The garlic year
Twenty stages of Ontario hardneck garlic, grown on organic principles in zone 5a. Garlic goes in the ground in October and comes out the following July, which makes it the slowest crop on the farm and the only one where the harvest and the next planting are the same decision. This is the answer key to the sorting deck, with the reasoning behind each stage.
I. Late summer prep
August to September4 cardsSoil test
Pull samples and read pH, organic matter and phosphorus. Garlic performs best between pH 6.0 and 7.0, and testing now leaves time for amendments to settle in.
Rotate the garlic
Move to a bed that has grown something other than alliums for three to four years. Rotation is the main organic defence against white rot, fusarium basal rot and leek moth carryover.
Add fertilizer
Work finished compost through the top six inches along with a balanced organic amendment. Garlic feeds heavily for nine months, and the fall application is the foundation of the whole crop.
Make mounds
Shape the mounded beds so the crop sits above spring melt and warms earlier. Raised ground also drains the wet shoulder seasons, which is where bulb rot begins.
II. Fall planting
October4 cardsCrack the bulbs
Break the seed bulbs into individual cloves a day or two ahead of planting, leaving the papery wrapper on each clove. Plant the largest cloves, and set the small inner ones aside for the kitchen.
Add bone meal at planting
Place bone meal in the furrow before the cloves go in. Phosphorus moves slowly through soil, so putting it at root depth is what makes it available to the fall root flush.
Plant the cloves
Plant after the first hard frost, roughly two to four weeks before the ground freezes. Point up, flat root plate down, two to three inches deep, six inches apart in rows eight to twelve inches apart.
Mulch
Lay four to six inches of clean straw once the ground surface has chilled. The mulch insulates against freeze and thaw heaving, smothers early weeds and holds moisture through the June bulking window.
III. Winter
November to March1 cardRoot and rest
Roots establish in the cool fall soil, then the cloves sit through the cold. That extended chilling period, called vernalization, is what tells each clove to divide into a full bulb.
IV. Spring
April to May5 cardsShoots emerge
Green tips push through the straw as soon as the soil opens. Loosen any matted patches so every shoot finds daylight, and leave the rest of the mulch in place.
Spring feed
Top dress with a nitrogen source such as blood meal, alfalfa meal or fish emulsion. Feed while leaves are forming and finish by early June, so the plant moves its energy into the bulb rather than the tops.
Weed
Garlic sizes up best in a clean bed. Stay ahead of weeds from emergence through scape time. May is the critical window, when weed growth outpaces the crop and every inch of competition shows up in bulb size.
Pest control
Scout weekly for leek moth, onion maggot, rust and white rot. Floating row cover over the moth flights, prompt removal of affected leaves, and clean rotation carry most of the organic control load.
Water
Aim for one inch a week through bulking, which is when size is decided. Let the bed dry down about two weeks before harvest so the wrappers cure clean and store well.
V. Early summer
June1 cardClip the scapes
Cut hardneck scapes once they form a full curl. Removing them returns energy to the bulb and adds meaningful size. Keep every one, since scapes are a crop in their own right.
VI. Harvest
Mid to late July2 cardsLift the bulbs
Harvest when three to four lower leaves have browned and roughly half remain green. Each leaf is a wrapper layer, so timing protects storage life. Loosen with a fork and lift by the stem.
Hang to dry
Bundle in small groups and hang in deep shade with steady airflow. Curing is finished when the neck is dry through and the outer wrappers rustle. Keep the crop out of direct sun and rain.
VII. Curing and closing the loop
August to September3 cardsSeparate the seed and the food
Trim roots and stems, brush the soil off, and grade the crop. The largest, cleanest bulbs from the healthiest plants become next year's seed, which is roughly fifteen to twenty per cent of the harvest. Everything else is food.
Preserve the food garlic
Braid softneck, dehydrate and grind for powder, confit in oil for the freezer, ferment in honey or into black garlic, and blend the June scapes into pesto. Preserving turns a July peak into a year of supply.
Store the seed garlic
Hold seed stock at 10 to 15 degrees with good airflow and moderate humidity until planting. Storing warmer than the cold range keeps the cloves from waking early, and hands the cycle straight back to card 2.
Where the year closes
Storing the seed and choosing next year's bed land in the same weeks of September. The bulbs kept back in August are the crop eaten the following July, so every season is planted out of the one before it.