Growing My Own Garlic

[@growingmyown]

Yes it's that time of year,i will be planting my sometimes this weekend.. can't wait for spring.

[@beentheredonethat6584]

Greetings from BC. When I first started growing a garden here in the 80's the soil regularly froze solid to a depth of 3-5 inches. Back then I planted garlic about 6 inches deep primarily to get the cloves below that freezing depth. I still plant at that depth although the soil doesn't freeze so deep any more. The winter low temps range from year to year from -15 to about -25 but the low temps don't last as long as they used to so the soil doesn't freeze as deep. Regardless, the ground is now very dry with moisture level deepening over the years. So planting my garlic cloves at 6 inches places the roots deep enough to always have sufficient moisture. I use a dibber made from a cut off garden fork shaft with a d-handle. A t-handle would work as well. I push the shaft down as deep as I can (8 inches is my goal) then drop the cloves in. Any deeper than 6 inches makes harvesting difficult and I can't simply pull the garlic out - it has to be lifted. But my bulbs from greater depth are larger than those that are shallower. Also I only plant the largest cloves, aiming for cloves over 10g in weight. Some varieties (Music, Norquay, Duganski, Red Russian, Mennonite) give me largest cloves in the 14-16g range. I believe larger seed cloves produce larger bulbs. You can't plant cloves too deep. The plant will self-regulate the proper depth - which is what your seed bulb has done. Spacing also matters. I aim for 6 inches apart minimum so the plants don't compete with their neighbours for nutrients. Good luck with your garlic.

[@PrairiePlantgirl]

Great tips!

[@williamcolemansgardenandal9017]

Where in BC are you where you reach temperatures of -15 to -25? I used to live in Surrey where we rarely reached -5 and now live in Chilliwack where we reach -5 a little more frequently but rarely much colder. In Chilliwack, Mennonite (basically porcelain) garlic along with Red Russian are our go-to garlics, but whereabouts in BC are you that you can grow those garlic strains in such extreme climes?

[@beentheredonethat6584]

@@williamcolemansgardenandal9017 Okanagan Valley

[@williamcolemansgardenandal9017]

@@beentheredonethat6584 That would explain it then, heheh. Many of us near the coast forget the climes of the interior 🙂

[@JS-jl1yj]

Hello from Southern Ontario. It looks like you and I are synchronized. Yesterday, I dug my compost into the soil and broke up all the clumps. Today , I planted 53 hard neck garlic cloves which I saved from this year's harvest. I put about a tablespoon of bone meal in each planting hole. I spread about 3 inches of straw as mulch and covered the bed with chicken wire and secured it to the ground so the rodents wouldn't dig out my garlic. And then I watered the bed well. I usually plant my garlic on October 15, but the next 3 days is supposed to be raining, so I did it today. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day. 19 C. Now, I am pleasantly tired and watching you doing the same work. I wish you good luck with your volunteer garlic cloves.

[@PrairiePlantgirl]

It’s great that you can get the weather working for you! Enjoy the satisfaction of getting a big job done.

[@valoriegriego5212]

Howdy, Prairie Plantgirl.👋 Plant what wants to grow is an important lesson I learned after a few years of gardening. I can't wait to see what you get. Hopefully, it will be nice sized bulbs!😃 Thanks for the tips. 😃 We planted garlic in November...soft neck. We give it a month or so of chill hours in the fridge. Give Buster a howdy from me.🐕💕

[@PrairiePlantgirl]

It’s a great lesson!

[@williamcolemansgardenandal9017]

Your thinking of growing them down the middle of the bed and deep is seemingly flawless. Those of us in the likes of BC cannot in any way offer advice based upon our own experiences as our winters are warmer than your autumns and springs.. I've followed you for many years now and found your annual growing environment a cabinet of intrigue. I consider myself a dab hand at growing garlic, but I would never want to grow it in your climes. 🙂 Sorry I haven't popped by for a while, but whenever I see the word garlic in a title... 🙂

[@PrairiePlantgirl]

I think if I start mulching the garlic bed again that will bring my garlic game back to where it was. Mulch is so important in cold climates. Thanks for popping in to see what is happening in my garden.

[@growingmyown]

New friend here from Growing My Own.

[@hollyashton7009]

I’m in NW Ont. I bought some garlic from a local gardener this year. She plants in a raised bed but she told me she fills brown Kraft bags full of leaves and places them along the sides of the raised bed for extra protection in the winter.

[@PrairiePlantgirl]

I have tried placing bags of leaves along the sides and it did not insulate enough. I am in Saskatchewan and we get around -30, -35C here for days or weeks at a time several times a winter (zone 3/4) . I am not sure what NW Ontario experiences.

[@asimpson6171]

I grew garlic for the first time last year here in southern Alberta it did great. Have already planted my crop for next year.

[@PrairiePlantgirl]

That's great!

[@dustyflats3832]

Our last two winters in Wisconsin have been Way too warm. I learned from the first episode to wait and plant around Halloween and last year I mulched about 4-6” of leaves and anything else I had. I had beautiful large bulbs this year. The year before they shot up about 6-7” and they used all their energy before spring. Then it takes awhile before they pick up again. We had increasing temps to Christmas last winter and 52F with rain. So glad I kept them heavily covered. Like you said, pull it off when it warms up and after they grow a bit remulch in between garlic. Totally agree to add nitrogen a couple times in spring to get them going. The bonemeal in fall is good also. Today I potted up the bayleaf and rosemary and brought in a couple propagated tender plants as we will be cold a blustery tomorrow and I’m sure a hard freeze by Mon-Tue. Covered the fall veg as the day temps will still climb during the week. Almost done for the year, just waiting on garlic and for frozen ground to wrap burlap on roses, ect.

[@PrairiePlantgirl]

It’s sounds like you have fall prep all under control!

[@DavidMFChapman]

That’s a strange story! We’ve been having warm falls here in the Maritimes so I’ve been waiting until after Halloween to sow my garlic, then I mulch them with leaves. No complaints! I have a bit of a fall garden in those beds that I sowed in early August (turnip, radish, Asian cabbage, pak choy) so I’m in no hurry to disturb those. Best of luck! What works for me may not work for prairie gardens! Another thought: I always keep the biggest heads of garlic from my harvest to sow for next year. I suppose I am “selecting” garlic that grows well for me. I bought seed garlic at first (mostly MUSIC) and I never buy garlic at the supermarket and only occasionally buy seed garlic now.

[@PrairiePlantgirl]

Yes I think I just need to adjust for the change in our weather. The past few years we’ve gone from a warm October to a snowstorm within the last week of the month and winter sticks around after that. We used to be much cooler in September and October to ease us into winter.

[@gailzharv]

Great timing. I prepared my beds yestwrday. Today I plant garlic in raused beds. It is good to kniw to jeep the clives away from the outer edges. Bummer though - less space for planting garlic. Thank you Oh, do you plant flower bulbs in containers this time of year?

[@PrairiePlantgirl]

I do not plant flower bulbs into containers outside in winter. It is difficult to regulate the moisture and they freeze completely solid in our winters which the bulbs don’t want.we get to -35C here several times over winter and hover around -15 to -20C a lot of the next 5 months. I would put them in the ground where they are insulated by soil and snow.

[@gailzharv]

@@PrairiePlantgirl thank you