Market Farming

[pam AT twinoaks.org]

Linda Kerr asked:
"can anyone who has grown garlic scallions tell me the distance 
between the plants & rows? And when to harvest?"

David Stern in upstate New York recommends planting 
small whole garlic bulbs 6" apart in February, for Garlic 
Greens, and cutting them when they get to 10" tall 
(May?). They will regrow and can be cut 3 times. For 
Garlic Scallions, he suggests sprinkling small cloves in 
a continuous line in a furrow, again in February. Pull 
whole plants when they reach 8" in height (April here in 
Virginia, I found.) It's also possible to replant small 
cloves immediately after harvesting the main garlic 
crop, and grow garlic scallions that way. He suggests 
sorting the main crop in the field, and only taking the 
good big bulbs to cure, and 'throwing the small ones 
back in" (like fishing?).
        What I did myself was to plant the small cloves in 
the fall immediately after planting the main garlic crop, 
using the cloves deemed too small to make "real 
garlic". I planted them about 4" apart, pulled every other 
one as scallions in April and cut the rest as garlic 
greens in May. Easy!! Row spacing? About 9", because 
that fits with our beds.
Pam Dawling, Twin Oaks Community, Virginia, zone 6b