a little information is truly a dangerous thing

  Recently, I have determined to learn about soil.   All the expertise here on permies quickly led me to Helen Atthowe. I am currently at a novice level.

    I must be a permie, because I find learning about soil to be exciting, fascinating, and inspiring. It is both humbling and spirit-lifting.  Now there is more depth to the beauty of nature; my soul is calling it an "intricate simplicity".  I know some people here will read this and remember when the universe of soil opened up and started singing to them.

Enough of being poetic.  Here's the problem:
I need to get my garlic in for spring/ summer harvest and I'm frozen like a deer in the headlights.    I have seven 8' x 2'  raised garden beds that are currently no-till.  "Currently" means I have made mistakes along the way.  I have one waist high 6' x 2.5" VegTrug I got on Freecycle years ago.  

   Do I just throw the garlic in and mulch like last year?  But I don't know what I don't know!  Why did someone tell me to "soak the bulbs in rubbing alcohol"?  What about adding Mycorrhizal Fungi and do I make a tea or throw it in or dip the bulbs in it or is that messing with nature. My compost isn't ready yet!  I have plenty of leaves for mulch, or should/can I use grass cuttings?  

Holy cow, can someone come and backhand me upside the head so I can get my self together?  Seriously, last year I hadn't studied soil and just threw my bulbs in according to the hand-written directions I received with my bulbs and now, with my tiny bit of soil information (wouldn't dare to call it knowledge yet),  I'm not sure what the "right" thing to do is.  

It's not the 50s anymore! No more backhanding!!

Hey so I am no expert but I just planted my garlic 3 weeks ago. I just broke up the bulb into cloves and planted them all an inch or two down and about 10" apart from each other. The spacing was kind of a "I have this many plants and this much space" decision but I have grown garlic before even closer than that and it came out good. I planted them in a bed that I grew veggies in this spring, without any more amendments or fertilizer. I did not mulch yet but I will when it gets colder. They are popping up and they look great!

More or less what Dan said! I did a mixed bed of cold tolerant veggies just to hold and protect the soil from our rain. The outside row (where it would end up driest in the late spring, I put a row of garlic cloves. I plant enough that if they do great, I have garlic to give/trade. If they don't do quite so well, I use it all myself.

My biggest issue isn't the soil, it's the fact that some blankety blank bird seems to think the little dry bit is edible and keeps pulling the cloves out, so that's something I'd watch for.

I have heard that garlic's considered a heavy feeder, so putting it in soil with a little top-dress of finished compost wouldn't hurt it. That said, I do "cool" compost because anything remotely like hot compost just doesn't happen in my climate. I trust to the worms to turn it into something that will help plants.

So yes - quit fretting and shove the little guys into the ground. 'Perfect is the enemy of good enough!'

I have read so much different information on how to plant garlic it is really confusing.

I read to put the garlic in the refrigerator or freezer so I put some in the freezer though before I could plant the garlic it got lots in the freezer.

I like what Dan and Jay have suggested.  Just plant the garlic.

Hi Susan,
I'm not a garlic expert, but I have grown my own garlic for about 4 years now.

It is a heavy feeder, so I would recommend adding some compost to the top, like was suggested already... but it's not a necessity. It will still grow fine, just maybe a bit smaller.

No need to worry about fungi... if you are working on your soil, it's already there.

Never heard of the rubbing alcohol one, but probably it was meant to kill any bad microbes on the outside first... which shouldn't be needed if you buy from a reputable source (or save your own).

Just plant it. In my USDA zone, it's more like 4-6 inches down... but whatever is right for your area :)

Dan Fish wrote:It's not the 50s anymore! No more backhanding!!

Hey so I am no expert but I just planted my garlic 3 weeks ago. I just broke up the bulb into cloves and planted them all an inch or two down and about 10" apart from each other. The spacing was kind of a "I have this many plants and this much space" decision but I have grown garlic before even closer than that and it came out good. I planted them in a bed that I grew veggies in this spring, without any more amendments or fertilizer. I did not mulch yet but I will when it gets colder. They are popping up and they look great!

