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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Late garlic advice please

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  • From: road's end farm <organic101 AT linkny.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>, lists AT rhomestead.com
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Late garlic advice please
  • Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:09:16 -0500


On Nov 26, 2007, at 7:39 PM, Beth Spaugh wrote:

I have truly beautiful, huge seed garlic this year. It is my 5th year of
saving garlic seed. I put off planting because the field was tile drained
last Friday. I hoped there would be space to just go in and plant the garlic
afterward, even if I had to skip the tile ridges. It is torn up enough that
it really needs to be disked next spring before planting, and I even think
I'll dig up the remaining perennial flowers then to make the field work
easier/more uniform. Which leaves me with unplanted garlic. And the ground
freezing. And no weed free spots other than the field.

I see three options and would appreciate advice from those with any
experience in these.

1. Plant them in the hoophouse right along the outside walls. There is some
space I can free up there. I could plant enough for seed next year and maybe
personal use.
2. Roll up the black landscape cloth that is on the south outside of the
hoophouse and plant there. It is pure sand, but I do have 50 lbs of Fertrell
fertilizer. Would be low pH in the sand probably. Have a little lime which
might react some by spring.
3. See what lasts over winter and plant it in the spring, having then
selected for long-storage.

If you have enough seed, why not try all three?

Then if the situation ever comes up again, you'll know what worked this time. (And you could let the rest of us know. With the wildly erratic weather, some years it's hard to get the stuff planted at the right time.)

Sorry I have no other suggestions on this; I've never planted garlic in a hoophouse, and have nothing remotely resembling pure sand. I have spring-planted garlic, many years ago, and did indeed get small bulbs; though I expect my management has changed in other ways also since then.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



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