almost no bulb multiplication)
but I'm saving back a few to try again.

Well spotted Riona!  The times in fact have moved about a month for me Puget Sound Micro 7a-8b, as I used to plant in late September some 10 years ago.  I started planting Music in the late 90’s in Clinton, MT it was September there.  When I brought that MT Music garlic to Puget Sound I was advised to plant later Oct, and I did.  Over time I moved planting up to get back to late September, as I got better harvests.  The garlic remembered MT planting timing.  This helps when ordering new garlic, to ask where it’s from.  
Garlic adapts well to soil and seasonality, but it takes a few seasons.  I focus more on flavor, storage, and timing you don’t want the tops to freeze off (too early).  You can push the garlic season earlier or later by selecting for earlier and later starting cloves of each variety just like size.  If winter comes in shorter and milder as El Niño predicts I will plant a test batch (10 cloves of each variety) 1st Nov as a check to see if that’s a better growing cycle during El Niño.  Actual tests by planting is the best way to really study seasonal effects with most annual crops at a specific location.  If this seems confusing it is.  I write down soil amendments, plantings, tests, harvests in a journal for reference, my Garlic Book.  Adaptation is vital for planting anything successfully over time,  Again, Cheers Riona!

I think I'm going to stick with Nov. then.

Around here I always try to get mine in the ground 3 weeks before the ground freezes. Of course it's just a guess as to when that will happen. Usually it's around now until the end of October when I get it in the ground.

Last year I had read on some garlic selling site that said it's advantageous to "plant early". I was ready so I planted around the first week of October. Then it got hot again and the greens started popping out of the ground. Oh well, let's see what happens.

I still harvested plenty of garlic but the bulbs seemed to have one or two fewer cloves per bulb. They are mostly large cloves though.

This year I would have planted this week had it not been for a bought of bronchitis that has knocked me back for at least a week and stolen one of the nicest and most productive weeks of the year. It's hot again now. No Telling how long it will last. i still need to prepare new spots to plant it. I suspect it will go in "late" this year. Oh well, Let's see what happens!

Riona Abhainn wrote:This is interesting, everyone's planting it in Oct.  Last year I found Nov. planting to be successful.  Should I do it earlier like you guys, particularly inquiring of R and David because you're in a similar area to me.

I usually plant in September, but it's a dry year and life happened.   I can plant pretty much any time from September to end of nov, then again, feb through april.  Harvest time and size will be influenced by planting time.  Ideally, about two weeks before the soil gets moist so they ca get used to being in the soil and don't rot.  But I don't know how fussy garlic is in our climate.  It always seems to grow no matter how I treat it.

Riona Abhainn wrote:This is interesting, everyone's planting it in Oct.  Last year I found Nov. planting to be successful.  Should I do it earlier like you guys, particularly inquiring of R and David because you're in a similar area to me.

Lil'B plants mid-October. For us entirely weather dependent, bit of moisture, but before snow. Covers with straw when temps look to go -10C. Forces mice to seek shelter elsewhere.