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Re: Garlic Planting Question

Laura wrote:-
>
> I'd like to plant some garlic in my raised bed for the first time and
have a
> few questions.  The first one (kind of dumb) is do you leave the skin on
the
> garlic clove or peel it off?  Second, will it survive the zone 5 winter
in a
> raised bed?  Third, when is the best time to plant?
>

Hi Laura

I planted garlic overwinter for the first time last year. It was more
successful than my, until then, usual planting in the Spring. I planted in
a raised bed around late September to early October time.
All you need do is place the garlic clove just under the soil with the
pointed tip uppermost. You can leave the skin on (that's not a dumb
question). Garlic is as tough as old boots and will survive several degrees
of frost. I'm not sure what Zone 5 represents in winter temperature terms,
as we tend not to use Zones in the UK.  I've just looked for a Zone chart,
but can't find one, but as I understand it we are about Zone 7 in SE
England. If the weather is really severe you could always put a glass
cloche over the plants. If you plant for winter you can do it around the
end of September to October depending on the weather. Basically the cloves
need to make some root and a bit of shoot before the real cold sets in.
Then they will stand until spring, at which point they will take off again
and give you a good crop around June-July.

The advantage with planting in the autumn is that if you DO have a disaster
you can always plant more again in the Spring.
I planted a spring crop this year just to compare. The autumn planted
cloves were bigger and better flavoured. The spring planted cloves suffered
in the summer and were not so large.
One thing to check is that you try to use a winter hardy variety of Garlic.
Some Garlic, the sort you buy in the Supermarket may be grown in warmer
temperatures like Italy and might not stand longer periods of cold. I used
a variety from a seed supplier that is conditioned to cooler weather.

Regards
Stephen

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Stephen Griffiths
Barfield Allotment Association
Whetstone, London. England.
stephen.griffiths@dial.pipex.com.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

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