It's the start of garlic season.
Our garlic is just about gone. Sales have been steady at market, and we've filled the orders we had at the farm. Now we must remember to keep enough for ourselves for the winter!
Last Monday - a week ago - we finally got next year's garlic planted. We planted about 4600 cloves, a little more than last year. It's not a lot really, but enough for us.
We plant the smaller bulbs and the bulbs that have split. Breaking them takes a bit of time - good rainy day work.
Planting is done by hand - each clove pushed into the ground, pointed end up, a couple inches apart. Then we cover them, using a rake to pull the soil over them. Once the ground freezes - probably December sometime - we'll mulch the entire garlic patch with a heavy layer of straw or hay. Come spring, the green shoots of garlic will poke through the mulch, but hopefully the weeds won't.
The rows were made by the tractor & cultivator - easier than marking them out with pegs & string. They're as straight as I managed to drive.
Some people prefer to kneel & plant ...
Others bend ...
And some aren't any help at all!
I prefer Meesha's way of planting :-)
ReplyDeleteGlad people are planting with both hands and aren't sitting!
ReplyDeleteJohnny taught us well - except for Meesha!
ReplyDeletePlanting garlic - definitely a 2 hand job.
i wasn't sitting johnny. and i was using 2 hands.
ReplyDeleteyou just wish you were there to help us.
thats why we pay you the big bucks!
ReplyDelete