From: songbird@anthive.com
fos@sdf.org wrote:
> On 2022-06-17, songbird wrote:
>> fos@sdf.org wrote:
>> ...
>>> i had small garlic last year, not as small as that. this year's garlic
>>> will be mature in a few more weeks, mid july-ish. the plants are bigger
>>> and the stalks a lot thicker than the year before.
>
>> that's progress! :)
>
> i hope so. after eating home grown garlic store bought garlic doesn't
> taste like anything. am growing romanian red.
for sure! their is quite a bit of difference in flavors between
varieties. :) i've been growing the same variety for almost 20yrs
now. i no longer grow any other kinds.
>>> the first planting i planted too late. within a week or two the soil
>>> froze. last year, the second, i planted the garlic within days of
>>> receiving the seed garlic in early october (growing zone 6) giving the
>>> roots a chance to develop.
>
>>> the first year i guessed at the soil nutrients and put some bone meal
>>> and a bit of potash in the holes when planting the garlic thinking that
>>> would help grow nice fat bulbs. last fall i picked up one of the cheap
>>> rapid test kits, checked ph & NPK and amended as recommended before
>>> planting.
>
>>> this year although the plants and stalk are larger, the leaves aren't as
>>> green as i think they should be and some are showing a bit of yellow. i
>>> haven't put on nitrogen which would promote leaf growth at the sacrifice
>>> of bulb growth, but i have used fish and seaweed emulsion a few times
>>> which is higher in phosphorus and potassium than it is nitrogen.
>
>>> right after i harvest the garlic this year, i'll get the LaMotte test
>>> kit out, test the soil, and amend per recommendations. then i'll mulch
>>> the bed with leaf mold until the end of september, test and amend again,
>>> and depending on how large the garlic is plant either purchased seed
>>> garlic or garlic saved from this years harvest for 2023.
>
>>> am i following the right path here?
>
>> don't put amendments in the hole, but mix them througout the
>> soil area that the garlic cloves will be planted into, you can
>> use poorer quality soil on top of the cloves because most of the
>> roots will not grow upwards that much.
>
>> mainly after that you don't want it to dry out completely until
>> the next summer. when frozen outside you don't need to water at
>> all until the snow melts or if you somehow get an extended dry
>> and warm spell during the winter.
>
> this i need to keep a closer eye on in the winter. i never considered
> it.
>
>> keep weeded. fertilize only when actively growing.
>
> our winters (western ny) are about 5 months long. does testing and
> amending nutrients before planting in fall and again at the beginning
> of spring growing season sound like too much? organic material is
> amended before planting.
no, it sounds ok, if your garden soil is generally good and
you get a decent tomato crop or onion crop then your garlic is
probably also getting enough nutrients. i was just pointing
out that adding fertilizers in the off-season when a plant is
mostly dormant is pointless and a waste of a valuable
resource (and also possibly polluting).
i'm in mid-Michigan we probably have very similar climates.
my garlic is just now putting on scapes. i don't remove them
because they're often as big as the cloves and if people want
seed garlic it is a good extra source if i run out of cloves.
if nobody does want them they end up as extra worm food -
worms love garlic and onion bits.
songbird
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