Last week we talked onions, this week it’s another allium, garlic. The timing on planting onions in the fall is just about the same as when we plant our garlic for overwintering and garlic spends just about as much time in the garden as those fall-planted onions do.
Just like our onions, there are specific considerations for growing garlic – the right variety, the right soil, specific planting depth and spacing, planting time, and nutrients. If this all sounds vaguely familiar, that’s because those are all the same things we said are important for growing onions. Amazing how plants in the same family have some of the same concerns!
Today on Just Grow Something we’re talking tips for planting garlic by climate type. Whether you’re in zone 3 or zone 10 you can grow garlic, but what kind and when and how you plant will be vastly different and will greatly affect your success. Let’s dig in!
References and Resources
My Women in Podcasting Award and Acceptance Speech!
Ep. 67 - When and How to Plant Your Garlic, Plus Tips for Warmer Climates
Growing Garlic in Warm Climates - Focal Point Friday
Growing Garlic as a Perennial - Ep. 168
How to Choose a Garlic Variety to Grow - Ep. 214
How to Know When Your Garlic is Ready to Harvest
Find Seed Garlic: https://amzn.to/3BOX30U (aff)
Bonus content for supporters of the Podcast! (buymeacoffee.com)
00:00:00
All right, my gardening friends, last week we talked onions.
00:00:03
This week it's another allium and that is garlic.
00:00:06
The timing on planting onions in the fall is just about the same
00:00:10
as when we plant our garlic for overwintering.
00:00:12
And garlic spends just about as much time in the garden as those
00:00:16
fall planted onions do. And just like our onions, there
00:00:19
are specific considerations for growing garlic.
00:00:22
The right variety, the right soil, specific planting depth
00:00:25
and spacing, planting time, nutrients.
00:00:28
Yeah. If this all sounds vaguely
00:00:30
familiar, that's because those are all the same considerations
00:00:33
that we said were important for growing onions.
00:00:35
It's amazing how plants in the same family have some of the
00:00:38
same concerns. Right.
00:00:39
Today on Just Grow Something, we're talking tips for planting
00:00:43
garlic by your climate type. So whether you're in zone 3 or
00:00:47
zone 12, you can grow garlic, but what kind and when and how
00:00:52
you plant will be vastly different and it will greatly
00:00:56
affect your success. Let's dig in.
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Hey, I'm Karen, I started gardening in a small corner of
00:01:02
my suburban backyard and now 18 years later, I've got a degree
00:01:05
in horticulture and operate a 40 acre market farm.
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I believe there is power in food and that everyone should know
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how to grow at least a little bit of their own.
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On this podcast, I share evidence based techniques to
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help you plant, grow, harvest and store all your family's
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favorites. Consider me your friend in the
00:01:22
garden. So grab your garden journal and
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a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow something.
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OK, future me jumping in here really quick, my gardening
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friends, before we get further into this podcast, I am so
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excited to tell you that we did it.
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Last week. I got an e-mail saying that this
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podcast was one of three finalists in the lifestyle
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category for the Women in Podcasting awards and they
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invited me to the awards ceremony.
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We had that award ceremony ceremony on Friday the 18th and
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lo and behold, we won. And I say we because this is all
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because of you. You made this happen by going
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out and voting, and I could not be more thrilled.
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I am so proud of this community that we have built.
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Everybody just sharing their stories and their tips and their
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tricks and their advice with each other, whether it's through
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the Question of the month or in the Facebook group or just by
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sending me emails and DMS. This is a a community and that's
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the only reason that we won because we were up against some
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really stiff competition. And I just am so excited that
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this has happened and that we are kind of seeing my vision for
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the podcast and just grow something as as an overall
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concept or business kind of all coming to fruition now.
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And now that we're in our fourth season, it is absolutely
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fantastic. So if you are not on the e-mail
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list, I went ahead and sent out an e-mail right away that had
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the links to the award ceremony. But if you are not on the e-mail
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list and you didn't see this announcement, I'm going to go
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ahead and link to the award ceremony in the show notes.
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And I will it'll, it's on YouTube.
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And so it'll start you off right at where my award is announced
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and my acceptance. It's a little off.
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The audio is like out of sync for whatever reason, but that's
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OK. And if you want to watch the
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entire thing, it's up on YouTube as well.