Haha! I do speak bluntly, but it's all just tongue-in-cheek.

Thanks! I needed to hear that good enough is ok.  There's such a body of knowledge out there and I tend to get carried away.

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Susan,
I'm not a garlic expert, but I have grown my own garlic for about 4 years now.

It is a heavy feeder, so I would recommend adding some compost to the top, like was suggested already... but it's not a necessity. It will still grow fine, just maybe a bit smaller.

No need to worry about fungi... if you are working on your soil, it's already there.

Never heard of the rubbing alcohol one, but probably it was meant to kill any bad microbes on the outside first... which shouldn't be needed if you buy from a reputable source (or save your own).

Just plant it. In my USDA zone, it's more like 4-6 inches down... but whatever is right for your area :)

Thank you!  I was overthinking.   Permaculture requires letting nature do its own work. Obviously we also have work to do,  but when I start reading I tend to start running like a wild horse.   I knew that hearing from other people would rein me in.  I am going to check on how deep to plant the garlic in my zone.

Jay Angler wrote:More or less what Dan said! I did a mixed bed of cold tolerant veggies just to hold and protect the soil from our rain. The outside row (where it would end up driest in the late spring, I put a row of garlic cloves. I plant enough that if they do great, I have garlic to give/trade. If they don't do quite so well, I use it all myself.

My biggest issue isn't the soil, it's the fact that some blankety blank bird seems to think the little dry bit is edible and keeps pulling the cloves out, so that's something I'd watch for.

I have heard that garlic's considered a heavy feeder, so putting it in soil with a little top-dress of finished compost wouldn't hurt it. That said, I do "cool" compost because anything remotely like hot compost just doesn't happen in my climate. I trust to the worms to turn it into something that will help plants.

So yes - quit fretting and shove the little guys into the ground. 'Perfect is the enemy of good enough!'

Jay, I had squirrels feasting on my garlic.  Didn't know they did that and didn't know birds would peck at it either!

Shredded leaves will make an excellent mulch. I’d put down 4”, after planting bulbs. I plant garlic 6” apart on diagonal zigzag rows. I plant them 1.5-2x their length deep (2-4” down). Wider spacing has not seemed to help get them bigger, and I get some as big as my fist. I would not dip them in rubbing alcohol under any circumstances. If I were that worried about disease, I’d find another source. I use hardneck varieties (which you will need for your cold climate) sourced from nearby sellers (Siskiyou Seeds here). I’d either find one in your region or buy the largest cloved/bulbed organic hardneck available at a farmers market. Best of luck, and it is good to know when we don’t know!

“When you get your bachelor’s degree, you think you know it all. By the time you get your master’s, you realize you know nothing. Getting a PhD entails realizing nobody knows anything.” - My Dad’s PhD advisor probably quoting someone else.

I just wanted to say that I am glad this got posted. I did not know garlic was a heavy feeder.

Thanks Susan!

Ben Zumeta wrote:Shredded leaves will make an excellent mulch. I’d put down 4”, after planting bulbs. I plant garlic 6” apart on diagonal zigzag rows. I plant them 1.5-2x their length deep (2-4” down). Wider spacing has not seemed to help get them bigger, and I get some as big as my fist. I would not dip them in rubbing alcohol under any circumstances. If I were that worried about disease, I’d find another source. I use hardneck varieties (which you will need for your cold climate) sourced from nearby sellers (Siskiyou Seeds here). I’d either find one in your region or buy the largest cloved/bulbed organic hardneck available at a farmers market. Best of luck, and it is good to know when we don’t know!

“When you get your bachelor’s degree, you think you know it all. By the time you get your master’s, you realize you know nothing. Getting a PhD entails realizing nobody knows anything.” - My Dad’s PhD advisor probably quoting someone else.

