This year's garlic harvest was absolutely our most successful. Like growing onions from seed, our initial attempts ended in varying degrees of disappointment. This post is meant to document what we did this time, so we can repeat – and hopefully, build on – our success.
Varieties
We ordered Russian Red and Georgian Crystal (both from The Maine Potato Lady). All of the Russian Red produced, with a number of them becoming doubles. Sadly, several of the Georgian Crystal cloves never broke ground and only a few produced large bulbs.
Planting
We planted on Halloween. (In the years that we planted earlier, the plants came up a week later. This isn't supposed to happen.) The cloves were planted 4" deep and spaced 6" apart. There were four rows, spaced 8" apart. Compost was added to the soil, but manure would also have been good.
Mulching
Last fall, we mulched the garlic with 3-4 inches of mulching hay from our local Agway. It worked very well as a thermal buffer over the winter and did not become matted or rotten in spring. (In previous years, we used about 6 inches of salt marsh hay.)
Feeding
We did not remove the mulch and side dress the rows with fertilizer in the early spring. However, reliable sources on garlic culture say that we should have.
Removing Scapes
The scapes appeared in mid-June. Once we noticed them curling upward, they were removed and enjoyed as a culinary treat. (Apparently, this is the one thing we've done correctly all along. Removal of the scape sends more energy to the bulb.)
Watering
The garlic bed was watered normally (with the rest of the garden) through the fall and spring. Then, we stopped watering 2 weeks after the scapes appeared to allow the bulbs to begin curing before harvest. (This was also done in the last few years.)
Harvesting
We harvested earlier this year, when only the 3 bottom leaves on the plants had turned brown. (When we allowed all the leaves to turn in previous years, the outer wrappers degraded.) After loosening the soil from below with a garden fork, each bulb was lifted out and gently brushed off. (We had made the mistake of rinsing in previous years.)
Storing Seed Bulbs
The best 6 bulbs of the crop were set aside for this fall's seed garlic. We will leave the plants inside (out of direct sun) for 2 weeks. Then we will lightly trim the stems and roots and continue storing them for replanting this fall.