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So I just had to come on here and tell you guys this.
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Thank you so much. I truly, truly, truly appreciate
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your support and I cannot wait to see where we go from here.
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So all right, let's let's go back to past me and get on with
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the show, OK? Don't forget about the October
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question of the month. What was your biggest failure in
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the garden this season? No shame to you as a gardener if
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you had a big failure. I absolutely did on several
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things. And so I will share mine if you
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will share yours. So go ahead and drop a comment
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in the box below. If you're on YouTube or on
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Spotify, send me a DM, Send me an e-mail, reply to an e-mail
00:04:18
that I might send you. If you're on the e-mail list,
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jump in the Facebook group. You have until October 31st to
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get me your answer. Yes, we did an episode last week
00:04:29
on onions. I also dropped a YouTube video
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that has gotten a lot of feedback, so I likely will be
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doing another one of those. Mostly this will probably be a
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follow up to answer a lot of the questions that I have been
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getting. So as soon as I drop that, I
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haven't decided yet if it's going to be an episode or if it
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will just be either a YouTube video or even maybe on Patreon
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as a freebie for everybody, but someplace where everybody can
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access it. Because you all have had a lot
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of questions and I feel like they need to be answered.
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So I will do something for that and as soon as I release it, I
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will absolutely let you know. OK, let's talk best practices
00:05:13
for planting garlic and there are going to be some variations
00:05:17
based on what your winter weather is like in your climate.
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The first thing is absolutely to choose the right garlic type.
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There are two different types, hard neck garlic and soft neck
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garlic. I'm not going to go into all the
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specifics about growing garlic. I will link to the actual full
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garlic episode and any other articles or anything that I have
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done on garlic in the show notes.
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So you can easily find that this is just going to be a basic
00:05:44
overview and we're talking best tips and tricks specifically for
00:05:48
planting your garlic. The first is to choose the right
00:05:50
type if you are in a colder climate, so anything from zero
00:05:55
or one I guess. And yes, you can grow garlic in
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those very cold zones all the way through until right around
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zone 7. Your best bet is going to be
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hard neck garlic. This is the one that has the
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hard stem. It is very cold Hardy.
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It produces those scapes that come out the center.
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The reason that hard neck garlic is good for these colder zones
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or the zones that actually get a decent amount of winter weather
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or cold winter weather is because garlic hard neck garlic
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needs four to six weeks of cold temperatures below 40°F to
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develop their bulbs. But what most people don't
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understand is that a lot of hard neck garlic is also photo
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periodic just like our onions are.
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Many hard neck garlics will begin bulbing when the day
00:06:46
length reaches over 13 hours and the air temperature is above
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68°F and the soil temperature is over 60°F.
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OK, so it has to be all three of those things at the same time,
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and that is when the garlic will begin to bulb.
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When any of these things is out of whack.
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This is not what garlic considers to be an ideal
00:07:14
situation for that and they won't bulb properly.
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So this means if you live in a warmer climate where it heats up
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really quickly and that is well before the day length actually
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starts increasing, your hard neck garlic is not going to
00:07:31
perform well. So This is why even if you try
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to artificially vernalize, meaning artificially cold, make
00:07:40
your your garlic cold Hardy essentially by putting it in the
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refrigerator. And we'll talk about that here
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in a minute. And you and you're in the South
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and you try to do that, it's still going to have a really
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difficult time developing properly because not all of
00:07:55
those factors are in line with each other, right?
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So that is where soft neck garlic comes in.
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It is much more suited for milder climates.
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So we're talking zones 8 through 12.
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And yes, in the tropical zones, you can grow soft neck garlic.
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We'll talk about that a little bit more in depth here in a
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minute. Soft neck garlic is less cold
00:08:13
Hardy. It does store better by the way
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than hard neck garlic and it doesn't require much in the way
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of vernalization. So it can be grown in warmer
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temperatures. So I am in a zone, I am in zone
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6B and I am kind of at that line where I will actually grow both.
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I plant both hard neck and soft neck garlic and I will tell you
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that which one does better greatly depends on what type of
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a winter we have. So if we have a warmer winter
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than usual or we're not getting those super cold temperatures
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for very long periods of time, maybe it's only a day here or
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two, the soft neck garlic well outperforms the heart neck.
