Greetings from The Neighborhood Farm!
I learned to farm by apprenticing at Keith's Farm in New York
State. Keith grows all sorts of organic vegetables, but specializes
in hardneck rocambole garlic. His garlic is amazing. He was kind
enough to provide us with some of his garlic to plant this fall.
I'm looking forward to next summer when we will have many heads of
this delicious, purple skinned garlic. We also have 3 other
varieties we'll be trying out. Heirloom tomatoes and garlic - what
more do we need?
This weekend finds us preparing to plant our garlic. Garlic needs
to be planted in the fall. The middle to end of October is usually
a good time to plant garlic if you live in Massachusetts. The goal
is to have the garlic develop roots in the fall, but not send up
leaves until the spring.
You can plant garlic in your own garden quite easily. If you've
never grown garlic before, give it a try. Get a head of fresh
garlic. Try to find some from a farmer's market; much of the garlic
at the supermarket has been shipped from far away, often from China,
and the cloves will be partially dried out and less viable. Most of
that garlic has also been treated with a lot of fungicide, and fed
with a lot of synthetic fertilizer. You want a healthy, fresh head
of garlic with cloves that will grow. You can also order garlic
from Johnny's Seeds,
www.johnnyseeds.com
Just before you're ready to plant, break the head apart into
individual cloves. The pointed end of the clove is the top. The
leaves will emerge from the top in the spring. The flat end is the
bottom. The roots will grow from the flat end. Don't remove any of
the flaky, bottom plate from the cloves - they need this part. If
you Google "how to grow garlic" or something along those lines, you
will see various suggestions for growing garlic, including: leave
the skin on the cloves, peel the cloves, soak the cloves in a baking
soda mixture, and soak the cloves in 140 proof vodka. Personally, I
just stick the cloves in the ground as is. It's worked so far.
If your soil isn't great, consider adding some organic compost (try
Coast of Maine from the Needham Garden Center). Plant the cloves
upright with the bottom end down and the top end up. The top should
be buried about 2-3 inches below the ground. Bigger cloves can get
planted a little deeper. The cloves should be spaced about 8 inches
apart. Cover them up with soil and leave them alone. Further
directions will follow next spring.