1000 cloves of garlic 2019

[pmcgrady]

I'm wanting to plant 1000 cloves again this year, I have 800 in so far and if it quits raining and doesn't get too cold, 200 more shouldn't be a problem.



A couple things I learned last year:
1) I had the Dewitt Sunbelt blow off the beds in strong winds last year. This year I'm using sod staples, cover all edges with dirt and all beds covered with 4" of straw mulch then thoroughly soaked with water ( otherwise the straw blows all over)



2) I pulled most of straw back into the walking paths to expose the blanket to warm the beds in early spring, this year I'm leaving it on beds, and am laying recycled cardboard in the walking paths.



3) I need to keep up with weeding early... and really watch for them in the holes that the garlic is growing in. I lost quite a few bulbs do to weed competition last year. I've seen where some people wait for garlic to sprout in spring and wrap small squares of wet newspaper around the garlic and tuck under sunbelt... sounds time consuming but better than pulling weeds.



4) need to water more, I'm going to run a soaker hose down each ofthe 5 beds to save time.
5) curing... I let the garlic hang too long in an outdoor shed. This year I'm going to let them hang 2-3 weeks, then cut off tops and roots and bring indoors.


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