My Elephant Garlic in Winter

[SeniorCitizen]

No weeding.

 

[majorcatfish]

love homegrown elephant and garlic... keep up the good work..

territorial seed send me infected bulbs a couple years ago now can not grow any for years due to "onion white rot"...

 

[claudine]

Wow, that's a lot of snow
It's been snowing here too. Fortunately, it's not very cold, the weather is nice. But it doesn't change the fact that I don't like winter.

 

[amelia88]

Nice and hardy - I always appreciate plants that do well despite the climate conditions!

I haven't attempted to grow garlic yet myself, it is something we use a lot of in cooking though. Are there any conditions that garlic suffers under?

 

[Beth_B]

No kidding...I eat tons of garlic but have never grown it. This past year I've been getting onions from a small organic farm and they are just so much more oniony and fragrant...now I'm thinking garlic in spring.

Any planting tips for garlic is much appreciated!

 

[SeniorCitizen]

Grasshoppers some years but then I don't plant until after frost/freeze. In early summer the hoppers will strip the stalk leaves but the cloves have already matured by then. I hope no one else ever has to put up with them.

I rarely need to water even with a meager 28" annual rainfall average. Possibly some water in the month of May.

I'd like to add that sometimes in the fall planting I water if dry conditions are present because I like for the garlic to be up before the ground freezes.

 

[SeniorCitizen]

No kidding...I eat tons of garlic but have never grown it. This past year I've been getting onions from a small organic farm and they are just so much more oniony and fragrant...now I'm thinking garlic in spring.

Any planting tips for garlic is much appreciated!

Nothing special here. A bulb planter would work nicely but I just use a gardening trowel to make a hole that leaves the garlic clove tip buried about 2 to 2-1/2 inches. I space plants 14-16 inches apart and cover with about 4" of wheat straw mulch. After it comes through that mulch I try to maintain 6" of straw mulch until harvest in mid June for zone 6/7. That's about it.

When I can I prefer planting after I see the volunteer coming up, usually in September. Oh, and you'll have plenty of volunteer I guarantee it. Last year I planted 20 cloves and had about 50 volunteer plants in an area I had planted in for several years.

 

[IcyBC]

I can't believe they are growing under a blanket of snow! How fantastic! I hope the cold weather doesn't last too long for you so you could harvest them when they are ready.

 

[Don Perry]

No kidding...I eat tons of garlic but have never grown it. This past year I've been getting onions from a small organic farm and they are just so much more oniony and fragrant...now I'm thinking garlic in spring.

Any planting tips for garlic is much appreciated!

Plant in the early fall.

 

[Don Perry]

Nothing special here. A bulb planter would work nicely but I just use a gardening trowel to make a hole that leaves the garlic clove tip buried about 2 to 2-1/2 inches. I space plants 14-16 inches apart and cover with about 4" of wheat straw mulch. After it comes through that mulch I try to maintain 6" of straw mulch until harvest in mid June for zone 6/7. That's about it.

When I can I prefer planting after I see the volunteer coming up, usually in September. Oh, and you'll have plenty of volunteer I guarantee it. Last year I planted 20 cloves and had about 50 volunteer plants in an area I had planted in for several years.

My mother maintained a garlic bed for many years. I need to start a bed too. thanks for your advise and input.

 

[headfullofbees]

love homegrown elephant and garlic... keep up the good work..

territorial seed send me infected bulbs a couple years ago now can not grow any for years due to "onion white rot"...

I had white rot on my allotments when I lived in England.
Firstly, I minimised the problem with garlic power:

Onion white rot: how to prevent, detect and manage white rot

Upon returning from holiday I discovered that many of my onions had been struck down by allium white rot. Often referred to as ‘onion...

kitchengardenbykatie.com

Then I bought enough woven weed barrier, the heavy duty stuff, to lay two good layers on the ground, with tall raised beds on top.
White rot has to get very close to onions in order for the spores to infect, so that barrier should be enough.

I NEVER buy anything with allium roots on it, growing ALL my onions from seed & saving my own garlic each year. (I put it in pots first year to isolate it.

White rot lingers in the soil for 20 years.

 

[headfullofbees]

Plant in the early fall.

I plant mine late September.

 

[plot22]

I plant mine in October it needs a good couple of frosts to split into cloves. On the subject of white rot I had it all over the allotment. I do not know where it came from but I was determined to overcome it and not just give up growing alliums. I tried the garlic powder route the first year was a partial success but the second year almost 100% as I spread it out in September whilst the soil was still warm. The white rot will only try to attack onions in warm weather. I also now keep the same onion and garlic beds each year and hardly ever water. One of my main onions is Golden Bear which is to an extent resistant to the disease. Strangely enough it does not seem to bother the leeks or shallots. Like Headfullof bees I always save my own garlic and each year set around 200 as I have cut back a bit these last few years.

 

[Don Perry]

Any other plants that you sett out for the winter garden? I'm an aircraft mechanic , not a gardener, (obviously)