00:09:00
Vice versa, if we have a really harsh winter, then I might lose
00:09:05
some of those soft neck garlics, but the hard neck really seems
00:09:07
to come on strong. So I kind of cover all my bases
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and I plant both some years. Both of them do phenomenally
00:09:16
well and I haven't really taken enough really, really detailed
00:09:20
notes to be able to kind of differentiate between, you know,
00:09:23
one year to the next and the hard neck versus the soft neck.
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I mean, I take a lot of notes, but come on, even I don't have
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that kind of time on my hands. So one of these days maybe I
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will make that my mission is to, you know, but I'm sure somebody
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has researched this and I'm sure I could give you that
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information. But then you would your eyes
00:09:38
would start to roll back in your head out of boredom.
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So let's just say if you are in anything up to zone 7, focus on
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the hard neck. If you're in zone 6 or or eight,
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you might be able to plant both and then if you are 8 and above,
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you definitely can grow soft neck.
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OK. When we're looking at soil, the
00:09:59
soil requirements for garlic are very similar to what we talked
00:10:02
about in our onions last week. Loose, well drained garlic
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really does like a lot of organic matter because we are
00:10:09
going to be planting these deeper than what we do onions.
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So the looser and loamier the soil is, the better.
00:10:18
And a slightly acidic pH, again between 6 point O and seven
00:10:22
point O is ideal. Just like our onions, these are
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all alliums. We do want a spot that has full
00:10:27
sun. Your garlic bulbs are going to
00:10:30
rely on that just like we do with onions.
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We want a lot of green, lush growth on the top and then we
00:10:36
want that green growth to feed those big bulbs underneath and
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full sun is required for this. Now, does it mean that you
00:10:43
cannot grow garlic without full sun?
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No, you just have to know that you are going to expect smaller
00:10:49
bulbs in that instance. So the more sunlight the better.
00:10:53
We also want to focus on our planting depth and our spacing.
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And this is where we get a little bit nuanced.
00:11:01
OK, so when you plant garlic, you you take the whole bulb and
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you separate the cloves and you do this right before planting.
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We want to use the largest cloves for planting because they
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are going to produce the largest bulbs.
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So if you are in the process of going through the garlic that
00:11:20
you grew this year and you're trying to decide which ones
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maybe you want to save to plant right now for next year, choose
00:11:27
your biggest and your best and then eat the rest, right?
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That's what we always say, save the best and eat the rest, OK?
00:11:33
The planting depth is where it's going to be a little bit
00:11:36
different depending on where you are growing.
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So if you were in the colder climates, so zone 6 and below,
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you want to plant your cloves about two to three inches deep
00:11:47
in the soil. This is going to help protect
00:11:49
them from freezing. We're also going to use mulch
00:11:52
here, but that's going to protect them in the the soil.
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If you are in a slightly warmer climate.
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So zones 7 through 9, you don't have to go quite as deep.
00:12:01
You can do one to two inches. That is sufficient.
00:12:05
Now if you are in zones 10 through 12, so these are my much
00:12:09
warmer climate growers, you are actually going to want to plant
00:12:13
your cloves even deeper. I mean, I'm talking like 4 to 6
00:12:17
inches deep. This is going to be very
00:12:20
beneficial for you because that soil is cooler deeper in the
00:12:24
ground and you're going to have less chance of your cloves
00:12:30
breaking their vernalization early.
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Again, because of all of those different factors that we're
00:12:36
trying to match at one time. You're going to have a better
00:12:40
chance of them staying in the ground longer and waiting longer
00:12:46
to form those bulbs if you can keep them cooler for longer.
00:12:50
So 4 to 6 inches deep is going to be very beneficial for you.
00:12:53
If you are in zone 10 or warmer and you are trying to grow
00:12:57
garlic, okay, the spacing is all going to be the same.
00:12:59
You want them about four to six inches apart within your rows,
00:13:02
and if you're doing straight rows, you can space those rows
00:13:05
about 11:50 inches apart. This gives each one of those
00:13:09
bulbs room to grow and allows for proper airflow, which is
00:13:12
going to reduce that disease risk, especially if you live
00:13:15
someplace where it is very humid.
