Planting Garlic in Spring
Did you know that you can plant garlic in spring?
At Aurelia’s Garden in Medway, we were unaware this could be done, until Hannah Traggis, our horticulturist and fearless leader, advised us of this fact. We had discussed planting garlic in fall, as one of our food pantries had mentioned how much their clients had enjoyed a shipment of garlic, but when Hannah heard our plans, she gave us a bag of unplanted garlic cloves, and told us how to plant it.
Hardneck garlic needs a period of cold in order to divide and form into bulbs, so it’s best to plant it as early as possible in spring. We spent a snowy day in March in the greenhouse dividing garlic bulbs, sorting out any damaged or moldy ones, and then planting them in shallow trays of soil to get the bulb growth started.
We then left the planted up garlic in the greenhouse for a few days to kick start its growth. According to Todd Sandstrum, the farmer at Medway Community Farm, it is primarily heat that stimulates their growth and causes them to ‘pop’, as opposed to light.
A week and a half after planting, almost all of the garlic had sprouted, and it was time to plant it in the field!
The few days in the greenhouse had given it a nice head start on root development.
Our team of volunteers planted it in a prepared bed, 6” apart. Now all there is to do is keep our bed weeded and watered, and let most of the magic happen underground.
We might end up with smaller bulbs than if they had been planted last fall, but we are looking forward to a great harvest of our spring-planted garlic!
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