Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Planting garlic – 2022
This is the week to plant garlic if you live in zone 3 to 5. Generally you plant 1 to 2 weeks AFTER a killing frost. Homegrown garlic is better than store bought just as every other vegetable/fruit is better! Last year I planted Elephant Ear, Duganski and Deerfield Purple. My favorite was the Elephant Ear.
THIS year, 2022, I planted ‘Music’, a robust variety, it’s flavor is described as rich, garlicky, strong, robust and pungent with easy to peel jumbo cloves which are easy to use in the kitchen; ‘Vietnamese Red’ was voted the best roasting and sauteing garlic! A large growing purple stripe garlic with a mild garlic spice, it’s a bit sweeter; and finally ‘Red Chesnok’ again, a hardy bulb described as always a taste test winner with a rich sweet flavor when roasted and sautéed. Great raw too with a medium not to overpowering garlic flavor which is great in olive oil and salad dressing.
All of them are hardneck varieties. A necessity for those of us in cold climates. They tolerate our climate conditions much better than the softneck type.
Don’t plant grocery store garlic! Garlic grows best in sandy loam soil due to its texture and draining capabilities. However, I don’t have that but mine turned out pretty darn good! Add organic matter to your planting area for optimum growing.
A few days before planting, break the cloves up and let them harden a bit before planting.
After a LONG day of pulling the surface roots of my hackberry out of the raised bed, I forked in compost and forgot to take a photo!
Plant individual cloves pointy side up 6 to 8 inches apart in rows about 24 inches apart.
Three to 5 weeks after planting, mulch your garlic bed with a 3 to 4 inch layer of straw or fallen leaves to keep temperatures more moderate.
The cold isn’t the problem, it’s the ground-heaving ( the freeze/thaw cycle) that can push the bulb out of the ground. You can remove the mulch in April.
Watering is most critical from mid May through June as garlic has a shallow root system.
For hardneck varieties, it’s recommended that you remove what’s called the scape once it starts to curl.
The University of Minnesota Extension has much more information that includes care during growing and harvesting.
Oh YUM, I can’t wait. PS, I did save some of the cloves for eating now. There were so many cloves in each bulb that I don’t have room for I decided to eat some now! The chesnok red was excellent in my egg dish for breakfast.