Along with tulips,
daffodils and crocuses I have always planted garlic in the fall.
However, at a recent Master Gardener meeting a question was raised as
to when to plant garlic? I thought to myself, the fall of course!
Imagine my surprise when several members replied “in early spring”.
Baffled, I decided to do a little research.
The “center of origin”
(or “center of diversity”) from which garlic originated is
believed to be in the area of China, India, Egypt and the Ukraine.
Garlic is one of the oldest cultivated foods although it is
uncertain as to when it was first discovered or used. Records
dating back to the 4th millennium BC (4000-3001bc) mention
the use of garlic for health and medicinal uses. Garlic made it way
to the US in the 1700's, however, it was not widely accepted due to
its pungent smell and “garlic breath”. It wasn’t until about
the 1920's that garlic became more accepted in the US and by the
1990's its consumption has more then tripled with the average person
eating 2.3 pounds (170 cloves) of garlic yearly. Today, the US is
the fourth largest producer of garlic and the worlds largest
importer!
Garlic is available in a
variety of sizes, shapes, color, taste or pungency, cloves per head
and shelf life. World wide there are at least 600 cultivated sub
varieties and ten genetically distinct groups. True garlic (Allium
sativum) is a member of the Liliacea (lily) family, along with
chives, onions, leeks, and shallots. There are two sub species of
Allium sativum, ophioscorodon or hardneck (aka stiffneck) garlic and
sativum or softneck garlic. To complicate things just a bit more,
softneck garlic has been cultivated from hardneck garlic over many,
many, many years. Additionally, elephant garlic is not considered a
true garlic, but instead is a variant of a leek.
Garlic reproduces by bulb
division (asexual reproduction), bulbils (miniature cloves)
harvested from mature scapes (hardnecks) and sexual reproduction by
seed (hardnecks). Most garlic is asexually propagated by means of
vegetative reproduction. Asexual reproduction is when a new plant is
produced from a single parent with out fertilization or meiosis (cell
division). Its a sterile clone of the parent with the same identical
genetic make up. In vegetative reproduction, just one example of
asexual propagation a new plant grows from a piece of the original
plant. In the case of garlic, a clove.
There are four factors at
play that influences the reproductive process in order for garlic to
form bulbs, day length, soil and air temperature and vernalization or
prolong period of cold. Garlic is day length sensitive with short
day hours (long nights) contributing to more vegetative or top growth
and long days (short nights) triggering bulb formation and the
elongation of the flower stalk (scape) in hardnecks. Longer days
also means warmer soil and air temperatures. A majority of garlic
varieties have evolved and/or thrive in cooler climates. This is the
reason why a chilling period of six to twelve weeks is needed in
order to produce a bulb, especially when it comes to hardneck
varieties. So, after a long vernalization period, fallowed by
warming soil (60+) and air (68+) temperatures plus thirteen hours of
daylight, bulb formation begins. (The challenge of growing large
garlic bulbs in the south is to have plants with lots of leaves and
good root system before bulbing begins.)
Another way to look at
softneck vs hardneck is spring planting vs fall planting. As
mentioned above hardneck variety’s need a cooling off period and is
best planted in the fall. They also handle harsher weather
conditions. Softnecks do well under a variety of weather conditions
but are more ideal for the south or planted in early spring in the
north. With that being said can you grow hardnecks in the south and
softnecks in the fall?
By the time the autumn
equinox arrives I have ordered/received my garlic and prepared my
beds for planting. In the northern part of the county, Columbus day
is the unofficial start of the garlic planting season with Halloween
the unofficial end. However, over the pass few years I've have
planted garlic well into November. The trick for fall planting is to
get the cloves in the ground in enough time for good root growth
(three to six weeks) but not to early that you get more then four
inches of top growth. This is ideally two to three weeks after the
first frost but about a month or so before the ground freezes. The
soil temperature at four inches deep should be around fifty degrees
Fahrenheit. (Raised beds are about eight to thirteen degrees warmer
then planting in the ground). Any top growth will die back in the
winter and then resume in the spring.
Garlic tolerates a variety
of conditions but will do its best in loamy, nitrogen rich, weed free
soil with good drainage, a pH between 6.0-7.5 and six plus hours of
sun for good bulb development. If planting in the fall you will need
to mulch unless you are guaranteed consistent snow coverage of six
inches. When planting garlic I do not like to separate the cloves
until I'm ready to place them in the ground. In my raised beds I
plant each clove three to four inches deep and six inches apart in
rows spaced one foot apart. In the spring I begin to pull back the
mulch and feed with fish emulsion (or side dress with compost) when
shoots appear. Garlic also likes a good bit of water, about one inch
weekly. Rotate where you grow your garlic every three years.
Hardneck garlic produces a
scape sometimes referred to as “serpent garlic” because of how it
curls around. These scapes are edible and may be eaten raw or
cooked. If left on, the energy is directed to the scape resulting in
smaller garlic bulbs.
Fall planted garlic is
ready for harvest in about nine months, typically June or July. The
lower leaves of healthy plants begin to turn yellow and if the scapes
are left on they will straighten out. The goal is for maximum size
with out splitting. Carefully dig up your garlic and air dry away
from sun to prevent scalding in a well ventilated location for two to
three weeks. Once cured rub off any dirt and remove tops or braid.
Garlic harvested early or used fresh is known as “green garlic”
Planting garlic in the
spring gives you an opportunity for a second chance in case you
missed the fall planting season. In the north, softneck varieties are
better in spring since they do not require as much or any cold
exposure. Plant as early as the ground can be worked, however, a
delay in spring planting and/or less then ideal weather conditions
may lead to week shoots and poor bulb development. If you wish to
plant hardnecks in the spring you will need to store the bulbs at or
below forty degrees (not in the freezer) for a minimum of forty days.
If not the bulbs will not differentiate (divide). Even under the
most ideal conditions you will still get better yields and larger
bulbs with fall planted garlic.
“A nickel will get you
on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat” Yiddish proverb