I wonder who came up with the idea of dipping the cloves in rubbing alcohol; I'll look back and see if I can find where I read it.
I am very pleased with my garlic source and just like you suggested, I got the jumbo cloves this year. Hard neck does great here in 7A.  I did not mulch much last year, they did great.  I will mulch this year.

Thanks for the quote.  It hit home.

Garlic is one of the easiest vegetables to grow and you can hardly get it wrong. However it takes good timing and proper care to get the best harvest. Pam Dawling from Sustainable Market Farming has a serial of articles on growing garlic which I highly recommend.

Sometimes the difference in suggested planting time has to do with the grower's local weather. Garlic clove is not freeze hardy but after it sprouts and put down roots, it can withstand very low temperature. In area where the ground is covered with snow throughout the winter, planting time is chosen so that the cloves have root growth while shoot growth should start in spring. In warmer area, garlic can have tops growing before freezes. But avoid too much fertilizer as this stage as that will lead to tender growth. Mulch heavily to protect the tops in winter and when the mulches break down they also provide nutrients.  

If you have plenty of bulbs from this year, it's worth picking out the bigger cloves for replanting. Big cloves in fertile soil will give you larger bulbs. Here is the photo of my asiatic garlic from three different planting times/sizes. From left to right:

Medium clove planted in fall
Large clove planted in fall
Small clove planted in spring (solo garlic/pearl garlic)

Have fun growing your garlic.

Thank you, May!  Excellent tips!

I've never heard of using rubbing alcohol, but I routinely soak onion bulbs in a 5:1 water/bleach mixture for about 5 - 10 minutes before planting. This kills viruses on the outside of the bulb, reducing virus load and letting the bulb grow bigger. (Because multiplier onions and garlic don't go through a seed stage, the bulbs can steadily accumulate viruses over many generations.)

Garlic benefits from a certain amount of cold "chill hours" before growing the next season. It's called "vernalization", and comes about because garlic is adapted to colder climates. The refrigerator/freezer advice sounds like an attempt to fake this, but since garlic wants 4 - 8 weeks at low temperatures, it would have to be a pretty long exposure. If you live in a zone with a normal cold winter, there's no need to use artificial means of chilling. Just plant in fall, preferably a week or two before first frost, and it will take care of itself.

Garlic wants good soil, but it's very hardy. Don't overthink it. If you do what worked for you before, it's a good bet it will still work for you in the future, even as you learn more things.

Cathy James Thanks for this post; I was severely over thinking. I've only grown garlic for three years but have had excellent results. My current learning focus is soil, and, as I learned a little, I started majorly over thinking.

You are absolutely right to focus on soil. It's critically important.

But garlic isn't the place where it matters most. Green leafy plants extract a lot of nutrients from soil and those are the crops where I suggest you put your soil research into practice first.

Garlic is the most resilient garden plant I know of. I planted some the other year in goldenrod, at the edge of a wild pathway, and this year pulled up a good sized bulb! Plant them however you wish, just not in the dark forest, don’t kill the soil, and make sure not to let them get crowded. They will grow with just about anything and be fine.

I would be cautious about sterilizing them because of the worry that it would kill beneficial endophytes.

I read that Helen's book is more for the experienced gardeners and farmers so a beginner can find the content quite overwhelming. The book " soil science for gardeners" by Robert Pavlis is an easier ready and covers all aspects you need to know about the soil. In the book he also lists some fad products and practices that are unnecessary. As for "no dig", I am taking a middle ground of "minimal disturbance" rather than adhere to it like a doctrine. Whenever opening up the ground is required, try adding organic matters as well so that the end result will be better soil.

May Lotito wrote:I read that Helen's book is more for the experienced gardeners and farmers so a beginner can find the content quite overwhelming. The book " soil science for gardeners" by Robert Pavlis is an easier ready and covers all aspects you need to know about the soil. In the book he also lists some fad products and practices that are unnecessary. As for "no dig", I am taking a middle ground of "minimal disturbance" rather than adhere to it like a doctrine. Whenever opening up the ground is required, try adding organic matters as well so that the end result will be better soil.

Thank you so much!