The Crafty Cultivator

For the first time in the history of ever, I have planted my garlic in the fall… and I half-wrote a post about it, and then it sat in my draft folder. In fact, After I planted this package of ‘Chesnok’ Garlic, I went and got another variety ‘Purple Glazer’ as well. I just didn’t take any pictures of the process, but it was exactly the same.

What I did first: I dug the ground as it had been quite compacted. I have grown tomatoes or Peppers here for the last couple years, and it was getting a little depleted. I added in a bunch of organic matter in the way of some peat moss, chicken manure compost, some freshly fallen leaves, as well as some leaf mould. I watered it well and let it sit for a few days before I came through and mixed it all in together again. This was to let the worms come in and start to do their job. I was able to get a fine tilth in the soil that a week before had been big chunks of dirt.

I planted the ‘Chesnok’ Garlic right next to my ‘Canada Blooms’ Rose (which I REALLY hope survives the winter). This is along the east side of my yard, against the fence. In the Summer, this spot gets sun from afternoon to the evening. It was 3 bulbs, gently broken apart into their cloves. I gently pushed them into the soil, making sure that my fingers were pushing the soil down, so as not to damage the bottom where the roots grow from. Then I mulched with leaf mould, and more fresh leaves from the giant poplar in the front yard.  To keep my animals out, and discourage the damn squirrels from getting into the area, I put a bunch of my bamboo stakes around the area. Over winter I am also trying to keep the spot covered in snow. This helps to keep the ground temperature the same and insulate from big fluctuations that happen in our climate.

Fueled by seeing a bunch of people’s garlic harvests on Instagram, AND the self-confidence at actually getting my garlic planted in the fall…. I had to pick up another pack of garlic. Originally, I was looking for the ‘Chesnok’ again, but it was all sold out. That is where the ‘Purple Glazer’ comes in. Planted the same way as the ‘Chesnok’ I detailed above. This one is under our bedroom window. It gets some shade throughout the day because of trees and other buildings, but is mostly full sun through the whole day. It is the south side of our house, so it gets some warmth from the house as well. I grew spinach here in the spring last year, and then the area was mostly where I kept my baby trees buried in the dirt, so there was less compaction and nutrient depletion like in the first spot.  I left some room in the back of these rows, along the house so I can plant some taller things back there. I was thinking of Pole Beans, but I’ve been reading that Beans and Garlic don’t make great friends. Any Suggestions? I do want to keep it food related.  I also left a little room in the front for some small flowers. I’ll probably dot in some small bedding plants like marigolds or pansies. This area is in the “splash zone” of my little dog marking things, so this is less of a food area.

So March isn’t the best time to be writing posting about Garlic that is currently under 2 feet of snow…. and I wont get to see any hints of whether it survived the winter or not until at least May (but probably June). But apparently my brain felt the need to finally get this post done that has been sitting here.

While I was going through my camera roll to add in the photos, I figured out the dates I planted these. I’m just going to add it in at the end here… mostly for me when I am trying to figure out when I actually put them in the dirt.

The ‘Chesnok’ I planted on September 2, and The ‘Purple Glazer’ was planted on September 19.