The Tilsons

We just put our garlic in the ground. I started two years ago with a couple bulbs - about 10 plants in total. The experiment worked quite well except I didn’t plant nearly enough! We ran out in a month. To remedy this I scaled up last year and planted about 500 cloves (1 clove planted in October = 1 plant = 1 bulb of garlic next July). The bulbs grew so well the first season I figured there wasn’t much to do except put them in the ground around Canadian Thanksgiving and take them out the following July - with perhaps a couple waterings in May and June. It turns out that if you desire a reliable crop year after year, there is a little more preparation required to ensure your success. The soil was rather poor and the net result was a a large number small plants. We still have considerably more garlic than our family needs, but overall the experiment was disappointing because organic seed garlic is pricey and we didn’t get the yield we expected.

To remedy these errors in thinking and general lack research prior to planting we recruited our neighbour Shirley to share her wisdom and experience. Shirley used to run a garlic farm on Salt Spring Island and now participates in the Fir St. guerrilla garden beside our co-op. We amended our raised beds with Sea Soil that our other neighbour Shirley donated. This is a great product that boosts the fertility of the soil organically. I prefer to use our own compost over imported products but the Sea Soil was here and Shirley had more than she needed for her raised bed. Thanks Shirley!

After turning in the new Sea Soil Lisa and Shirley (the first one) made a series of finger deep holes using an equilateral triangle spacing pattern with roughly 3 - 4″ inch sides. Triangular spacing (click on the photo to your left) is a more intensive arrangement than square spacing. Planting in this manner allows you to fit more plants in less space and not overcrowd them. (photo courtesy of Toby Hemenway’s excellent book: Gaia’s Garden - pg 51). The ladies then placed a bit of bone meal in the bottom of each hole which adds phosphorus and calcium and supports root growth. The bone meal was followed by one clove (skin on) in each hole (root side down - pointy side up) and then covered with soil. As a last step - to suppress weed growth we covered each bed with straw. This year we planted Purple Softneck and Spanish Roja Hardneck in the south bed and Purple Softneck and Red Russian in the North bed.

Now we wait and let mother nature work her magic. If you want to plant garlic and are concerned your soil isn’t up to it, don’t despair! You can get tips on preparing your soil (and everything else related to garlic) in Ron L. Engeland’s definitive book: Growing Great Garlic.