00:13:17
Now the other thing that varies based on your zone is the
00:13:22
planting time. Now all of this time is
00:13:25
flexible, OK? It's all depending on your soil
00:13:29
temperatures and how warm or how cold your season has been.
00:13:34
Ideally, if you are in the absolute coldest zone, If I have
00:13:38
any of you who are gardening in Alaska and you are listening,
00:13:42
first of all, welcome. Second of all, reach out.
00:13:43
I would love to hear that. Or some place that's just as
00:13:47
cold. If you're talking like zones one
00:13:48
through 3. If you don't have an actual
00:13:50
permafrost, right, you're going to want to be planting your
00:13:53
garlic in about early September. Obviously we are past this.
00:13:57
Hopefully you know this helps you for next year.
00:14:00
If you still want to do garlic, go ahead and do them in
00:14:03
containers because obviously if you're doing a container, that
00:14:05
soil can still be worked. This is the consideration is we
00:14:09
want to get these in the ground before our, our soil freezes
00:14:14
solidly. So even though you may have
00:14:16
already had your first frost or whatever, if you are growing
00:14:18
someplace where you do get freezes, you just want to get
00:14:22
the the garlic bulbs into the ground and get them settled
00:14:25
before everything freezes solid. So in, you know, zones one
00:14:28
through 3, you're looking at early to late September.
00:14:32
In zones like 3:00 to 5:00, this is generally late September to
00:14:36
early October, 5 through 7, mid to late October.
00:14:41
So right about now, 7 through 9, late October into November.
00:14:46
Again, all of these are flexible based on what your current
00:14:52
weather and soil conditions are. I have not gotten my garlic in
00:14:56
yet. I haven't gotten my onions in
00:14:57
yet either. OK, but, and I'm not too worried
00:15:01
because I have planted both of these as late as mid November
00:15:05
and had no problem getting a fantastic harvest the next
00:15:08
season because generally speaking, my soil is staying
00:15:10
warm enough for me to be able to do that.
00:15:12
So I take these recommendations for timing with a grain of salt
00:15:19
and apply it, you know, in your area based on your soil
00:15:22
temperatures. This is why I always encourage
00:15:23
people to have a very simple soil thermometer on hand so you
00:15:27
know what it is that you're working with.
00:15:30
Now, for warmer growers like zones 9 through 10, you're going
00:15:33
to be planting from around late October into December.
00:15:39
Again, make sure that you are choosing soft necks that need
00:15:43
less cold vernalization to develop bulbs.
00:15:46
You may still want to vernalize your bulbs OK, even though it
00:15:51
may not be necessary. This is going to give you a
00:15:54
better chance at them staying sort of in that dormant
00:15:59
condition longer and keeping them in the ground longer before
00:16:03
they try to bulb. And that gives you the best
00:16:05
bulbs later on. You can do this by just placing
00:16:09
your bulbs in the refrigerator for about 6 to 8 weeks before
00:16:13
you intend to plant. Just put them in a paper bag and
00:16:16
put them in the fridge around 40°F, which is 4°C.
00:16:23
I think is is a perfect temperature.
00:16:27
Just make sure that you're not putting them anywhere in your
00:16:29
fruit. So don't put them in the crisper
00:16:31
drawer with like your apples because apples release ethylene
00:16:35
gas and that can affect the garlic.
00:16:36
So just put them sort of in the warmest spot in your in your
00:16:39
refrigerator and forget about them for about 6 to 8 weeks and
00:16:42
then plant them. This is going to give you sort
00:16:45
of a leg up in terms of your garlic.
00:16:48
Now my warmest climate grower zones 11 through 12.
00:16:51
Again, soft neck garlic. You definitely are going to want
00:16:55
to pre chill these in the refrigerator.
00:16:57
You're likely going to be planting in late December or
00:17:00
into January because this is going to be you want to grow
00:17:04
these during your coolest part of the year.
00:17:06
I would actually recommend for you that you vernalize your
00:17:10
garlic for a longer period of time, closer to 11:50 weeks in
00:17:16
the refrigerator rather than 6:00 to 8:00.
