I planted my garlic out at the beginning of October as usual. In a normal year, they will break ground and grow about an inch before the really cold weather sets in. Then I mulch about 2 inches deep with shredded paper, water well and ignore until Feb or March when they start waking up. Gets down to about 10*F during the winter, but most days in the mid 30's and nights in the mid 20's (last year we went down to negative 10 - but that doesn't happen most years). BUT THIS YEAR we had an unusual week of rain (a whole week in the desert), and then it warmed up to the 80's and 90's. My garlic is all up and out - some as tall as 6 inches. If I mulch 4 inches deep (I only have so much paper), will they survive the winter and produce a decent crop? I'm concerned as this year I planted out 400+ cloves - the most I've ever done. Thanks. Karla
Will my garlic survive?
Karla--my garlic almost always sprouts and gets 5-6" tall before a good freeze sets in. We mulch with shredded leaves about 3" after our first few frosts and so far it's always been fine.
The biggest danger to garlic is staying too wet. I guess I'd just caution against mulching too heavily if you're having a rainy season--you want your garlic to have good drainage. I always pull my mulch back in the spring so it doesn't hold in too much moisture.
Linda
Thanks, Linda! We've got sand at least 10 ft down, so even though I've amended the beds, drainage is not a problem. And we're in the high desert, so we don't get much rain or snow here (usually), so I should be good. By the way, it doesn't rain in the Spring, or in the Summer, for that matter. I've always left the mulch on until a few weeks before harvest. I do move the mulch away from the stems, though, when it starts warming up and I start real irrigation.
Thanks for the information. Now I don't have to stress over the winter!
My biggest stress is always the early spring--we often have some pretty rainy times during the spring, and if the snow melt is significant it can really add a lot of moisture to the ground. I always hold my breath until we're past that point LOL
Karla--that's a lot of garlic! Hope you have a good successful crop.
Thank you for your well wishes. I started with just enough for me several years ago, and now I'm supplying my daughter and many of the people at work... I'm debating if over the next few years I don't tripple that number and make a few appearances at local farmer's markets. This is my first year planting that much garlic, so we will see. I like it because it's a realatively maintenance-free crop. There's a lot of work hand planting in the fall and then during harvest in the early summer, but those are times that not much is going on here, any way. In between time, there really isn't much to do. Even not much weeding since I mulch well.
I just put in about 100 garlic bulbs this week. The tops always freeze back at least once, but I have had a great harvest for the last 3 years -