Hello Farm Folk,
Interested in growing your own garlic crop? Here are some basic garlic growing instructions. And here are my Top 5 Tips for Growing Fantastic Organic Garlic:
- Before planting, add LOTS OF COMPOST. By integrating a high quantity of compost into your garlic bed before planting, you are not only setting the garlic crop up for success, but you are enriching the quality of your soil for the long-term, and feeding the web of life in the soil!
- Choose the right garlic for your seed. The most important criteria is quality of the garlic. It should come from a local, organic source, and be free of disease, pests, mold, bruising, and nicks. However, it is also nice to plant from larger cloves, as this will lead to larger bulbs next summer. Wherever you get your seed garlic, be sure to ask the grower if they have had issues with the “Stem & Bulb Nematode.” If they have, look elsewhere. You can get seed garlic at the Toronto Garlic Festival this Sunday, or through The Cutting Veg.
- In Southern Ontario, we plant garlic in mid-October. Don’t get overeager and plant too early, and don’t wait too long! In general, October 7th-21st is a good window to get your crop in the ground.
- After planting, mulch! This means to cover your soil with organic matter, such as straw or leaves. The mulch will perform several functions: i)weed suppression; ii)moisture retention; iii)if we have an extended warm period in the winter, protect the soil from thawing, which can lead to winter kill; iv)eventually break down and feed the soil more organic matter.
- Spend all winter dreaming about how great your garlic crop is going to taste!
Join the ever growing community of people who make growing garlic part of their yearly ritual. It’s so fun!
Keep Livin’ on the Veg!
Daniel
P.S. We still have fresh, local, organic garlic available for planting and/or eating.
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