00:17:19
And the reason I say this is because there's been several
00:17:22
sources that I have read of very Southern climate growers who
00:17:28
have experimented with this and found that if they grow, if they
00:17:31
fertilize for six to eight weeks, then the garlic tends to
00:17:34
do OK. It does better when it's a
00:17:37
cooler year in that climate versus putting them in the
00:17:42
fridge for 11:50 weeks. They tend to not break their
00:17:48
vernalization. This is called de vernalization.
00:17:51
So they kind of break out of their, you know, their sort of
00:17:55
dormancy early and that causes them to develop much smaller
00:18:01
bulbs. So the longer time in the fridge
00:18:03
is out helping to prevent this. So if you are in zone 11 or 12
00:18:07
and you are trying to grow garlic, I absolutely recommend
00:18:10
putting them in the refrigerator for longer 10 to 12 weeks before
00:18:14
you actually plant them, regardless of where you are.
00:18:18
Just know that if you're storing up seed garlic and getting it
00:18:22
ready to plant, garlic can rot or it can mold if it is kept too
00:18:28
moist. So be sure that you are keeping
00:18:31
your cloves or your full heads dry either in the refrigerator.
00:18:36
If you are putting them in there, don't put them in a
00:18:38
plastic container. Don't close it into an airtight
00:18:40
container. Make sure you put them in a
00:18:41
paper bag or if you are storing them, you know, some place in
00:18:46
your house while you're getting ready to get them planted, make
00:18:48
sure that it's a a cool but very dry place.
00:18:52
And please, for the love of everything gardening, don't
00:18:55
freeze your garlic. This is not a good way to store
00:18:58
it. It's not a good way to vernalize
00:18:59
it, and all you're going to end up with is some mushy bulbs that
00:19:02
don't grow anything. OK, just like our onions, our
00:19:08
garlic also has some specific feeding requirements.
00:19:12
It's not, you know, anything over the top.
00:19:14
It's not anything out of the ordinary.
00:19:16
Your goal is to have a nice big large garlic plant with lots of
00:19:22
leaves and a really good root system by the time that bulbing
00:19:26
starts. So before planting or at
00:19:30
planting time is fine too. You want some balanced
00:19:33
amendments to go in again, I know it goes without saying.
00:19:36
Please do a soil test, OK, because that way you know if you
00:19:40
are deficient in something and you have to add extra of
00:19:43
something. But in general, if nothing is,
00:19:45
you know glaringly wrong, then you can incorporate a balanced
00:19:49
amendment something where all three of those numbers, the NPK
00:19:52
numbers are all the same. So that would be balanced.
00:19:55
I also recommend adding compost. This is going to help with the
00:19:58
soil texture and and the the. Organic matter that that garlic
00:20:03
really likes garlic is a heavy feeder.
00:20:05
So it does benefit from having some, some nice rich soil.
00:20:09
So the more the better, right, in terms of garlic, in terms of
00:20:13
garlic, in terms, yes, the more the better with garlic.
00:20:14
But in terms of compost, I, you know, I don't think you can have
00:20:18
too much compost in most instances.
00:20:20
And you definitely want a balanced amendment once growth
00:20:24
starts in the spring, then you're going to do the same
00:20:28
thing that we were talking about with onions.
00:20:30
You want a nitrogen rich fertilizer in early spring as
00:20:35
those shoots start to emerge. So fish emulsion, blood meal,
00:20:41
feather meal, these are all really good things.
00:20:43
We're trying to fuel that leafy growth, right?
00:20:47
But then as soon as the bulbs begin to form in like the late
00:20:51
spring or early summer, we Nix that in the bud.
00:20:54
So a little bit of nitrogen fertilizer as a side dress about
00:20:58
four to six weeks, every four to six weeks starting in the
00:21:02
spring. And then as soon as those bulbs
00:21:03
start to form, we stop feeding and we let them do their thing,
00:21:07
right? If you over fertilize your
00:21:08
garlic, they can be actually remain very small because you're
00:21:11
getting a lot of green lush growth and not enough energy
00:21:14
going into those bulbs. And they can also be soft if
00:21:18
there's if there's too much nitrogen after that point too.
00:21:20
So let's talk about that mulch, right?
00:21:22
There's always mulch and the mulch is going to do a number of
00:21:25
things for you, especially if you're in your colder climate.
00:21:27
It is going to protect that garlic through the winter.
00:21:29
It's also going to control weeds.
