My garlic is coming up!

SherryA
SherryA Posts: 314 ✭✭✭

I have not known anything about growing garlic. But I followed the instructions and planted garlic last October, hoping it would survive. It did not show shoots above ground before the cold weather hit. Then our actual temps got down to -31 degrees a couple of weeks ago, and I doubted the garlic would survive. But as soon as the temps got above freezing - just maybe a week after arctic cold - the garlic began to sprout! I am inordinately happy about this. I think it worked!!

Comments

  • MaryRowe
    MaryRowe Posts: 736 ✭✭✭✭

    Cheers and congratulations!!! Seeing those first garlic shoots appear is one of the very best things about this time of year. It lets you know you did it right, that spring is on the way, and if the garlic is coming up right on schedule, surely the rest of the garden will grow as well. Garlic has to be one of the most truly wonderful plants of all.

  • SherryA
    SherryA Posts: 314 ✭✭✭

    @MaryRowe That's just how I felt! 😊

  • marjstratton
    marjstratton Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭

    My garlic is beginning to sprout too. So happy. I did get a fairly good yield of garlic last year when I planted my garlic in a half barrel. This year I planted them in my raised bed garden. Shall see what difference that makes.

  • ltwickey
    ltwickey Posts: 369 ✭✭✭

    Great news! With getting ready to move in the next few months, I can't plant a garden this year. So sad, but happy to live through others this year!! Will be planting with a vengeance this fall and next spring!!

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Garlic is incredibly frost-hardy, at least under snow and mulch. Our winter lows routinely go below zero Fahrenheit, and the garlic pops above the soil as soon as the weather begins to warm.

    @SherryA It's actually best if garlic doesn't shows shoots above ground before freezing. It's planted in the fall to get a start on its root system, which will help it come up quicker in the spring and produce larger bulbs. Any shoots that are sent up in the fall will just die back and represent work the plant has to do over again in the spring.

    I usually plant garlic a little earlier than ideal in the fall, and I do get a bit of top growth. It works out fine even if it's not optimal.

    I wish onions were as easy to grow as garlic. Fortunately, multiplier onions and walking onions are almost as easy.

  • COWLOVINGIRL
    COWLOVINGIRL Posts: 954 ✭✭✭✭

    Yay!!!!!

  • SherryA
    SherryA Posts: 314 ✭✭✭

    Thank you, @VermontCathy !

  • flowerpower *
    flowerpower * Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    @VermontCathy I am struggling to learn some of the finer points of growing garlic. I did grow my first crop last year. I wondered do you dry it prior to planting, or just replant it? Also I let my garlic mold by accident because it was not dried and I was too busy to deal with it. I also did not have drying racks set up. I planted moldy cloves, maybe a no-no. Will the garlic come up? Have I introduced a disease into the soil?

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yes, I dry it prior to planting. When my garlic finishes in mid-to-late summer, I pull all of it, lay it on newspapers in the garage to dry (out of direct sunlight), and when the stalks have shriveled, cut off the stalks and compost them. This isn't a very dry climate, but I've never needed drying racks for garlic or onions.

    By the time the drying is done, it's nearly time to plant the cloves again in cool climates like Vermont. Separate the bulbs into cloves, plant each clove separately (no need to remove the skin from each clove), and store the rest of the bulbs intended for eating in a paper bag (not plastic!) in a cool, dry location such as a pantry shelf.

    While I wouldn't recommend planty moldy cloves, I doubt that you did any real damage to your soil. But every year, plant your garlic in a different bed than the one where it grew last year. Rotate all of your veggies through different beds so that diseases specific to each can't build up.

    Always avoid planting a veggie from the same familiy in the same bed next year if you possibly can. For example, don't plant potatoes one year and tomatoes the next year in the same spot.

  • Wendy
    Wendy Posts: 138 ✭✭✭

    Thank you @VermontCathy for the garlic growing info. I want to try some this fall and your tips are very helpful.