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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] onions/garlic / overwintering crops

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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] onions/garlic / overwintering crops
  • Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 18:46:08 -0500

On Jan 5, 2009, at 6:18 PM, courtney mcleod wrote:

Yes, I plant my garlic in October but not if you mean “new” as in “green/early” or the new garlic I will be selling the next year. I have not tried to sell it as green garlic early in the next season.  I suppose one could leave the garlic in the ground but I don’t know how it would be the next season.  I do know for sure that onions are nasty if left in!!

I wouldn't leave garlic in the ground with the intent of harvesting the bulbs in the early spring. Fall planting is normal, but the roots start to grow soon after planting, so I expect the bulbs will fairly quickly become not eating quality. You don't want to provide conditions triggering growth for bulbs intended for eating; you want to keep them dormant.

In fact, if you leave garlic in the ground too long after ideal harvest time, the bulbs will start opening out, and will no longer be first quality bulbs; here as soon as the later part of July. I think if you left them in the ground altogether, not digging them at all, that they'd be re-growing by August.

You can plant garlic for greens in the fall or in the spring. Fall-planted greens may be ready sooner. Late spring plantings won't give good quality. Garlic planted here in early May is good for June markets, but planting later than that doesn't work well; it's day length dependent, and will take energy from greens to start bulbing up in late June even if the tops are tiny.

Parsnips overwinter here without straw, and can be harvested in the spring as long as you get them before there's much new top growth. I've had bad luck trying to overwinter carrots in the ground, even with straw mulch; they turned into mush. Maybe I didn't use enough straw.

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



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