00:21:31
It's also going to help with moisture retention, right?
00:21:34
So in those colder zones, anybody zone 6 and below, you're
00:21:39
going to want to mulch heavily, at least three inches if you're
00:21:42
on the warmer end of those zones, up to six inches if you
00:21:45
are in those cooler zones. Generally speaking, I'm around
00:21:49
the four inch mark or so. We've done as much as 6 inches.
00:21:53
I don't know that that was necessary.
00:21:55
So I generally stick with four inches.
00:21:57
Straw, always my favorite here. Shredded leaves are fine.
00:22:00
Also, any type of an organic material that is going to
00:22:03
insulate that garlic during those freezing conditions.
00:22:06
So this protects those cloves not only from damage, but it
00:22:11
protects that frost heave that happens when, you know, bare
00:22:15
soil in the winter time gets really cold and it contracts and
00:22:19
it warms up and it kind of expands and it can heave those
00:22:21
cloves up out of the ground. And of course then those cloves
00:22:25
are going to get damaged and they're not going to grow.
00:22:27
So not only is it going to protect from that, it's also
00:22:30
going to maintain the soil moisture.
00:22:32
It's also going to keep those soil temperatures consistent so
00:22:34
you don't get that constant freeze thaw on those bulbs in
00:22:38
slightly warmer zones. So 7 through 9, you can use a
00:22:41
little bit lighter of a mulch layer.
00:22:43
Obviously you don't need quite as much in terms of that freeze
00:22:47
protection. You do want at least two inches
00:22:49
though. That's really the most
00:22:53
beneficial for weed suppression. Also for moisture retention,
00:22:56
your winter temperatures aren't going to be as extreme, so you
00:22:59
don't need the Super heavy insulation, but this is actually
00:23:04
going to help keep your soil cooler a little bit longer in
00:23:08
the spring, again to delay that bulb formation if you are in
00:23:13
those warmer regions. And then zones 10 through 12,
00:23:17
again, not only are you planting these cloves a lot deeper than
00:23:22
everybody else, but mulching is going to be more about moisture
00:23:26
retention and wheat suppression, but also for keeping that soil
00:23:30
cool. So a nice light layer of an
00:23:32
organic mulch like pine straw or shredded leaves about one to two
00:23:36
inches deep is going to be very, very helpful here.
00:23:39
Also, for you, it may be beneficial to have some sort of
00:23:44
a shade cloth or structure or something during the hottest
00:23:50
part of the day where you are. You know, so if your hottest
00:23:54
time of the day is like from 2:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon,
00:23:57
if you can provide some shade to that area, this might also delay
00:24:03
that garlic maturity a little bit and allow you to get even
00:24:07
bigger bulbs. So if you have the ability to be
00:24:09
able to use shade, then use this to your advantage during the
00:24:12
hottest part of the day. Cutting off the sun for those,
00:24:15
you know, three hours or so is not going to greatly affect the
00:24:19
growth rate unless it's really shaded in the morning also.
00:24:22
So, you know, balance that as as you can, depending on where your
00:24:26
garlic bed is situated, you still want full sun, but if you
00:24:29
can give it a break from the heat, then that's going to help.
00:24:31
Ultimately, as far as water is concerned, when we're planting
00:24:37
the garlic, we want to make sure that it has been watered, you
00:24:40
know, immediately after planting just to settle the soil.
00:24:43
It does not need to be, you know, watered much more than
00:24:47
what you would normally get based on your rainfall.
00:24:49
Again, an inch of water is what we go for every week, but it's
00:24:53
not necessary during the winter time while it is dormant unless
00:24:59
you are extremely, extremely dry and then you may want to give it
00:25:02
some water. Other than that, as soon as it
00:25:04
starts growing in the spring, then yes, we want to make sure
00:25:07
that it has adequate moisture. We don't want it to be
00:25:10
waterlogged. We don't want to be over
00:25:12
watering. And if you are in those hotter
00:25:16
zones, just remember a deep, less frequent watering is going
00:25:21
to be much more beneficial. And this is for everybody, for
00:25:23
all of our plants, right? We want less frequent, more
00:25:26
thorough waterings, but this is even more important if you're
00:25:29
trying to keep these bulbs cool because you want those roots to
00:25:32
go down deeper into the cooler areas of that soil.
