Garlic planting time!

[selmerfan]

I'm getting anxious, boys and girls! The calendar and my internal gardener says I should get my 100+ garlic bulbs in the ground, but the weather hasn't cooperated yet - I need to wait until a couple of weeks after the first killing frost and before a hard freeze. Here in central Minnesota I'm afraid that this year those two markers are going to come VERY close together this year. My beds are prepped and ready to go, just waiting on temps. Does anyone else plant garlic in the fall? I'll be growing German Red, German Porcelain, Music, and Chesnok Red varieties, all from my own seed stock from this year's harvest. Garlic is one of my favorite plants in the garden because I get to plant it VERY early, it comes up very early, and grows like a weed with just a little tending and watering with huge and delicious results!

[farmerjim]

I will also be planting Garlic in the next week or so.Down here it will grow all winter long and be harvested in the spring. When I lived in Montreal I had a farm in upstate NY. I would wait till spring to plant my garlic. My friends that are still in that area tell me they now plant theirs in the fall to get a jump on it in the spring.

[dale2242]

I plant fall garlic.
My bed is 16' square. That`s way more than I need but I give most of it away.
I pickle a lot of it and us it in my canning.
I have elephant and a red variety.
The work in growing garlic comes at planting and harvest time.
It is very low maintenance. Water, feed and weed.
I will plant some time soon.
Good fun....dale

[GhostHawk]

"You plant Garlic in the FALL! ?"

I didn't know that.

Just guessing but I'd have to say first 2 weeks of October.

[farmerjim]

If you use Goal (1 tbs/1000 sq ft) and Dual ( same 1tbs/1000 sq ft) you will not have to do any weeding.

[waksupi]

I'll be planting mine today. We've had a couple hard frosts, so I better get at it before the ground has a chance to freeze. I usually have it planted Mid September.

[Hickory]

It's not quite time here in Ohio.
About the middle to the end of October for me.

[Vinne]

I tried it a few years but never got more than a few little bulbs.

[DougGuy]

Garlic is actually harder to grow than most ppl think. I have tried to grow huge music garlic for years, and last year should have been the year but the dang voles got to the roots and ruined the whole bed!

Garlic likes to be fed really well, chicken manure, compost, the more organic plant material you work into the soil the better it likes it. The guy that grows BIG music garlic near me throws all their garden trimmings and kitchen waste into the chicken yard, the chickens scratch and peck through it, there are no bugs, no seeds, and they walk it down into a solid mat that he scrapes up and tills into the soil in the beds. After about 15yrs of this, the soil in his beds are 100% chicken manure and compost. And the results are HUGE heads of garlic..

If I can find the pic, I will post it but these heads my friends grow are bigger than a major league hardball by a long shot!

[selmerfan]

I had Music garlic the size of the bottom of a 12 oz. pop can this year - first year with Music. Only had a dozen seed cloves, so I haven't eaten any of it - saving it for seed stock. I work my garden beds pretty heavily with lots of composted lawn clippings and shredded leaves plus horse manure every other year. I've got a line on some free chicken manure at a friend's house - I'll be gathering it soon!

[dale2242]

OK Guys,
Tell me about Music garlic. Never heard of it.
Is it anything like elephant garlic?...dale

[Hickory]

OK Guys,
Tell me about Music garlic. Never heard of it.
Is it anything like elephant garlic?...dale

This is what I found on Music garlic.
Might be worth trying.

Music garlic is quickly becoming a small grower’s favorite. And no wonder! High yields, consistent large bulbs, and good storage capacity are but a few of this variety’s strength.Garlic is generally categorized into two kinds: softnecks and hardnecks. Music Garlic is a hardneck, Porcelain, to be exact. Unlike softnecks (that have clusters of smaller sliver-like cloves), only hardnecks consistently produce bulbils. Music Garlic has a single layer of bulbils, each around 2.5” to 3”. Wrapped within a light satiny white skin with a touch of pink, each garlic contains 4-7 bulbils.
This makes for an average yield of 1:5. The consistent production of Music Garlic was recently foregrounded by a respected study by Michigan State University. The much cited study shows Music Garlic as the top-production variety that outproduces all other varieties (13,500 pounds of yield for an acre of land).
Very cold tolerant, Music Garlic thrives in the colder winter months. In fact, conditions of cold actually promotes its vigour and quality. This strain tends to mature early. Compared to other varieties, Music Garlic is often found to be the first to sprout!
After harvest, Music Garlic can store up to 9 months to a year. A durable crop, Music Garlic does not usually break. It has a sweet lasting flavor that can be described as a pungent “medium hot”. Durable, flavorful, and easy to peel, this strain can do well at gourmet and farmstands, and can sell for baking, roasting, and other cooking needs.
Consistent and dependable, Music Garlic is a friendly garlic to growers and the public alike. Originating in Italy, it was discovered and brought to the Americas in the 1980s. Since then, this strain is enjoying a prosperous run across North America and has become one of the most popular newer varieties here.

[selmerfan]

Music garlic is a variety brought to America by a guy named Al Music (IIRC) hence the name. It is NOT like elephant garlic - elephant garlic is not actually a garlic - it is a variety of leek. Elephant garlic is, however, delicious and gigantic and looks like a hardneck garlic. It has a much milder flavor than true garlics - elephant garlic is FANTASTIC thick-sliced into a pan of fried taters!!!

[DougGuy]

Music garlic is a hardneck variety that grows rather large when grown in really rich soil, and it is NICE and SPICY! I love it!

[selmerfan]

I haven't eaten any of mine - this year's crop was for seed stock for next year so I have a self-perpetuating crop.

[dale2242]

Anyone have some Music garlic they will trade me for some red or elephant seed stock?
I sure would like to try some.....dale

[farmerjim]

Garlic (and onions) are heavy feeders and do not compete well with weeds. If you don't fertilize heavy and regularly ( organic or chemical) and keep competition from weeds away, you will have small bulbs.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I planted some in my neighbors garden about a week ago. (no photos)
It is mostly German Porcelain, but I have some an old timer gave me that he called old german, it has 5 or 6 cloves per bulb, whereas the German Porcelain has 4.

I planted Garlic in my garden tonight, all German Porcelain.

I have half of the tomato plants out in this photo, kind of a Before.


Garden tilled, mulch and fertilizer worked in, and the middle row is raked into a long hill.





Someone is usually outside with me while I am in the garden, but she thought it'd be fun to roam over to the neighbor's house across the street, so she got locked up inside.

[dale2242]

I will till and plant soon.
Before the rain starts, I`m hoping.
I traded pickled garlic for some mulch from a company that is screening 30 yr. old bark at the mill I worked for.
2" cover on the garlic patch, sweetened with lime as bark is rather acid.
The bark is quite decomposed with dirt and sand in it, screened to 3/8".
I am still hoping for a trade for more Music garlic if anyone has some they would spare.....dale

[selmerfan]

It is a sad day today. I sat down over lunch to separate my garlic heads into cloves to plant in a day or two. Almost all of my heads have black fuzz on the cloves and the paper is separating from the bulb. I was going to send dale some Music seed, but I doubt he wants it now. I wonder if it's disease or poor storage conditions??? I stored in small burlap bags in my cool and dry basement after drying them in the garage with a fan on them. Maybe too much humidity during drying? The only ones that really survived were the chesnok red. I have enough to plant a decent crop of them, but they aren't my favorite variety. All of my music, German red and German porcelain are afflicted with fuzz and/or paper separation.