Post date: Nov 3, 2019 12:27:43 PM
The only crop left to plant for the season is garlic. Here are the notes:
1. Garlic is a 9-month crop. If you plant in October, you can harvest next July. Cut off for planting is Nov 15.
2. It is better if you bought seed bulbs from gardening stores like Pike or online. The garlic from stores is usually treated to prevent germination. Some still germinate, and yield. Take your chances.
3. There are two types: hard neck and soft neck. Soft neck is suitable for Atlanta.
4. The bulb must be mature and dry. Split the pods only when you are ready to sow. Be careful not to peel off the dry skins.
5. Prep the ground well adding enough compost and manure. You will add the next round of nutrition only in spring.
6. Sow the broad root side down and tip side up, firmly. Firm up the soil if it is loose.
7. Cover with a thick layer of mulch - straw, crushed leaves, fine wood chips all work. Avoid thick wood chips.
8. The pods will germinate in the cold and stay through the winter, developing small sprouts. But the real action is happening at the roots.
9. Come spring, the plant will take off. Your grocery bag garlic will also sprout at that time. But too late to sow and get a harvest. Sow now, for a crop next summer.
10. In spring, you will have to watch for flower heads and pinch them off. Will remind then.
Pretty much nothing else to do other than sow and mulch them now. Each pod will become a bulb.
If you love garlic greens like we do, sow a nice batch indoors on the window sill and harvest the greens all through winter. Tastes great in cluster bean subzi, bajra roti, paratas, chutneys, dips, salads, and salsa.