00:25:38
So a a less frequent but definitely more thorough
00:25:41
watering is going to be better for you.
00:25:42
And then when about half of the garlic leaves start to turn
00:25:48
yellow in the late spring or the early summer, this is we want to
00:25:51
stop watering. I know you can't do anything
00:25:53
about rain if you're in a rainy area, but we don't want to give
00:25:56
them any additional water. This, you know, 50 to 60% of the
00:26:01
of the leaves turning yellow is an indication that the bulbs are
00:26:03
ready to mature. And so we don't want to continue
00:26:06
watering them in them at that point.
00:26:08
We want them to be able to form that little paper around the
00:26:12
outside of the bulb and really kind of shrink down and tighten
00:26:15
to protect it. And if we continue to water it
00:26:17
at that point, it can't do that. So make sure you stop watering
00:26:21
when you see those leaves starting to yellow.
00:26:24
And then you know, once you've got them planted and they're
00:26:27
mulched and they're watered in and you fed them and everything
00:26:30
else, just kind of walk away for the winter.
00:26:32
There's not a whole lot to do. If you are in the colder
00:26:34
climates, that's going to be remaining.
00:26:36
It's going to be dormant under the mulch through the winter and
00:26:39
then it will start to pop up and and sprout in the early spring.
00:26:43
Unlike onions, I have never had to pull back my mulch
00:26:49
dramatically with garlic. As long as your mulch has not
00:26:54
matted down and you can see that the greens are coming through
00:26:58
nicely, then you don't have to worry about it so much.
00:27:01
I have had to remove it the one time that I did that really
00:27:05
heavy 6 inch layer of mulch and because I had used a hay not a
00:27:11
straw and it had matted down over the winter time so I did
00:27:15
need to pull some of that back. But on a normal basis, no, I've
00:27:18
never had to pull back the the mulch like I have with my
00:27:21
onions. In the warmer climates, your
00:27:25
garlic may continue to sprout through the through the winter.
00:27:28
You have a much milder temperatures.
00:27:30
So there's going to be a little bit of growth in there, but then
00:27:33
you really will see it pick up as soon as the the temperatures
00:27:37
start to warm up a little bit more in the spring.
00:27:43
No matter where it is that you are growing garlic, I always
00:27:47
would advise checking with your local extension services and get
00:27:51
advice from them based on what's going on in your region,
00:27:56
including varieties that perform well in your climate.
00:28:01
This is especially helpful if you are kind of at either end of
00:28:04
the extremes, you know, zones one through 3 or zones 10
00:28:07
through 12 where you know you're very, very warm or you're very,
00:28:10
very cold. Go to the professionals that are
00:28:13
are used to doing this in your area and get information from
00:28:17
them. And you know, just because
00:28:19
you're in a zone that is sort of smack dab in the middle there
00:28:23
too doesn't mean that you only have a handful of varieties that
00:28:27
you can choose from. It may be that you get some
00:28:29
recommendations from people local to you about hey these
00:28:31
have done really well for me, but there are so many garlic
00:28:35
varieties to choose from, there is no reason why you can't trial
00:28:39
a few different ones every year and also adjust like your
00:28:42
planting times to see what works best for you in your specific
00:28:47
location. There have been times when I
00:28:49
have gotten my garlic in at the end of September, beginning of
00:28:53
October, and was really proud of myself for being so far ahead of
00:28:56
the game, only to realize that I had a much smaller harvest.
00:29:01
And so you can do just as much damage with garlic in terms of
00:29:06
planting too early as you can in planting too late.
00:29:10
So make sure that you're keeping that garden journal and you are
00:29:13
trialling different things every single year.
00:29:15
Adjust your planting times, make your notes, record your harvest,
00:29:19
and that way the following year you should be able to find out
00:29:22
what works best for you. Until next time, my gardening
00:29:25
friends, keep on cultivating that dream garden, and we'll
00:29:27
talk again soon. Thanks for listening to another
00:29:29
episode of the Just Grow Something podcast.
00:29:32
For more information about today's topic and to find all
00:29:34
the ways you can get in touch with me or support the show, go
00:29:37
to justgrowsomethingpodcast.com. Until next time, my gardening
00:29:41
friends, keep learning and keep growing.
