My readers (both of you) will be aware of my predilection for preparation; I suspect that in a previous life I was a boy scout.
Every year I assess my stock of saved seed, browse the catalogues, assign my beds and carefully plan for the year ahead, but sometimes the unforeseen jumps onto the tractor and pushes gardening into the back seat. Unfortunately, few tractors are equipped for a co-pilot.
This year reality intruded just when I should have been planting garlic and I was unable to get into the garden, missing that window of opportunity. Fortunately, Mother Nature has thus far provided a mild winter and the ground hasn’t frozen too deeply. Now that life is a little less hectic I’ll plant the garlic and see how it fares.
First I’ll drench the soil with diluted “Activated Em” to allow beneficial microorganisms in the product to proliferate the soil, then a few days later I’ll plant the garlic cloves. The friendly microorganisms eat the harmful fungus, leaving the garlic unsullied.
Last year most of my garlic got infected with the fungus that destroyed about a third of the crop. I washed and scrubbed the rest of them and they’re still looking good so I’ll re-plant their cloves. As insurance, I bought new cloves as well as “elephant garlic”, which is really a huge leek that tastes like mild garlic. This drench should be re-applied in a few weeks.
When planting garlic, I first poke holes with the end of a stick every eight inches/20 centimetres in rows that are one foot/31 centimetres apart. Then, and not before, I break apart the garlic bulbs and drop them, flat side down, into the holes, one per hole. Orientation is important so that the flat side from which roots will grow are headed downward and the stalk side (the pointy end) will grow upward.
