Garlic Scapes

 

It’s time to plant garlic

With trees almost bare of leaves, frost on the ground and hay bales in the fields, it is time to plant garlic for next year’s harvest.  Garlic is best planted a few weeks before the ground freezes, so it is important to keep an eye on the weather forecast;  if planted too early there is a chance the cloves will begin to sprout. 

Garlic needs a period of cold exposure (“vernalization”) so as to develop large, healthy bulbs.  To plant garlic, be sure to loosen the soil in your bed to a depth of 8”.  Incorporate some aged manure, then use your dibber to make holes 6” deep.  Holes should be 6”-8” apart; row spacing should be no more than 9”.  Break your garlic bulbs into individual cloves, leaving as much papery covering on each clove as possible.  Place one clove, root side down, into each hole so that the growing tip is 1” below the surface.  Cover the cloves with soil, then water the bed. 

The cloves do need insulating over the winter, so cover the bed with 12” of straw or hay, breaking up the material to create a loose, airy insulating layer.  If planting in a raised bed, encircle the structure with a loose layer of straw or hay as well. 

I find the best garlic for the southern VT climate is Hardy German.  This hardnecked, robust flavored garlic is very cold hardy, produces 4-6 large cloves per bulb and cures well for long storage.