Quote:
Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha
Nice bounty. What do you think resulted in the larger than normal size?
I don't mean to thread hike, but I am listening to the forecast and getting concerned about my raised bed garlic. The tops dried down but I was unable to harvest. Now there is a dry heatwave forecast for the next 10 days.Does anyone know what will be the result of keeping garlic in the ground during very hot weather?
- Lisa
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The better crop was likely due to better soil in this year's bed. I moved the garlic to last year's tomato bed because a walnut tree was too close to this area and was killing some tomato plants last year. I had the soil tested and the pH was 6.6 and all nutrients were very high, with 8.4% organics. This was my new wife's late husband's garden and he amended the soil every year. Previous garlic beds were not as rich.
If your tops are dried down you need to pull them or you'll have no wrappers. I harvest when there re four mostly green leaves left as each leaf extends under ground and is also a wrapper layer. As a leaf browns its wrapper is lost. Hot and dry weather is ideal for harvesting garlic so long as you still have some green leaves.
TomNJ/VA