my garlic just arrived (is yours on the way?)
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My seed garlic just showed up: Music and Romanian Red, 2 hardneck varieties I keep coming back to after trying other varieties every couple years. The reason is simple: these cloves are huge. Each bulb breaks into just 4 to 6 fat cloves, which means less separating, faster planting, and (my favorite part next summer) far less peeling in the kitchen. If you've ever fought a pile of tiny inner cloves out of a grocery store bulb, you know what I mean. I'll be planting mine this weekend, which lands right in the sweet spot for my zone 5 garden here in Central Oregon. But if you're reading this and thinking, Oh no, I haven't even ordered mine yetātake a breath. I know, mid-October feels lateābut garlic is one of the most forgiving crops you can grow. Most climates should aim to get cloves in the ground 3 to 6 weeks before the soil freezes solid, and warmer regions have until early December. And here's the part that surprises people: it's better to plant a little too late than too early. Early cloves can become an open buffet for rot, disease, and underground pests. (One year our winter started so late that I planted in January under 8 inches of mulch. It worked!) I break down the whole planting window by zone, plus my 6 steps for getting cloves in the ground, in my growing guide:
One more thing before you order or plant: figure out how much you need. Big-clove varieties like Music and Romanian Red grow their largest bulbs with extra elbow room, so I space them 8 inches apart instead of the usual 6. That small change cuts the number of cloves that fit in a bed by more than 40 percent, which is how people end up with a bag of leftovers (or a half-empty bed). So I built a brand-new garlic planting calculator to do the math for you. Enter your bed size, spacing, and garlic type, and it tells you how many cloves to plant, how many to order with a little cushion for duds, and how many bulbs and pounds that works out to. Try it out! (It's just oddly satisfying to watch all the little numbers change with every figure you enter. š) Seasonal tipsP.S. First time growing garlic? My step-by-step planting guide covers depth, spacing, mulching, and the one planting direction rule that only matters for hardnecks. P.P.S. Haven't ordered seed garlic yet? Botanical Interests still has certified organic bulbs in stock (Music and Romanian Red included), with free shipping over $29 and delivery in about a week. āPeaceful Valley also has some mix-and-match deals where you get discounts on 3 pounds and up. |
Garden Betty
For people who want to grow more food with less work. š± This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribersāhere's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."