PLANTING GARLIC

How to plant your garlic

As part of our No Dig Garden workshop, we also took the opportunity to plant our first official crop of Garlic.

There’s a bit of a myth about planting garlic on the shortest day, and harvesting it on the longest. But it is true that it’s a minimum of 6 months till harvest. It’s an investment!

Here in central Otago, the shortest day can mean the ground is frozen. So planting from late April is also acceptable.

Three types of garlic:

• Hardneck - Stronger flavour, doesn’t store as well as soft neck. Can eat scraps (the green garlic shoots

• Soft neck - Smaller, tighter, stores longer.

• Elephant - Closer to the leek family, but still fun to grow.

Where to get your garlic:

It is advisable to get your garlic from a good grower to avoid spreading disease. And also knowing that the garlic has been grown without asty chemicals is another thing to be aware of.

Preparing the soil:

• Garlic prefers a pH of 6.5-7, so adding lime is advised

• Dig in good quality of organic matter

• Plant in full sun, well drained site

• Do not grow in the same place the following year

Preparing the bulbs:

• Select the biggest, best cloves from the bulbs.

• Soaking overnight in a seaweed solution is not necessary, but has some possible positives.

Planting:

• Plant x2 the depth of the clove

• In each hole add a handful of vermicast or a bulb fertiliser.

• Plant 15 to 20cm spacing

• Plant cloves with the roots pointing down

• Firm the soil over

• Water well

Care while growing:

• Weeding! Keep the area free of weeds to avoid competition for nutrients

• Watering. Garlic needs to be well watered, especially in November and December

• Remove flower heads

Harvesting:

• Back off watering around Christmas

• Garlic greens show signs of die back

• Harvest around January

• Lift, brush off dirt and store out of the sun in a well aired place to ‘cure’ for storage.