Thursday, October 27, 2011

Garlic planting almost halfway done before Big Snow

I got almost half of my 350 lbs of garlic planted by Tuesday afternoon. Then we got 15 inches of snow! Luckily I'm used to this. There's always a blizzard or two in the middle of planting. If we get warm weather I could resume planting again as early as next week.  There have been many Thanksgiving days over the years that I have been out planting the last of my garlic, I remember 2 or 3 where it was close to 70 degrees. I don't anticipate going that long with planting this year, but I'll try to keep my schedule flexible just in case.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Last Day for Garlic Sales will be Saturday Oct. 22nd!

Yesterday was a record-breaking day for garlic sales. Mostly people wanting to buy for planting. Yes, now is the time! I have some left to sell next Saturday, and may be sold out by noon or so. I do have plenty of the "variety bags" to sell at this point. These are 6 different garlics, color-coded for identification, and the cost is $10.50.
I will have lots of planting instructions on hand to give out. It's great fun to grow your own garlic- and not that hard. I can't seem to grow enough garlic for everyone in Boulder County- so if you really love garlic it's worth growing your own.
See the Sept 22nd post for planting instructions

How much water does garlic need?

The biggest mistake people make is not watering enough- the garlic comes out really small with insufficient water. We keep the sprinkler going on the garlic bed for 8-12 hours after planting. (It's an oscillating sprinkler that goes back and forth over a large area. For a smaller area, maybe 2-4 hours would be sufficient.) This soaks the ground deeply and protects it through an average winter until February, when we water again. During an extra-dry, windy winter we do an extra watering in early January or so.
When Spring comes, treat garlic like your other garden vegetables, watering as much as lettuce or tomatoes.