Directions: |
Directions:Three years ago, my dear Uncle Peter Koprivec who was my dad's youngest brother, (and also left us this year), taught me all about planting garlic; and giving me some of his own garlic he's planted for many years.
These are his instructions which I faithfully follow; and will continue to do so to keep his tradition going. And I love growning my own garlic; it is very rewarding and delicious!
On October 15th, it is time to plant; so have your ground all tilled and ready.
You break apart your bulbs, which are made up of several cloves; and plant the biggest ones; and use the little ones to eat.
You plant the cloves with the bigger side down, and the pointed side up.
Plant so the bulb is 2" underground. And make sure all cloves are planted at least 6" apart on all sides.
Cover your garlic bed with a thick layer of leaves or a good straw. Cover the whole thing up with clear plastic and put rocks or boards on the plastic to keep it from blowing away.
Now you wait until the snow is gone in the early spring before you uncover your garlic. Sometime in April.
You'll see some of the garlic already coming up!!!!! It is so exciting!
Now you have to keep it weeded; as garlic can't compete with weeds. And you need to keep it watered if it doesn't rain.
You don't harvest your garlic until the end of July. You can tell when it's ready when the bottom 3 to 5 leaves start turning yellow to brown. And if you poke your finger in the ground and you can feel how big the bulb is.
When it's time to pull out your garlic; wait until it hasn't rained or you haven't watered it for about 7 days; so your garlic won't be muddy, and it will be cleaner when it's pulled.
Use a garden tool to loosen up the soil to make it easier to pull and the stem won't break off.
Lay your pulled garlic in a shady dry place to dry for a day and then tie bunches of them together and hang in a garage for at least 2 to 3 weeks to dry. You can start using it any time.
Now when dry; cut the stems off about an inch above the bulb. Peel off a layer or two so bulbs are nice and clean and won't rot. Keep them in a cool dry place; like a garage or very dry basement until fall.
Make sure you save the biggest bulbs for planting again the next Oct.
It takes garlic a couple of years to acclimate to your soil; and each year your cloves will get bigger! |
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