📌 Quick Summary: Market Garlic & Fall Planting Secrets
- 🧄 The Stem Test: If you buy unnamed garlic at a farmers market and want to plant it, look at the center of the bulb. If it has a woody, rigid stalk in the middle, it’s a Hardneck (winter) variety. If it is soft and papery, it’s a Softneck (spring) variety.
- 🍓 The Strawberry Trick: Many growers struggle with garlic rotting in regular garden beds over the winter. A classic companion planting trick is to tuck garlic directly into your strawberry patches. The garlic thrives, and it naturally deters strawberry pests!
- ⛏️ Simple Fall Prep: For fall-planted garlic, keep it simple. Dig a trench, sprinkle a little wood ash at the bottom, press the cloves in, and cover. Save the heavy synthetic Nitrogen fertilizers (like Ammonium Nitrate) for the early spring.
Hey guys, I just picked up some garlic at the farmers market. The vendor had no clue if it was a spring or winter variety. Is there a way to tell just by looking at the bulb?
Hey everyone! Luda, could you share how you prep your beds for garlic? Sorry if this has been asked a million times, I just can’t find the thread. I’ve only ever planted my garlic right inside my strawberry beds (and never bothered adding any special amendments). I kind of want to try giving them their own dedicated bed this year. In the past, my garlic always seemed to rot in regular beds, but it grows perfectly alongside the strawberries…
gala7496 wrote:
…spring or winter variety.
I’m voting hardneck too. Softneck varieties usually have way more cloves, and they’re a lot smaller.
ivanovochka wrote:
Luda, could you tell me how you prep your garden beds for garlic?
Natasha, sorry for the delay! I actually just got my garlic in the ground yesterday, and it was my first time doing a dedicated bed too! I’ve always just tucked them into my new strawberry beds and loved the results.
My prep is super simple. I picked a bed that had potatoes in it earlier, and turned the soil over a few days before planting. When it was time to plant, I dug two deep furrows down the length of the bed, sprinkled a little wood ash at the bottom, and placed the cloves in, pressing them slightly into the dirt. Just covered them back up, and that’s it!
In about a month or so I’ll mulch the bed with some aged compost… just keeping an eye on the weather to time it right. I never use synthetic fertilizers in the fall, I save all of that for the spring. First spring feeding is Ammonium Nitrate, and a bit later you can hit them with Diammonium Phosphate (DAP). Both work great even when the soil is cold.
gala7496 wrote:
Is it possible to tell just by visually looking at it?
Chiming in late here, but if the bulb has a hard woody stalk right in the center that the cloves grow around, it’s definitely a hardneck (winter) variety. If there’s no stiff stem and just a soft papery neck, it’s a softneck (spring) type.
red_flover wrote:
…if the garlic has a hard central stalk that the cloves are attached to, it is winter (hardneck) garlic.
It does have a hard stalk. Thanks so much!!!
